The Agency Advisory

So just based on the response from the launch of Westerly Wins, I've decided to dip another toe into the newsletter water and publish this second edition one week on. My sense is that there's an appetite to hear from the Agency Advisors that frequent LinkedIn. And it's my pleasure to share with subscribers their tips, tricks, insights, models and advice.

In this week's round up, I'm focusing on how to minimise the risk of the dreaded decision delay which is holding so many sales pitches back; on the impact of scope creep on your bottom line; the importance of maximising your team's recovery rate; and how to manage your agency through a downturn using an entrepreneurial operating system. Thanks to Ben Potter , Jack Skeels Jonathan Smith , Paul Stollery (he/him) for sharing their expertise and experiences over the past week on LinkedIn.

As always, if you'd like to have an informal chat about how this insight could benefit your business, then drop me a line - [email protected]

Decisions Getting Delayed

I'm hearing this on an almost daily basis. There seems to be a lot of pitching going on but the conversion to contract and work starting is taking longer and longer. My background with the Sandler Sales Management technique taught me the importance and power of asking the right questions to gain access to the ultimate decision maker. All too often, agencies are uncomfortable asking for this meeting and also are unsure of how or what to ask.

And this is where Ben Potter comes in. His post from a few days ago provides some high quality questions that I believe will come in handy as you navigate the period between briefing and pitching. It will help to ensure you gain access to the right person at the right stage of the process. And that could make the difference between winning or losing.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/bpotter_businessdevelopment-newbusiness-sales-activity

Fix Your Broken Scope Cycle and Add Millions to Your Bottom Line

OK - so that's a bit of an exaggerated headline but the fact is that overworking, wastage, scope creep or re-working (however you call it) is costing the majority of agencies multiple points of margin. Combined with the often poor recovery rates in many agencies, the problem of low margin is commonly associated with poor scope management. In this article by Jack Skeels , CEO of AgencyAgile Inc. , lists the reasons for scope creep (or re-work as he terms it). He explains eight clear reasons. Read the full article, and I am sure one or more will resonate with you.

https://jackskeels.medium.com/the-million-dollar-murder-of-agency-margins-89b1f3681035

If you would like an AI generated summary, head over to my post on the topic:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/andyjhwest_the-million-dollar-murder-of-agency-margins-activity

Are you Monitoring your Recovery Rate?

No, I'm not talking about how quickly your heart rate returns to normal after exercise. I'm talking about your team's utilisation and the number of billable hours they are working. Jonathan Smith has posted an excellent article that explains the importance of measuring your recovery rate and why the higher the rate, the more profitable your business will be.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity

Traction - the Entrepreneurial Operating System

If you've not heard of Gino Wickman 's excellent book 'Traction' then I highly recommend it. I was exposed to it thanks to Barbara Bates and Heather Kernahan while at Hotwire and the approach really helped us build the business. And this experience seems to have been mirrored over at Hard Numbers ?? judging from an interesting post / article by Paul Stollery (he/him) and his Advisor, Stephen Waddington . Do take a look at this as they've explained how Traction is used at the agency to get management on the same page. There are a couple of posts by Paul and Stephen and then a deeper insight in Paul's excellent newsletter.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paulstollery_agencylife-management-publicrelations-activity

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/stephenwaddington_agencylife-management-publicrelations-activity

And do visit (& subscribe) to Paul Stollery (he/him) 's newsletter:

https://scalingservice.substack.com/p/trading-through-a-downturn-part-two