Part 21 (1/2)
You ency's services, processes, and infrastructure to accoency's future depends on its ability to adapt, deliver ful results, and develop professionals who are capable of providing consulting and services across rowth opportunities everywhere, but do not come into it unprepared and try to sell services you are not qualified to deliver
The ency ecosystem, which consists of disruptors, traditionalists, softservers, specialists, connectors, and soloists, is client centric This encies must continually evolve to meet client needs and deencies are constructed one employee at a time They do not allow rowth, and they do not sacrifice the quality of their hires to satisfy short-term needs They take a controlled, almost methodical, approach to expansion They develop talent from within and construct teams based on shared values, innate abilities, and coency filled with top talent establishes a distinct and forence and experience are key, their character, internal drive, personality, and innate abilities are the intangibles that truly differentiate great candidates froencies are built on a culture of we, succeeding and failing as one Professionals are passionately loyal to the agency and to each other
Client acquisition and retention th, reputation, and capabilities of the firm
Professionals who are unatively i down the morale and moiven unparalleled opportunities for career advance personal brands
The top firms, which will lead industry transformation and deliver the most value, are built froencies y to recruit, advance, and retain e talent
Hybrid professionals are trained to deliver services across search, mobile, social, content, analytics, web, PR, and e-rated solutions that historically required encies and consultants
The Best Plan Is to Prepare for Perpetual Change Change velocity principles dictate that trying to plan for anything beyond three years is an exercise in futility Have a vision for the long-term, but make infrastructure decisions based on current and short-term realities
Success is an iterative process
Hybrid agencies are built on a stable operational foundation with niement systems that enable them to execute and adapt faster than the corowth curve can cost you valuable resources now, but not planning for the contingencies of growth can be detrimental to your ability to profitably build your business in the future
Marketing agencies are bound by the limitations of human resources
Cloud applications offer rapid deployencies to buildquickly to changing business environ world is full of thinkers, talkers, and self-proclaiurus, but after awhile they all start to sound the saencies and professionals that drive change by practicing what they preach
A hybrid agency is defined by the collective strength of its eency leader is to clearly establish the agency brand, and then give your team the freedoency website with the same care and attention that you do your clients' websites Continually analyze, track, and h inbound links, traffic, referrers, and website visits by keywords, a strategy, be sure to think beyond prospects
Agencies have the ability to reach and influence audiences directly at the exact ranting you permission to market to them, but you have to be there, and provide value
Socialrelationshi+ps, and bringing value to the co enables you to differentiate your agency while driving acquisition (leads) and retention (loyalty) It requires that you understand your audiences and continuously publish co,to your audiences, sharing your unique story, creating connections, gaining influence, and building loyalty in aIs Sales You are always selling You are selling an idea, vision, service, agency brand, personal brand, and belief that your firm is more capable and qualified than the next one
However, in a professional service firm, sales happens at every level of the company It is often the account executives that have the ardless of whether they are charged with it, they function as the agency's primary salespeople They are the ones whose perfor client relationshi+ps deteroes and whether clients provide referrals and testi is both an art and a science that requires experience, education, and an inti a sales systeeneration and that is scalable with your long-ter your sales system, your most valued asset is your teaer can possibly deliver the value and lead voluic effort
Sales processes help define responsibilities, set perfore and resources to excel, and connect actions to business goals
In order toprocess, and increase the probability of conversion, it is i-services buying decisions
All Clients Are Not Created Equal Although agencies need to make every client feel valued, the reality is that some accounts are far ency, and they need to be treated different
These priority accounts have a greater appreciation for your services; they value your people and treat your agency as a partner, not as a vendor They pay bills on time (or early), have realistic expectations, and reasonable tiy needed toclient relationshi+ps ency's culture Employees should be 100 percent focused on the happiness and success of their clients
Becoht, consultation, services, expertise, friendshi+p, and professionaliss that build relationshi+ps, and take the time to show clients that you care about their successes, both on individual and organizational levels
The greatest value you can bring to clients is staffing their account teams with A players These professionals are analytical, confident, creative, detail oriented, highly ic-all traits that consistently translate into success for your clients
Use nonbillable exercises to educate and train your teaency es: intelligence and action In order to take the actions necessary to retain and grow accounts, leaders have to have their finger on the pulse of the agency
An Agency's Value Is Measured in Outcoencies turn inforence into action They build cans that consistently produceinbound links, website traffic, leads, and sales Hybrid agencies must shi+ft away from arbitraryequivalency, and PR value, and becoeeks who are obsessed with data-driven services
Marketing agencies fro, PR, social, SEO, content, and web-have the opportunity to evolve and play an integral role in bringing structure andto the wealth of information available to businesses
Take a scientific approach to ht that can increase efficiency and maximize ROI for clients
Turn your hybrid professionals into analysts Teach theic and reason Show theht froht to educate clients, build consensus, and drive action
Every ca current lead volu subscribers, and social ned to set the foundation for future success, while drivers are intended to produce short-ter value to clients requires a balanced and strategic approach to both