Pricing your services can and often should be almost a parallel but a seperate discussion then the cost of those services. Sometimes high value services that only your organizaition can fulfil have value that far out weighs the cost. It's important to evaluate client pricing when possible and double check where the value to client and price are sitting relative to one another.
Client Value
Client value for creative organizations and service based companies is often more complex then a ranking based on revenue and associated costs. Agencies often place value on clients for a variety of different reasons - list, list, list, list, list,
A relativley simple exercise to get the ball moving in your organization would be to set up a grid and ask key account, operations, creative roles to rank clients using a simple 0 to 3 rank based on these various categories.
You should end up with a couple of different groupings and ideally a solid list of 'Tier A' clients that provide high no, profit and as well as rank high on your non financial based categories. Are you servicing these clients to the level they deserve?
How many clients fit into the tier that has a much higher rank of non financial ... vs. revenue/profit. If the size of this list outweighs that of the 'Tier A' clients you may have... or you may have to...
These are probably conversations to have with sales and accounts team. Silmultaesnouly you will need to ensure Price and Cost are also in line. meaning none of your pricing should be greater than your costs unless the client value is perceived to be high to your organization using measures other than cost (and proft and efficiency and all that good stuff). We covered client value in a previous post.
Pricing Strategy
How does your organization present Pricing and estimates to clients? Who's responsible for speakign to the scope and is this the right person or role to be having these conversations?
Adding project management to your organization - who’s leading the transition ?
Adding project management or producer roles to your organization sounds good in theory
But who is managing the transition who do these roles report to and are your existing teams going to understand with and be on board with the transition
The reality is that most organizational transitions are challenging and it’s likely you’ll lose pieople along the way but how are you ensuring that you come out successful in the other side
Replacing account people with project managers - things to consider
Many creative organizations and classic full stack ad agencies are replacing some account or sales roles with project managers
It feels like a smart move. Pms are Feels like a smart move PMs are inherently organized and on top of shit so why not add more organized team members to your team but what roles are they replacing and how are you ensuring that those tasks and responsibilities are still being taken care of by the p.m. hybrid roles haveSometimes become the go to but aren’t necessarily the most efficient our best solution
Which roles were the account whole previously supporting and who becomes responsible for this roles now?
Public speaking and presentation skills
Providing training weather in house or through outside organizations is maybe something organizations don’t talk about enough
The reality of most organizations and the need for efficiency it today’s creative landscape often means that all your team members from creative to development are often at least somewhat client facing
Hiring a creative or developer that has strong presentation skills may not be a top priority but it should become a priority once this person is in house
Each time this person discusses their role projects or your organization whether at the office or with friends they are representing the work you’re doing and putting a face to your organization
Even free courses you can find through YouTube or LinkedIn can be helpful
For example
Companies that show interest in the development of their teams skills probably retain talent at a higher rate
One on one - talking to your boss about issues in the company
Whether you are in a a people management position or not you should always consider how your grievance will be percueved by someone who may or may not agree or even understand your concern
The reality is your boss likely has a lot going in that has little to do with your concern so your best bet is to come to the table with a solution
Better yet don’t come with a grievance at all but only a solution
For example you’re having trouble staying organized and knowing who is working on what in your team. You find you’re spending a lot of time chasing people ...blah blah this might not be a good example
Instead of bringing this up with your boss
Create a document or tool that allows the teams to easily track tasks and assigned memebers. Maybe it’s a new software ? Maybe a simple spreadsheet ? Now all you need is approval to implement instead of waiting on a solution from your boss. It’s a little bit cliche but turning a negative into a positive will make you feel more in control of your position as well and your job contentment
Doing this on a regular basis I will provide great amo at your next review as well
Bring value instead of issues etc
In many small or medium sized creative organizations the structure is relatively flat and project teams don’t often have a clear reporting structure. Sometimes this can make it feel like no one is leading or is accountable for the success of th eprojecg,
Although project managers often take the role of ensuring projects deliver on time on budget and within scope the reality is they may not always be the most knowledgeable member of the team. Depending on the nature of the project it may be the art director or copywriter or the account person. Defining the project lead based on knowing our team memeberd and their strengths ( and weaken eases) can help deliver high quality work.
If you work in an environment where each new client request feels a little foreign or unknown then this is a good strategy
Your organization jumping into cannabis? There’s probably someone in the team who understands the product and industry better then everyone else..maybe they’re a cobssesiur wink wink . Make good use of those people on your teams regardless of functional role.
How to evaluate process
Is this software , tool or spreadsheet helping your organization and is the benefit it bring worth the cost?
Time is money
How much time is each team memeber spending updating the tool each week
Are the team members updating the tool the most stretched in the organization ization : over resourced
Ie are they the right people
Are the people updating the tool also finding value from the tool
This one is tough . Often your updating and creating reports to provide value to more senior memebers of the organziatikn
Often it’s senior members that don’t have any or little exposure to the cfo for example
A solution is bringing those people to the table and including them sometimes or on a rotating basis in those conversations
It’s key to remember that for most companies that serve clients you want your team memebers creative account and project or product manangment serving client needs and executing work that is billable and constructed to the bottom line.
Administrative tasks that are added to or augment workloads should be considered carefully as they will cut into the time members have to focus on client work
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