do your timesheets

Time = Money. Who wants to read this? No one, I’m sure. That’s because no one likes to do timesheets.

Let me tell you why you should care. Because you want to make money. Money keeps the agency open – and sharing it makes everyone happy to be there.

One of the ways to make money is to know who is spending it and what they’re spending it on. That comes down to ‘billable hours’ and tracking those hours. Accurately.

Professionals track time. Lawyers do, doctors do (yep, short or long office visits bill differently), and your plumber starts tracking time when he leaves his last job to come to your house and fix your leaky faucet. You are a professional and you should be paid for what you put into a project.

Require all your creative, account and production staff to do timesheets. Every day. No exceptions. I would have partners track time as well - because their time is valuable.

To make that process easy for accounting, and reduce whining from staff, get a centralized system for entering time. There are a lot of terrific systems out there, easy to access, and they pull everything together. Let me know if you need help.

A few suggestions:

-          Every job should have a job number (understanding how different projects accrue time is enlightening)
-          Every time an employee touches a job, they should post time to the job
-          All time must be accurate – not what is estimated, not eight hours because that’s all you ‘work’ in a day – what you actually put in on that job
-          Time entered – at the very least – before staff leaves for the day (it’s even better if they track it as they go
-          Commitment from management to not fold to whining

So you've been profitable? Profits hide a multitude of sins. It’s all great until one day – you’re not profitable and you don’t know why.

Tracking time will give you the foundation to see how many hours are spent on different types of projects, which clients require more hours, and individuals who spend an inordinate amount of time without good reason. (This reveals issues ranging from lack of training to poorly-managed clients.)

Your clients are fee? Is that fee covering the actual hours you’re putting in on that client? Are you over-servicing? Are your clients asking for more value? Or perhaps a reduction in fee? Showing them how much you have put into their projects provides solid evidence when you’re in a review.

Starting the New Year, make the big decision to get ahead. Track time, and then compare it to your estimates.

Oh, you don’t do estimates? You should. We’ll talk about that later.

the world did not end

Since we’re all still here, and perhaps you’re stuck in the office because the powers-that-be decided the office should stay open (but they’re out until after the New Year), spend the next few days and clear some clutter.

Make a list of those pesky things that you really need to get done – and do them while no one is there to bug you – or place judgment as to why you’re rearranging things.

Get rid of old files. Organize your desktop folders. Clean out all that ‘scrap’ for those long gone projects that are filling up hard drives and servers.

Decide on how you want to manage your work, your clients and your colleagues this coming year. Look for ways to make it easier for everyone around you. And actually make an effort to do so.

giving away money

Who, in your agency, is authorized to give your clients something for free? Are you going over and above the defined scope, budget or  perhaps burning through your retainer...regularly?

Here’s a scenario for you: Let’s say you have a defined project. Scope, deliverables, timeline and budgets are set in stone (well, yeah, I know). The client has signed-off.

The project comes in and the ‘well-defined’ brief starts morphing.

An AE or coordinator writes-up the job, and says, ‘see me or AE about details’. Because the scope is written and it’s a hassle to put additional details into a job form. You then have a kick-off meeting and everyone gets the details in their heads (and hopefully, in their notes) and moves forward with their own version of what they just discussed.

AE or coordinator takes a call from the client – perhaps we should do this or that – please explore. That gets passed along to Creative in an email. Still in scope? Yeah…it is. A freebie – by choice.

Bigger question – can we fit in the client's request and still make deadline for first round?  Yes, we’ll work late. But that’s OK because everyone is salary. It costs the same – right? Bring in dinner, get the work done. More freebies.

The next morning, the client calls – they have an emergency meeting, will have to meet after the weekend. Great!!! – more time to tweak. Anywhere along the line, copy / art / direction / strategy get another internal review - because you now have time to do more work! Massive opportunity to provide more free service, and perhaps get in even more work over the weekend.

Along the way, anyone who’s on the project has chosen – on their own – to just go in and do a little more of what they felt should go into the project. They just gave away a little more for free.

Time to present – gather materials and print-out / mount (if you still do that). And because no one seems to ever get materials together until the eleventh-hour, and everyone is in a rush, things have to be re-printed and re-mounted and keynote deck needs revisions. That additional time to massage the work has just added a significant amount of employee hours to the project.

Your presentation goes fabulously, client approves, then you produce.

Hmmm, images were just thumbnails and now the real thing is really expensive and restrictive. Production will require more time and money. Who pays for it? Should have known before you presented. Try to work it out. We have enough “padding” built into the budget. Should be OK. Freebie.

Been there, done that? So have I. The AE didn’t want to revise scope and estimate – because “we were all traveling so fast” and everything seemed to be within scope and budget. All the dollars, with perhaps the exception of production budget, have been spent by the time you do your first presentation.

I have a big issue here. I don’t care if your client is on retainer, or this is your bestest and biggest client, or if your entire staff is salary. You’re just really busy, and still making money. But you have to know how much stuff really costs. Because if you don’t, your client will say; “remember project X that you did? Can you do project Y at the same price?”. And you will say Yes.

So, do you know what that project actually cost?

Well, everyone along the line made personal decisions as to how they would spend their time, and what resources they would use - and they most likely went over budget. How many actually looked at the scope and budget? Do they know how? Is it available to them?

At the very least, a structured process, central documentation, and clear expectations allow those in control of the budget to make informed decisions as to where dollars are spent. And when it’s collaborative, it becomes real-time management.

With a good system in place, you will get a revealing picture of what it actually takes to get your stuff done. 

Then, when all is said and done, take a look at your original scope and budget - and compare them to actuals. The learning never ends.

By the way, require timesheets. Every day. And even though staff is salary, and the regular workday is eight hours, and someone worked 12. Have them put down 12. That is what it actually took to do the job.  

I will not listen to whining about timesheets. 

I keep everything in my head

This is saying you’re indispensable. It's either laziness or arrogance, and it’s a recipe for disaster if something happens to you.

I have been, and will always be, a proponent of a system to document, track and manage jobs that is shared agency-wide. Creating a central location for all of your relevant information is essential to reduce errors, track work, manage budgets, and allow everyone to be ‘in the loop’. Further, a system that provides access for everyone to contribute key data (and they should) will provide a real-time snapshot of all projects.

No more searching for the person who knows what’s going on because they have it all in their head. 

Whether you use a simple system on your server (read: centrally located where others can access it), Google Docs, or a comprehensive software system, your agency will run more efficiently.

I can guarantee that if you do not have a central repository of client/job information, schedule or budget, your colleagues have some sort of ‘system’ on their computers that they devised (or downloaded) to track their work. Everyone needs a little structure because the alternative is chaos.

So if you’re keeping it in your head, your colleagues are wasting their time also managing work – in their own way.

And a couple other points: put a process in place – basic rules for everyone to follow as to structure and expectations of your centralized system. Email was not made for managing work. Don’t keep project-pertinent information on your laptop and think that is OK.

Think collaboration. Everyone will work better, smarter and faster when information is shared. 

LinkedIn Profile Buzzwords

The 10 Most Overused Words in LinkedIn Profiles was published recently.

When I saw the list, I thought I had used them all. But alas, I only used one out of ten. So I re-read my profile and it seemed…I don’t know, stuffy, corporate. Maybe I need to re-write it.

The problem here is that we have a generally accepted lexicon that explains what we do, to others who are in our line of business. So what do we do to differentiate ourselves? Well the author tells us we should list our accomplishments.  However that can bloat a profile from buzzwords into a full-blown resume – long version. No one wants to (or will) pore over my accomplishments…whatever. So we use those handy words that everyone uses and we all sound the same – sort of.

So in an effort to remove buzzwords/jargon/corporate-speak – and not fire-up the thesaurus – I decided to rewrite my bio in the most basic un-buzzed-worded-way I could. And without writing the story of my life.

Here goes:

I have been in advertising and marketing for 35 years
I know how to spot things that are going wrong and tell people how to fix them
I know how to keep people from killing each other at work
I know how to budget, schedule, defend quality, and make people do their jobs
I also know how to draw and design
I know how to use software
I have worked for large and small companies
I am worth the money you will pay me

Now tell me, would a client, human resources professional, or hiring manager even consider hiring me? I think we're stuck with buzzwords.

Entry-level Traffic & Project Management

For some reason, I’ve seen a lot of agencies and marketing departments hire an entry-level individual for project management – and then call it traffic.

It’s a cheap way to get someone on staff to follow up on jobs. Just hire someone to keep a calendar and nag everyone.

The thinking is that traffic or project management isn’t a super-important job and you just need a body to remind everyone of deadlines. Or perhaps run stuff around the agency for approval. Or remind staff to read their email and check a proof. Pay is often at the lowest level, and title is often appended with ‘coordinator’ so the low pay is justified.

This is the person whose job it is to make sure your stuff gets done.

I have no doubt that entry-level PMs or Traffic work to keep on top of things as they learn what’s important and what is BS. Alliances are hard to figure out for the un-initiated because they have a lot of bosses. And a lot of bullies. This is a job for those who are thick-skinned, diligent, and brokers of peace.

Bravo for those who can quickly figure out whose agenda is surfacing. And to know when to pull warring factions together in one room to duke-it-out when they’re arguing through the approval process – rather than being the one to run interference.

A well trained and experienced PM or TM will make sure projects get done on time, on budget and correct. They understand the business, your client, budgets, deadlines, branding, what works and what does not (plus a whole lot more). They ensure you make money. Why would you bet your profit on an entry-level employee?

An experienced PM will provide plenty of warning – and documentation – of projects going sideways. If Account or Creative want to blow budgets, deadlines or change direction, that is their choice. An experienced PM has already warned them of the consequences.

Hire an experienced Project Manager and pay them well. Bring in entry-level employees to assist them. Get a good process in place. 

And management: support your PMs. They deal with everyone in your agency – so you don't have to.

Listen to Complaints

We know the adage that if you listen to a complaint you become part of the problem. The problem with that thinking is that complainers still complain. And make life difficult for those around them. And hold up progress.

But on the flip-side, they may have a valid complaint. Maybe there is something wrong, we’re not looking at it the right way (their way), or they actually have a suggestion for an improvement but no one is listening.

And then again, there are chronic complainers. That’s for another post.

When I work with a client, I like to get right into the complaint department. The fastest way to solve a problem is to find out what is wrong. Listen without preconceived ideas (such as – this person is NEVER happy), and get all that stuff out of the way. If there is something wrong, assess it and address it. It may be one of the Trifecta of Issues: process, tools or people.

Process can be modified (do get everyone compliant on the program). Most issues are with those who skirt process and cause others to have to either cover the gap or run around trying to figure out what’s going on.

Tools you use can be a huge issue. Just like process, get everyone using the same tools – the same way. Consistency is key to ensure everyone has access to ALL the information.  There could be issues with tools like software that isn’t configured right or hard to use – or staff was never properly trained to use it. (My pet peeve).

People is often the tough one. Once expectations are clear, training is done, and everyone understands what and how they should work – those who don’t want to work with the program will surface quickly. Those who don’t understand will surface as well. Not everyone is cut out to be a PM or producer. And as I truly believe, this is not a job for beginners.

In the end, experienced staff should be able to manage work without complaints (other than the minor daily crap). If complainers continue, check the top two items (process and tools), then address the third item. Hear them out, and provide them with an opportunity to fix their attitude.  Without the fix, they demoralize everyone around them. Keep in mind, there are a lot of great, experienced people who would love to work for you – without complaint.