Timesheets are a predictor of your company’s ability to streamline operations and use Workamajig to its full potential in the same way that a child’s reading level by the second grade is a predictor of their success in education. You need to have a time entry policy clearly defined before going live with this system. More importantly, you must have controls in place to manage this process, and make sure they are being adhered to. Many companies look for creative incentives to encourage proper time entry. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but ultimate success will come from the top of your organization.

It is easy for a president or manager to say they think time entry is important, but actions speak louder than words. I am not advocating a system for punishment. Rather, top management must create a chain of accountability for adhering to this process. That means they must buy-in, and hold their staff accountable to this ideal. No employee wants to sit in a closed door meeting with their boss to discuss time entry. Better yet, managers don’t want to sit in a closed door session with their company president and be held responsible for staff not adhering to a time policy. The motivation becomes clear and you will discover that we may be talking about your organization’s ability to execute more than we are talking about time entry.

So why are timesheets so important anyway? Workamajig is a comprehensive system. All members of your team log in to a system and rely on the information they need to be accurate. Time entry forms the basis for most information in your system. If your team cannot rely on its accuracy, then they will not rely on Workamajig for information. Your efforts for Workamajig success begin to erode at this early stage of acceptance, and your investment just became a machine your employees feel obligated to feed — rather than a tool to align multiple departments managing complicated information towards a common goal.

Daily time entry also tends to drive data and process in well-managed Workamajig systems. Time entry can be utilized to evaluate progress on a project, communicate task workload to other employees, and keep real-time monitoring of project budgets. This marvel of efficiency and communication will be as effective as your teams time entry.

Workamajig does not solve your business’s problems. It does not make your company run more effectively. Workamajig is the most effective tool you have, however, to manage a complicated business. It is a tool, best capable of mirroring the discipline and process your are willing to manage in your organization. Maybe your team isn’t “there” yet. For those groups, Workamajig proves it value and creates a bridge to take your organization to a higher standard of operation.

Workamajig is a powerful tool and will require an investment of your time to learn and manage it properly. You will find it to be a continuing education, one that can help you establish and refine your company’s most precious intangible asset: information. Proceed cautiously and don’t expose your team to the growing pains of learning a new system if you do not feel confident in your time entry policy and your ability to execute it effectively.

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Tony created Second Wind as a Second Life to help smaller agencies, and brings classically-trained advertising expertise into your ad agency. Tony will talk to us today about ‘How do we run this business?’. You have to understand the essence of the agency business. In order to do that, you have to have a history lesson and understand what is happening today. This will allow you to run the agency business in the future. Advertising began with the expansion of the United States in the 19th Century. Publishers sold ad space to agents traveling and selling that space thereafter. Francis Ayer, in 1911, convinced Curtis Publishing to agree to a standard agency contract, because there were no standards at the time. So, instead of buying the ad in, and reselling at a markup, he would allow accredited buyers to receive what became the legitimate agency commission of 15%. The agency had to have multiple clients and be creditworthy. The exclusive 15% commission was the jewel of the crown for this business. Agencies simply placed media and the new media of the day: Magazines. By 1918, agencies had also taken over the creative role. Albert Lasker came along to make his name in advertising. Lasker decided that the copy provided by the brands wasn’t worth anything. Remember this is in a time when there was no commercial marketplace. Lasker created what he called ‘Reason-why’ copy. Prior to that, copy was merely informative. Lasker was working above a tavern in Chicago’s Loop district. A guy runs in calling for Mr. Lasker, with a note. The note was asking Mr. Lasker if he knew what advertising was? It was from John E. Kennedy. They meet and Lasker then controlled every major account in the United States. Lasker retired in 1941 to work for Roosevelt. He wanted to close the agency because no one can do it better than him. His employees convinced him, however, to sell them his clients. That agency is still in Chicago. After Lasker the relationship was between the agency and client — the publisher was on the outside. Once the relationship is in place, you need Account Service. J. Walter Riley furthered this development. He was a navy man, and hired only navy men for Account Service. In 1926, the radio broadcast began and ushered in the golden age of advertising. Agencies made money in three different ways: Media commissions, Marked-up costs, and Time. These combined equal your Billings. All Direct Costs are subtracted to equal your AGI (Agency Gross Income). Subtract your overhead and you now have your EBIT (earning before tax). Markups and commissions are disappearing. We are now looking more and more about billing time.

Today we have ‘Barbarians at the Gates’. Let’s analogize Advertising to Rome. No one could get into to Rome, but the Barbarians are trying to get in. Once the gates opened and they arrived, Rome was over. Who are the Barbarians now? The Media. They are telling their clients to go direct instead of through the ad agency. They are becoming our competition. What else is diminishing the industry? There are 32,000 ad agencies. Small and smart. We need to thin the herd. What else? The vendor. When you turn down a vendor for a service, what do they do? They then go to your client. Finally, our clients are reducing our income. You bring in your creative and the client says, here, look at mine. The greatest Barbarian of our industry is “the new consumer”. They are very empowered. They do not take well to our message. They do not want hyperbole. They are in control of the process and they don’t like the process! They don’t like marketing. The consumer is now directing where marketing will go. There are 73 Million Pigs in the Python — the baby boomers. They bought all of the Elvis and Beatles records; Raccoon Hats and Hoola Hoops. They have controlled the world. They questioned the world. They don’t trust anyone over 30. How did all this happen? Blame Al Gore and his Internet. That ushered in a Power Shift. The marketer used to control the process. The control now is held at the Marketing Channel. But not for long. The Consumer will soon have it back. There is no where to hide. We are now talking about serving the Empowered Consumer.

What’s an agency manager to do? Why do we have Workamajig? It exists because it is very robust up front. You can open projects, create an estimate, create a timeline, issue purchase orders. Well, now, efficiently finally counts. In 2010 and beyond, we will get more efficient. How will this happen? We will look at the Financial Statement. Tony prefers to mirror income accounts with related cost of goods/direct cost account to derive a billing equation. This gives you your AGI and you can measure the relationship between your billings and AGI. This percentage can vary depending on how much media you have but the median is 46%. Then you have Owner’s salaries and Employee’s salaries. The arithmetic median for employees is 18 employees. Second Wind is largely for agencies under 100 employees. All numbers will come from your AGI. Payroll will need to be below AGI. Total payroll should be no more than 50%. It is less than that for Second Wind Members. If AGI is 100%, 50% is salary. Your EBIT should be 20%. Not many can do this, but it is where you should be if you can be efficient.

So we will focus on billing time. There is about 20% slippage — hours worked that are unable to be billed. We have to fix this and recover this slippage. We need to setup systems, processes and procedures to enable this to happen. We have to look seriously at this factor because we are losing all of our other sources of revenue. Let’s be serious about this.

So how do we become more efficient? Try to improve your work flow process. Tony’s job in his agency was getting the elephant through the key hole. First, all jobs will have a number. No number, no worky. You have to enforce that. You need strong Creative Briefs. This enables you to look past the facts and into the insights. Here are the solutions to the problem. Less fear to provide three things when one will do. Second Wind has a course on how to do this properly. What is Account Planning? Superior knowledge of the end user — understanding the client’s client. The epitome on Account Planning is the brief. We need to be stronger on this process (contact tony@secondwind.com). In addition, we have to adapt critical path management in your agency. What’s this? Creating a timeline. We identify all interim steps (Workamajig Tasks) along the way. It makes your life more organized. One timeline is not tough. Integrating 30 timelines and deciding who goes when is tough. You need a solid traffic system for this. The only way you will survive in this agency is to have command of all projects in your house proactively. Tony suggests a Daily Update. No one likes the Monday Morning Meeting. Move the meeting to once a month, 4-7, babysitting provided. Number 1: we ate. Number 2: we b!tched. Number 3: we brought someone in. Number 4: The Wall. Anytime we did a job of note, it went on the wall. So that people could then write their notes, tear the wall down and bring it to the meeting to motivate people to get better. The Daily Update replaced the weekly meeting. About 3:30 in the afternoon the Traffic Managers would try to resettle the day and plan the next day. The AE’s come in from their day. Tell the Traffic Manager what you need, without trying to finesse them. They then can figure out what needs to be done the next day and deliver hot sheets to each desk. This is concluded with a ten minute meeting the next day to review and make sure everyone can do the hit list. Every day. Same procedure. Ten minutes. Tony is advocating taking your slippage time and storing it in another project so that it can be added to other projects later. This is to help you respect your time more.

Estimating. Estimate by Task. You can build them from scratch or use your Workamajig Template. You need to do it Task by Task in order to properly estimate projects as they are coming through. It is what you use to build a new estimate. It can be enhanced by what you know historically (through projects), or you can look at the last job, etc. We have estimating in three categories: Time (how many hours at each task, what do we sell that hour at, what is the extended price); Outside Purchases (vendor costs, marked up; what’s the net, what’s the gross); and Miscellaneous Costs (postage, lunch, etc.). With these you should be able to create a line by line estimate. You should do this for all Projects. Once created, you shouldn’t give it to the client. Give the client a one line estimate with a great description. When you itemize the client goes a la carte; “I’ll hire my brother in law to do this, etc.”.. Some do not agree with this process, but the Estimate should be compressed for the client, expanded for the agency. Once the estimate is approved, you can run one of the most important reports that you can run and allow the employees to see the estimate. Do not worry about the employees knowing what you are making: BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KNOW. So the greatest report would be your electronic job jacket showing the estimate figures, schedule and brief, etc. This is Project Central in Workamajig. Your employees should be reviewing these projects. They need to be recording time on a daily basis. If they don’t have it in by 9:30 the next morning, you might send them home. Time must be entered to manage this. You also want all receipts from Credit Cards in immediately. All costs should be entered as Purchase Orders with pre-pricings. If you have this data you can manage Estimate vs. Actual at any time. We have the capability to do this. The question is are you tough enough to do it? It’s not fun to work this way. We would rather live like the set of Mad Men. But its no longer the world we live in. So, if your actuals are entered you can managed them. Workamajig notifications can alert you if we are endanger of approaching the Estimate. We may need to reapproach our estimate. We’re gonna do everything we can to avoid addressing this when we are billing the project. If you are managing this actively then you have control over the slippage and is transferred to a dummy account. That time is now more likely to be billed as opposed to staying in inventory forever.

But not only that. Make sure you are making money on every hour you bill. You could run an agency Greek Restaurant style: lose money here, gain it back there. Your rates should be based on a calculation. Take someone’s salary; divide it by the number of billable hours you want them to bill in a year. He uses 1600 hours. This is a necessity. Not everyone in the agency can do this (overhead). Multiply this by an overhead factor. How do we gain this? By taking all expenses, not including payroll, but include non-direct payroll, multiply it by the factor you want to make (accountants say 3). In this way you are prescribing your profit up front. What if this number is too high? Pay moderately, and expect them to bill their time more effectively. Using these numbers can help you to determine if you are paying people too much, they aren’t working enough, etc. If you can get 20 points from your AGI you shouldn’t be in business — it’s like kissing you sister, no thrill.

Markups. What’s the difference between a markup and a margin? You need to know this. (moved topics too quickly)

Diary. Keep updates to the project here. Workamajig has this. The Diary is important to tell everyone what is going on with the project. “I’m going to tell you what the client said so you want begin that second comp, that we can’t use and give to the client”.

Digital Assets. There are so many files you can never find them. How much time is wasted finding these files.

Billing. There are a number of ways to bill a client. Advanced Billing per an Estimate. This is good. Get the money up front. Cash is King. Remember you have to make payroll. The trouble for this method is you look like a vendor, instead of a thought leader. Another good system is monthly to date billing. At the end of the month, we bill the time in the job. Finally, you can do rolling billing. Within 48 hours of job completion you bill it. You don’t want the billing sitting around. The Account Manager holds on to it. You bill it as you get it. The typical turn on receivables in agencies is 54 days, where terms are normally 30 days. If you use all of these billing methods where appropriate, Tony promises your turn rate will improve by 12 days. Workamajig is a great tool for this. The problem is us. Not the software.

Retainers. Type 1, the client pays you over and above the project work in recognition of the work you do. Type 2 are panthers. The full retainer. It’s a cage you step into with a panther because you have the fixed rate and it gets over used by the client. If you use this method you have to install a ceiling and floor. You have to communicate up front. The agreement should state what the dollar value for each hour is, etc. Then, “if you over use us by 10%, there is no extra bill (bill sent if more); if under use, no refund, but credit for those hours”. Even Steven.

Risked based compensation. It’s all the rage. The deal says that the agencies compensation is at risk up front, based on performance measured on the results. The client will look for sales or profit increases. You can’t be responsible for that. You can put people in the seats, you are generating the leads. That is the way it can work. You have to set the parameters, and they have to be where you are in co-control. No hard costs in the deal — all billed at net or with a markup. The time is at risk. Whatever you give up in the front end, you want to regain plus an additional 20% since you took the risk (a bonus).

An agency manager needs to be able to manage. You need to be able to review the profitability of client accounts, projects and the overall profitability of the agency.

What else is there to consider? You need to be strategic partners with your clients. You cannot be vendors for your companies. Large companies are moving towards procurement offices, beating down your service rates. Become a partner. Not a service provider. Be one who is involved with the client’s marketing plan; read it, help with it, or write it. You must be able to help them move their brand to recognition.

Good agencies bring a brand forward and communicate the brand promise to their consumer. You are also a brand activator — you can implement the brand to the proper mediums. You are a convergence agency. There are many agencies that can deliver a brand but cannot activate it within the the new marketplace. There are many new media shops that can activate a brand but never build it. You need to do both.

Finally, you must do new business with a passion.

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What about the AE making communication to the Client? You can go to the Project Diary and create a new Activity and enter the message. It functions and appears much like an email. You only have space to enter one Project — what if you discussed more than one Project? Technically, you could copy/paste to multiple entries. However, if you click on the Links tab, you can add links to those Projects to accomplish this same goal.

Specifications can be used to store communication and details about the project. Some are pre-loaded into your system. They can be entered at the Opportunity level, The Project Request level, or at the Project level. You can always add additional Specs. You can custom create the fields for any custom Spec Sheet. Actual project specs can also be copied to other Projects.

The next area we can add communication in the Project is Files. Users are always looking for best practices for managing the Files in the Project. Workamajig recommends a period debriefing, closing, archival part of a project. During the process you can purge the files from your projects, and maybe keep a thumbnail. The intent of Files is to have a forum to drop and share files for Employee, Clients and/or Vendors. You can save drafts and revisions of files here. You can assign rights to the Files and create subfolders for them. For example you could have a folder for Draft Copy and one for Final Copy. Security for Draft Copy could be set to all Security Groups because the access restrictions typically are not as important or critical (except access for the Client). The Final Art could be set to high level security, such as the AE. These rights and file structures can be set up in your Project Templates. So folder structuring is the first element that we learn in managing files in Workamajig. You click on the relevant folder in order to then add a file to your system. The file will be saved in that folder, and you can use the browse button to look up the file. There is an option to use version control called Store Prior Versions — Workamajig will track your versions so that you can check out the file make changes and no one can effect the file until you upload a new version. You can notify people that you are doing this. Once it is saved it is viewable. You can view who has accessed the file; prior versions and upload a new version as long as the file is checked back in. You can also move files around from one folder to another, such as a drop-box where all files are dropped, and then someone with proper rights can then redirect those files to the appropriate folder. You can also search files across all projects. The search tool can utilize “.pdf” for example to search for all .pdf’s in your system. You can set up file attributes such as “Quicktime”, etc. to aid in searching. Once the file is complete, it could be set up as a Digital Art Review. You can open the file and click the command line for the Digital Art Review and it will automatically create a new review. Here you are able to set who will be notified of this review. There is an option for users to see comments by each reviewer. Next you can set the order of the review. It can go in a selected order of people or it can go to an entire selected group at once. As you add employees to the review process, you use a lookup tool that will by default pull up all individuals assigned to the project. Click on each person that needs to be included on the review. Before you add an item for review, you have to select a file type. The File Type for Downloadable File will allow you to upload a new item, or use an existing digital asset from the Project. Once the file is selected (your originating file was already added) you can submit for approval. Now the My Approvals widget will have a Review item added to it according to your approval process. Once you pull up a review for approval/rejection, you are able to set an approval status (customizable). The first three options will keep the Review open and active (Approved, Approved with comments, See Comments and Resubmit). If Rejected is selected, the Review will stop and the routing process will not continue. This doesn’t matter if you send to all people at once. The user can type in comments and select an Approval. The user can also add their own attachment. If you route the approval then the next user would see both files and your comments. What is the difference between the option to ‘Save Comments’ versus ‘Complete Review’? Save Comments allows you to save your comments and progress of the review in cases where you have typed data and have multiple items to review (you have run out of time). So you don’t lose your progress. Complete Review progress the Review Process. You can go directly to Digital Art Review to create a new review process. A user can open the existing review to view the status to see if it is complete.

Note that many of these communication tools are viewable on Workamajig’s Mobile Site.

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Back to the Schedule and Task screen. There are new options that will be added to the Details section for any given highlighted task. When you click on People, you can view the Employees assigned to the task. Now the Traffic Scheduling view will be a part of this view. Another view to consider is the Task Summary view, which displays a list of Projects and Tasks. It provides a grid to view all of your projects and task dating. There will be changes to this part of the system and it will move into Flash.

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We proceed to the estimating screen (this is from the upcoming, new estimating module). The Way advocates storing Estimates within your templates. The templates are housed with standard services or roles. The tasks and services viewed on the estimate are the result of your agency determining a standard that can be applied to all projects that will use that template. They can certainly be updated, but they are the foundation. For each project you are trying to plug in your best guess for how many hours you think it will take to complete the project. Also, you can set up multiple estimates in your template to account for the various levels of scope. Each scope would have more or less hours allocated to the given tasks and/or services your are estimating for. Alternatively, you could create multiple tasks that each house one estimate reflective of the scope level. The idea is that the template is your knowledge base.

What is the Schedule? The schedule consists of our tasks. You can add tasks, and infinite levels of sub-tasks. A new element being added to the schedule is that you can change the name directly in the grid. Also, the task id’s will automatically be created for you. Workamajig advocates assigning the roles to your tasks within the template. You can do this by adding actual people or placeholder people, such as “Copyrighter” or “Art Director”. The users are non-chargeable (free licenses), that can be setup through employees. Simply leave their login data blank. Next, we have set the number of days (duration) each task will take. You can use your actual, historical data to help develop the number of days each template should house. Tip: you can create a Rush template copied from a typical template of any type, where the durations are set to be much shorter. Keep your typical template durations realistic and use them as a guide for client service, and helping keep client expectations realistic for when a project can be turned around. In the schedule we can link tasks together to create dependencies, or predecessor relationships. This keeps one task from beginning until another has ended. These relationships help manage your schedule and ultimately can help Workamajig determine which projects are in danger of not being completed by the Project Completion date. For the majority of the projects we do, we can develop good templates that work for us. There are exceptions of course for longer projects that are more complex. In this case you can go in add new tasks on the fly. Workamajig is making this easier. Now when you add tasks, you can have access to your templates, and view task structures within them to add new tasks to a Project. That’s pretty exceptional, essentially eliminating any need for master tasks. Keep in mind that these tasks are being added after the project has been opened, and are drag-and-drop. New views will enable you to view your schedule as a calendar and gantt chart, both of which will be printable. The new ‘way’ for the schedule and tasks will allow you to easily reassign and/or allocate hours to your staff by clicking directly into the grid by clicking on a new ‘eye’ icon. Once you have assigned tasks to people, it is important to utilize the My Tasks widget on your desktop so that people will know they are assigned to tasks. The My Task widget is not only a method of communicating tasks. By pushing the tasks to their Desktop, they simply input a number of hours spent, select a service, and optionally update the percentage complete, click save and the time entry is added to their timesheet automatically for them. There is no easier way to enter time. You should require your staff to enter time in this way because entering time on a daily basis is the best way to ensure accurate time entry. The ultimate goal we are setting is to manage by exception: set the standards and manage the deviations from it.

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What is Project Management anyway? Tasks may vary but the principles are the same across all agencies. It doesn’t matter the medium; you have a strategy and objective; you have estimates and approvals; creative development and execution. They are the same steps in the larger picture. Project Management is a discipline that brings multiple disciplines together. A Project Manager is making sure people are doing what they should be doing when they should be doing it, and addressing issues along the way.

Principles of Project Management

1. it is all based on the Project Triangle: Scope, Time, and Cost parameters. All of these effect the Quality of a Project. The Project Manager addresses these issue which ‘tip’ this Triangle in various directions.

2. Some of the other principles are Having a Defined Process. Think about toddlers on a soccer field versus kids getting older who have learned how to play their position? One may be fun to watch, but it is certainly not effective, or profitable.
3. You need a Clear Communication of that Process. Some agencies have processes but they haven’t been properly communicated.
4. You need Clarity on Roles of Expectations
5. A department dedicated to the agency’s product (internally focus).
6. Project Managers are a Hub of Information
7. Management supported – true Project Management occurs when you have high-level manager buy in.

What are the benefits of Project Management? It is a Central Source of Information. You can find clear Direction on a Project, Schedule, etc. You are able to manage your Timelines, Scope, Budgets, etc.

Project Management – The Progressive Approach – Project Management has evolved due to the ever-changing media landscape. The industry is more focused now on collaboration. We are no longer ‘just a print ad’, or a ‘TV spot’, with the advent of social mediums. We have become a media-agnostic and cross channel industry. There are many more shared assets and elements being used. We also, now, have strategies within strategies. We have a strategy for digital, creative, media, etc. strategies that work autonomously. In conclusion, we are changing the way we get things done.

So, back to ‘Doing it right the first time around’. Have you heard of ‘Penny wise and pound foolish’? or more positively, “measure twice; cut once’. We use these because they make sense. Take a few extra steps up front and significantly reduce the chance for error. Mistakes are expensive. Process and Project management ensure a greater chance of doing the job well and doing properly. Let’s talk about the word ‘Streamlining’. People here this and immediately think that peoples and steps will be cut from the process. If you exclude people you are doing it wrong the first time around. In order to streamline, we define process so everyone follows the same rules of engagement. This is not meant to be rigid or inflexible. It’s about efficiency and consistency. Efficiency does not mean skipping steps; just putting thought into your steps the first time around. So what are the actual roles of Project Management? The keys to success are defining the roles and primary objective of each area (Traffic, Production, etc.). But keep in mind there is gray area in the agency world. So Project Management is a being a steward of the agency process versus Account Management who is a steward of the client and the client’s business. Producers are the stewards of the idea amplification and execution. Defining your roles does not mean creating an assembly line. You need to define milestones but they also have to be managed. No system can do it for you but they can add value. This is where Workamajig comes into play. It helps support our definition of roles, clarify process and create a standard protocol.

Keys to Success in Project Management

Using the right tools. For agency management, complete understanding and visible support are required for success.

Question and Answer Session (summary)

If you create process there needs to be recourse for not following process or it will not be followed. Agencies have been creative with this. One agency created a virtual dog house on digital display in their lobby for all to see. The key culture is that ‘we have roles and responsibilities; if you cannot do these things, then you are not welcome here’.

How do you handle external effects on your timeline or budget from the client? Everyone should have an understanding of your process. Clients want ‘better, faster, cheaper’. They should understand your process so that you can address when they are falling outside of it.

How do you get Account Managers from promising deadlines that cannot happen. Management must support the agency deadlines. They cannot commit while in with the client. Return to the agency and then go back to the client and present them with options. Share your schedule with clients.

How many tasks should be input to a schedule? You should use top-level data when possible. Be wary of adding too many tasks.

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Mike begins by telling us about Workamajig Labs, available to Conference Attendees May 1. It will be added to System Setup. You will view new features and can opt to deploy these features or not. Each user, who has the security rights, can turn on their lab items at the user level if the Company decides not to at a Company level.

There are two ways you can intake a project based on how projects come into an agency. The distinction hasn’t been clear, but now will be. You can use a Project Request, or by setting up an Estimate in the Opportunity Screen.

Project Requests – typically begins with a client login requesting the new project. This is the electronic method to route the new Project to the proper parties. The system knows who the user is and populates their user data accordingly to setup notification of Approval/Rejection of the Request. The next screen displays predefined Specs that the client can fill out. Then, the Client has the option to add additional files or specs that were not a part of the predefined process. Finally, the Client clicks the Complete Request function which sets the Approval Process rules into place (predefined by Request). The Request can be edited by the reviewer if desired. Once approved, you can click “Create Project” to then create a project from the Request. A notification will be sent to the Requestor. The Specs are copied over from the Request. The key point to adding a Project throughout the Request is that an Estimate is not generating.

Using CRM – Most agencies need to provide an Estimate for new work. Some AE’s do this themselves. Other agencies have Estimates routed to a Traffic Manager, or have a meeting to understand the Scope of Work and figure out the details in order to accurately build an Estimate. We are revisiting the Opportunity created in an earlier session. If the sales manager is capable of creating an Estimate they can do so from the Opportunity. The central question is will the Opportunity Estimate be creating one Project or is it for a Campaign? You must select one or the other from this screen. We use Project first. Save, then add a new Activity prompting someone (you add the user) to provide an Estimate for the Opportunity (if you cannot do the Estimate yourself). The user can then open the Opportunity to Estimate. You can set a billing layout for the Estimate. If the Estimate is Project Based, then you can establish a Template to be used if the Opportunity is converted into a Project. The User can add Billing Items and customize the default verbiage that is populated then on the Estimate. This is a translation between AE and Workamajig. The Items themselves are used to group services and production items into categories, such as “Agency Fees”.

We’ve added a new Estimate input screen that is now in Flash. Looks good, and is much more user friendly and customizable. Once the Estimate is complete it can be submitted for approval to the AE (if the Traffic Manager, is entering the Estimate). Notification is sent to the AE. Mike notes that you can now change the Task name from within the Estimate thereby updating your Template prior to intake as a Project. When the Estimate is Approved, notification is sent, and the Opportunity can be converted into a Project.

Reopen the Opportunity and click on the Estimate tab. Since it is a Project Estimate, click convert, and the Opportunity will be added as a Project. You will be able to enter a name for the Project. You can also specify a Client ID to be added to your Contact/Company records, if they did not exist before. The new project has been opened. There are no prompts for copying a template because we did so through the Estimate.

Now let’s assume that an estimate is being set up for what will treated as a Campaign. Simply click on this option while adding an Estimate to the Opportunity. An option for multiple Segments (new option) will appear. This is where you add the various elements that will apply to the Campaign (for example, Media, Interactive, Creative). Each Segment has a Segment Detail. Each can be linked to a Project Type, which allows you to default Estimating services.

We can enter Estimates for a Campaign from the top down, or from the bottom up. We begin by creating top down. We create a new estimate and now view segments along the left side of the screen, as opposed to the tasks displayed through the Project way. For each segment, the services are listed. So essentially, you are entering Estimates for multiple deliverables from one screen. Once approved, and then converted, you will be asked for a Campaign ID, and Client ID. Once converted, you are directed to a new Campaign screen. From this screen you can manage the Campaign budget and add Projects at the Segment level.

If you want to create a Campaign Estimate from the bottom up, you would add a new project the traditional way. The projects are being created for the Segments individually, and added to the Campaign Estimate.

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It’s expensive. It causes agencies to sacrifice respect. Self-respect and Client respect. Sacrificing the position of the firm. You should be able to position yourself as experts. Because, you are giving away your highest product. You should go into the engagement as the expert, not the order-taker-supplier. This can all be distilled into one word: Control. Blair is going through an example. Client puts a gun to the Agency’s head, saying “If I don’t get your best work, you are going to die”. Then, the Client says, what can I do to make this happen (to get your best work)?”. The client would want complete freedom to be themselves and do things their way, along with complete access to everyone needed at the Client. This is control. You need to go into each prospective engagement with this position in mind. Business Development is nothing more than the ‘polite battle for business control’. Client should recognize and value your expertise and methods used to achieve your goal. If the Client doesn’t recognize this, you should walk away. The pitch, is the client-driven selection process. Control is with the client and you are not free to perform at your optimal level. We are seeing that our bad habits are ingrained into our sales process. The WWP philosophy has the agency control method built into it. The Four P’s of Business Development: Postioning, Product, Process, and Personnel.

Positioning: claim of expertise that you are making to the world. Strategy, articulated in this claim: we are experts at ________. It is the foundation of business success, and the root of its failures.
Product: what comes next. The ability to prove your claim of expertise. You can no longer be all things to all people, unless you do not face positioning at all. This is what many people in the agency world do — make a statement so broad that it is meaningless.
Process: policies and protocol of ‘how’ we will and will not go about getting new business. From lead generation, to categorizing and closing.
Personnel: who. How do we assign the new business development people? How do we support them?

What is the cost of creativity? It shows up in positioning. Why is it so hard to get a Principal to focus? It is not in their nature. If you want to strengthen your position, then, you need to narrow your focus. This is why agency’s new business isn’t working. The people in charge (typically the Agency Principal) isn’t interested in repeating the same issue over and over again. Agency Principal’s are interested in solving new issues and being creative.

Blair’s job in his consulting is ‘putting the bridle on the mustang’ — to harness the focus of the creative principal, to realize their full potential and point them in one direction.

How Info Moves Through CRM

Lead – everything begins here. Name on a list or an inbound inquiry. You don’t know them. Can be a chaotic system. This is the first stage of CRM in a buying cycle. As soon as they are converted to a phone call and determine where they are in the buying cycle, converted into the Contact and Account (the company). The job in converting the lead is to get accurate information and determine if there is an Opportunity to perform work for them. You cannot create a new Opportunity without setting up a Next Step. You are forced to do so. All Opportunities have an Outcome: Closed/Won; Closed/Lost; Closed/Slipped (important: Opportunities where you didn’t win; didn’t lose, but nobody won them because they were never actually there).

You want to have Campaigns set up and know which of your Contacts were gained from which Campaigns (email marketing, newsletters, etc.). Activities will be set up to track contact and reporting.

Agencies grade their Opportunities, loosely as Hot, Warm and Cold. What are the qualifications to grade them then? Examples: Have we met with the client? Does the client have a budget? Have we presented a proposal (Blair wants to end this step)? This step doesn’t need to be used in the Sales, Development Cycle. What are the ramifications of setting up such metrics? You will get more of whatever you are measuring. If you grade opportunities by getting meetings, for example, you will find that you have many more meetings. The problem is that meetings don’t mean more clients. You should meet with new clients at the appropriate time. But if New Business compensation is based on new meetings, then you will get a high quantity and a low quality of those meetings. If we removed meetings from the sales process, we can eliminate a lot of unnecessary costs. It is hard to break out of the habit of generating proposals and setting meetings, etc. Some of the most successful firms continue to use this despite lack of any need to seek new business.

3 Steps to WWP

1. Change the power structure in the buy/sell through Positioning.
2. Evolve your role as the client moves through the buying cycle
3. Offer alternative forms of reassurance – closing is all about reassuring

Who has the Power in the Relationship? Agency or Client? Client. Where does the client’s power come from? Most say it is because the client has the money. Not true. If Bill Gates has a problem, and all the money in the world — what if he has no one to help him with his problem? He can send an RFP to 12 companies. His power to do this is not from money. It comes from available substitutes. If you do not participate in the selection process, someone will. We are in oversupply. How do we get the power back? Positioning. It’s not about what you say; it is about how they see you. Remember: we are in the Positioning business (we forget this for our own firm). The benefits of differentiation are the ability to command a price premium. If you can establish Positioning there are no longer any available substitutes. Bill Gates becomes more likely to give us more control. Now you must demonstrate your expertise. Visualize pouring bottled water into a) a casserole dish versus b) a pilsner glass. Who has the depth? Which one is flat? This is a difficult step — in which way do we focus.

Evolve your role – Buying is changing. Change happens in stages. Certain methods of change only work in specific stages in the buying cycle (there are 6 stages; 9 methods). Help the unaware. Inspire the interested. Reassure the intent. It is not your job to convince someone to hire you. It is your job to convince someone of your expertise. It is the client’s job to determine if they would like to move forward. You should let them feel at ease to say no at any stage of the buying cycle. But offer them the opportunity to get your monthly newsletter, for example, in order to bring them awareness of your expertise. When you are making sales inquiries, you have to make sure you do not mistake interest for intent. You are skilled, already, at inspiring interest. Many times you are pitching interested clients who haven’t developed the intent to move forward. Forming the intent to take action is necessary, but it is also inspiring to the client. These heightened emotions can lead to a fear of future ‘buyer’s remorse’. Closing is about reassuring the client’s intent, and that this will not happen. The client will be questioning their intent and the potential for failure. What the client is looking for late in the buying cycle is to determine if you have done this before. They want to know that you work from a defined methodology. When the questions arise, you answer them in a way that demonstrates that you know what your are doing. This demonstrates little variation in process equals little variation in outcome. Blair and WMJ’s methodology is about not focusing on what you are doing to get new business but identifying where the client is in the buying cycle.

Offering Reassurance – The client has a fear that they made a big mistake in hiring you. They begin to ask you to do a list of ridiculous things: ask for salary listings; ask for proposals, spec work, etc. They are simply trying to reduce their risk of making a bad decision. Just remember that this is a person that is worried. Rather than respond to the requests, look past them, and offer alternative forms of reassurance. One is to demonstrate that you have a defined methodology. When you do this, and can explain it, you are slowly taking control — and seeing if the client will let you. They are far more inclined to let you ‘drive’. Creative Firms fear process. They feel that it kills creativity. This is a legitimate fear, but, you must think of your end goal. Have you ever offered a guarantee of your product? A money back guarantee? This is a reverse pitch. What is the risk to you? Are you losing more by offering money back at the end of creative cycle or by giving them the creative, the pitch, the proposal and then never getting the business? They are much more vested by the end of the process and thus far less likely to turn you down. A guarantee is a seldom used, yet powerful tool.

Goals – you should gain one new client per quarter. High quality, lucrative clients. The proposal step should be eliminated from your sales process. Meetings are not the objective. Use objective data to grade Opportunities. Does the CLIENT see the fit? Do we understand how they buy? Is there Intent? [Missed Step].

Grading Opportunities – Help the unaware (Level 1). Help the Interested = Level 2 contemplating. Reassure the Intent – Level 3 is Planning and Level 4 is Action. Level 3 and 4 are late stage opportunities. These are the levels that we are reviewing and which reporting in Workamajig is based on.

WWP in Workamajig CRM – this is a separate tab in the Opportunity within Workamajig, and you are given space to document your Opportunities at each level.

Most Commented Posts

• April 8, 2010 -- Do you have a Closing Process for Closing Projects in Workamajig? (5)
• October 10, 2008 -- The Workamajig Way – Ron Ause: Project Management (4)
• April 12, 2010 -- Workology 2.0 – WWP with Blair Enns (3)
• April 13, 2010 -- Catherine McIntyre-Velky: The Principles Project Management (3)

Morning Session

Team Intro.

The State of Workamajig. Workamajig is growing. 20,000 users. 1300 clients. 35 employees.

Workamajig Labs

New features, after beta-tested will be installed into Labs. Users or Companies can turn these features on. If they are popular, and gain acceptance, they will be pushed to the entire to the general application as a whole.

Coming to Labs (May 1, 2010)

Preview will be for conference attendees only.
New Estimating will be added to Opportunities
Campaign Level Estimating (applause)
Journal Entries in Flash
Receipts in Flash
Payments in Flash
WYSWIG Form Layout

Most Commented Posts

• April 8, 2010 -- Do you have a Closing Process for Closing Projects in Workamajig? (5)
• October 10, 2008 -- The Workamajig Way – Ron Ause: Project Management (4)
• April 12, 2010 -- Workology 2.0 – WWP with Blair Enns (3)
• April 13, 2010 -- Catherine McIntyre-Velky: The Principles Project Management (3)

Closing Projects in Workamajig allows you to further sequester your inactive projects and retire them completely in your system. Closed Projects also have their own sets of security rights which can help govern their treatment, one step further than a traditional project status will allow.

Closing projects also forces a systematic approach to reviewing completed projects for unbilled items, to address adherence to budgets, or to measure overall performance. Think about it: if you were to run a Workamajig or Customized report to evaluate your projects, how would you isolate the projects that are ready to be measured? Running a report over a given date range wouldn’t give you much help. Even if you ran the report for a calendar year you would still have many projects that began before the time period you are running, or will end afterward. If you use a Project Status to filter your projects (using a status such as “Complete”), then you will be running a report that grows each time a project closes — you will constantly be measuring all of your historical data. Only by closing your projects in a timely, periodical fashion can you then measure your Project’s Performance. For example, this April, you would be filtering your projects so that they have a Project Status of “Complete”, but have a Closed value equal to “No”. This report would display all projects that were completed since your last closing procedure. Once the report has been run, simply close the project to insure that the next period’s data is lean and mean.

Closing your Projects will benefit your company, not just in a practical sense, but by forcing you to evaluate, measure, and record your performance — and isn’t that why you purchased Workamajig in the first place?

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