Thank you The Agency Collective | B Corp Certified for letting me host a Learn & Grow workshop for their lovely members.
I presented some simple (is it ever simple though...) ways to improve profitability in your agency. With new business being a little harder to secure, and staff costs higher than ever, many agencies are looking at their operations and delivery to improve their margins.
In the session we looked at x3 areas:
1. Project Scope and Price
✔review rates regularly
✔move from blended to tiered pricing
✔involve your delivery experts in scoping and pricing
✔use a pricing sheet with prompts to ensure you price everything in
✔create and formalise Scope of Work with client for every project
2. Processes and Systems
✔make processes repeatable and documented
✔understand how much key processes cost you and price accordingly
✔centralise management and data by picking a management system
3. Profit Strategy and Ownership
✔make profitability a strategic focus on board level; set KPIs and goals
✔start monitoring better data e.g. profitability per client/project/department, chargeable time, utilisation, etc.
✔give wider teams ownership of profit KPIs
✔increase commercial awareness in teams
The brilliant team at the Agency Collective picked out one specific topic to cover in more detail on their blog: