Do You Really, Truly Want to Transform Your Agency?

I donamp8217t mean a getrichquick lose20poundsinonemonth regainyoursexualpotencywiththissimpleherb type of transformationamp160 Those are fake and theyamp8217re talked about all the time with zero resultsI donamp8217t mean the kind of transformation that your junior folks or project managers can fumble around with while youamp8217re out beating the new business bushesNo friend this is your transformationamp160 It requires personal leadershipamp160 Leadershipamp160 Putting your neck out perhaps for the chopping blockamp160 Taking a positionamp160 Staking your reputation on itHereamp8217s what you have to do1amp160 Commit your agency to a single mission Solving client brand problemsamp160 Not enough growthamp160 Not enough profitabilityamp160 Underperforming in the marketplaceamp160 Failing with Millennialsamp160 Overspending on the wrong mediaamp160 Underspending on the right mediaamp160 Underplanning Scopes of Work Not knowing how good the brands can beamp160 Not having a plan to get thereamp160 Make vocal your commitment to this missionamp160 Announce itamp160 Train for it Hire for itamp160 Fire because of itamp160 And inspect your progress along the wayamp160 Help your CMOs become the heroes they deserve to beamp160 Work for their success behind the scenesamp160 The transformation is about them and what you can do for them2amp160 Be selective and only develop new clients who will commit to you as a amp8220performance partneramp8221 where you work together in a relationship designed to improve brand performanceamp160 A longterm commitmentamp160 You analyze the clientamp8217s brand problems and identify their amp8220full performance potentialamp8221amp160 You analyze and recommend media mix media spend and Scopes of Workamp160 You carry out your strategic and creative work and adjust it as neededamp160 Your lead account head will be accountable to you and to the client to deliver positive resultsamp160 Let competing agencies do the commodity work for their underperforming clients3amp160 Be paid for the work you do with a fair price for each strategic and creative deliverable you plan and carry outamp160 This means documenting measuring and negotiating SOWs on a uniform basis throughout your agency itamp8217s your agency wayamp160 Focus on the work you need to do not on manhours4amp160 As you deliver successful work price up your work at higher rates You deserve it and your agencyamp8217s cost will be a small percentage of the value you createamp160 Negotiate rates not profitsharing schemesamp160 Who wants to argue about who was responsible for improved results5amp160 Create a culture of measurability and accountabilityamp160 Your account heads must be measured by fees SOW workloads resources and resultsamp160 Their performance needs to be reviewed quarterly by office headsamp160 Their success defines success for the office heads to whom they report and so forth up the chain of commandamp160 Success for the agency comes from clients who are growing and spending moreamp160 Existing client growth is the ultimate measure of agency success6amp160 Share the benefits of growth and income with your peopleamp160 Reward those who deliveramp160 Eliminate those who do not or cannotHereamp8217s what youamp8217ll have to eliminate or forget1amp160 Narcissistic worship of the amp8220Big Ideaamp8221 and amp8220Creativityamp8221amp160 Theyamp8217ve failed with clients and this is reflected in the terrible way youamp8217re treated and paidamp160 Theyamp8217re not delivering resultsamp160 They did once in the simpler past but too much has changedamp160 Worship instead the religion of improved client resultsamp160 Be as creative as the work and brand challenges require2amp160 Continued fragmentation of your organization and the horizontal proliferation of job titlesamp160 You need to simplify your organization with resources allocated by client under an accountable account head who is responsible for business analysis media and SOW planning and ongoing strategic creative and production processesamp160 You need a more accountable hierarchy with transparent data that illuminates what is being done and paidamp160 You need to be truly clientcentric with a minimum of people who are not fully allocated or utilized on paid client workamp160 Get rid of the Greek Chorus folks3amp160 Public bragging about your perceived shortterm accomplishmentsamp160 Stop tooting hornsamp160 If you have something to say publish a learned pieceamp160 Develop expertiseamp160 Use your expertise for your clientsamp8217 benefitFriend youamp8217re in a war and youamp8217re on the losing sideamp160 There is no one to bail you outamp160 Not your project managers or your digital specialists or your content managersamp160 Not your CFOamp160 Not your lowcost production capability or your expensive executive creative directorsamp160 Not your account heads who are giving away 1020 of their workamp160 Not the 4Asamp160 And certainly not your holding companyYou are alone with all the responsibilityamp160 Transformation belongs to youamp160 Develop a vision and set a courseamp160 Get rid of those who are not on your teamamp160 Youamp8217ll know in a few years if youamp8217ve succeeded or failedAt least though you will have given it your allCartoon credit Al Ross The New Yorker The Cartoon Bank With permissionClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Do You Really, Truly Want to Transform Your Agency?

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Michael Farmer

About That with Carl Mayer: Danny Senor (Episode 7: Sports Survey) - By Carl Mayer

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