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How to: respond to requests for proposals – steps to win without pitching
At its core, pitching is parting with your thinking without compensation. Whatever your line of thought about pitches – and whether you engage with them or not – they are a standard part of agency life and you should have a process for dealing with them just like anything else that crosses your path. I…
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‘Big’ Personalities – How to Manage a Top Performer Who Isn’t a Team Player
I read an article in Harvard Business Review recently which I thought was worth a share. As agency leaders and founders, we all want the best people. And despite the call for a ‘culture-fit first’ strategy, there are many times when a person’s talent must outweigh their potentially abrasive personality, especially if their knowledge could…
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Employee Ownership Trusts – what the M&A firms don’t want you to know
I recorded this video with the very brilliant and lovely Rob Metcalfe a few months ago, and it has stuck with me. Rob is Chairman of Richmond & Towers and is in the unique position of having completed not one but two Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) deals in the last year. We explore the ideas, opportunities…
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6 Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty
It would be impossible (and frankly presumptuous) to try and summarise how everyone has felt over the last year, and so instead I reach for the very small but real knowledge I have gleaned from my agency leader clients, of whom all have had to navigate through change, uncertainty, and disruption and have often felt…
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Everything you need to know about over-servicing clients
Take solace (if you can) that over-servicing is something pretty much every agency does. A dirty little secret if you will. Except, it’s not really a secret, more something that has become so commonplace that it often barely registers as a problem. But a problem it is. Recently, I was delighted to welcome a number…
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The Mercury is Rising. A summary of findings for agencies from the jfdi/Opinium New Business Barometer
[cherry_row] [cherry_col size_md=”12″] A tough year for new business, but far from impossible and the mercury is rising. The jfdi/Opinium New Business Barometer tells a story of agencies having to focus hard on upper funnel and being creative when spotting opportunities. But it also hints that new business teams who adapted and focused on core…
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The league table always lies. Ask questions about your success, not just your failures.
A really interesting TEDx Talk from Rasmus Ankersen on the learnings businesses can take from the viewpoint of a professional gambler. His story starts by eloquently walking us through the rise and dramatic fall of Nokia, who went from 50% global market share to just 3% in less than five years. Rasmus considers that businesses…
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Deep Work is likely the most useful thing an agency leader will undertake
It’s likely you have heard the term ‘deep work’ bandied about the place of late. Positioned as an answer to perpetual distraction, multi-tasking and checking phones and emails every few minutes, deep work promises dividends in terms of productivity, employability and happiness. For agency founders and leaders, there is something so undeniably attractive about deep…
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5 things Norwich City can teach us about creating a great culture
Some time ago, I came across an article about a response a seven-year-old had received from Norwich City Football Club. The young fan had written a letter to apologise for not being able to attend her first match and to ask for a refund. A member of the Customer Service team, Emma, had handwritten a…
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Watch: The power of process for agencies with Cat Navarro
Cat Navarro is the guru of process and COO of flown.com. I was lucky enough to speak to her about how agencies can use process to accelerate and streamline their workflows, the importance of great process and some excellent examples on how to break down and tackle process work. Why would you need to do…
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The Truth About Happiness
Happiness is a myth — at least if you look at it the way most people do. Most people see happiness as something they can have under certain conditions, for example: Having lots of friends Living in a beautiful place Getting recognized for accomplishments Whatever they’re chasing, they’re constantly running on a script that goes,…
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Boo! Evil! A very British culture war. Which of the seven types are you?
You can tell if a culture war is present by doing a quick test. Is anyone listening, or are they screaming? Does anyone want a solution? Culture war. It’s something that’s entertaining if you like your politics bloody, unserious and superficial, for it does not involve the desire to convince. If you like war, or…
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Creating a perfect productivity system using pen & paper
Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing my face (and the backdrop of books behind it) on a BlueJeans call will testify to my love of books. I’m often unapologetically thrusting new reads or interesting articles toward my computer camera or posting out books to those I think will enjoy or benefit from them.…
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Watch: Difficult or just different? How agencies can work with Procurement with Tina Fegent
I was joined by living legend, and marketing procurement consultant Tina (not Tuna) Fegent in a discussion about how agencies can work with the enigma that is procurement. My pricing workshop a few weeks ago brought up a common discussion point – procurement. Namely, how agencies can work with them and if it is indeed…
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Perspective: View of the World from 9th Avenue
This New Yorker cover, a 1976 illustration by Saul Steinberg that served as the cover of the March 29, 1976, edition of The New Yorker presents the view from Manhattan of the rest of the world showing Manhattan as the centre of the world. Described as a tongue-in-cheek view of the world, National Post journalist Robert…
