The Marketing Agency Blueprint Part 7

We use Yammer as our private, internal social network, which enables threaded and searchable conversations. If you are not familiar with Yammer, or competing solutions, it is basically like Facebook for the enterprise. Here are some of the ways agencies can take advantage of a solution like Yammer: Post timely links and resources.

Share good news and positive client results.

Ask questions of peers.

Publish account management tips.

Get real-time feedback on client campaign strategies.

Provide account and group updates.

Suggest upcoming webinars.

Recommend books and blogs to read, and influencers to follow, as they are discovered.

Meanwhile, Highrise is a customer relations.h.i.+p management (CRM) cloud-based solution that enables agencies to track conversations, calls, e-mails, and meetings. Professionals can log in at any time and view the latest activities on the dashboard, and then click through to any items that are relevant. This is an effective way for the entire team to stay informed of what's happening within the agency. Also, from an educational perspective, it gives young professionals insight into standard communications styles and habits.

Knowledge Transfer Use management videos, presentation recordings, case studies, and handbooks to doc.u.ment policies, procedures, and best practices. Consider the most effective ways to capture and store your agency's collective knowledge, so that it can be pa.s.sed on to the next generation of employees as the organization grows.

Role Playing Practicing in front of peers and managers can be intimidating at first for many, but it is a great way to gain experience and build confidence. Look for opportunities, such as calls, meetings, and presentations, to integrate regular role-playing sessions into your training program.

Conferences Attending conferences can get expensive with fees and travel costs, but they definitely provide valuable content and networking opportunities, as well as unique experiences for your team.

There is a seemingly endless list of marketing industry events to consider, but for agencies serious about transforming into a tech-savvy hybrid, SXSW Interactive is the one cannot-miss conference. The conference, which happens every March in Austin, Texas, brings together the brightest, most innovative minds in marketing and technology for five days of learning. If you have never attended, it is worth the investment.

Online Courses There are some amazing online resources available to train agency professionals. For example, Google offers free courses that provide comprehensive training in Google a.n.a.lytics and Google AdWords, and HubSpot certifies professionals through its Inbound Marketing University. Consider the areas your agency needs to strengthen, and look for third-party courses to enhance internal materials.

Blog-Post Writing Turn learning exercises, such as book reading, conference attendance, and webinar partic.i.p.ation, into agency blog posts. This is a perfect way to share valuable content on your blog, and gives professionals the chance to hone their writing skills.

Group Exercises a.s.sign challenges to the entire agency or select teams, and then meet to review, share, and learn together. For example, in 2009, we created a book project designed to educate employees on how an agency operates, and get them more engaged in the direction of the firm. We bought everyone a copy of Managing the Professional Service Firm by David H. Maister.4 We wanted them to be able to critically a.n.a.lyze themselves and the agency as a means to improve efficiency and productivity. The book gave them much needed perspective.

They had one month to read the book and respond to a series of questions. We then got together the next month to discuss everyone's thoughts and responses. Here are sample questions that we actually used in the exercise: How can we make the agency more profitable?

What can be done to improve client relations?

What can you do personally to improve your performance and value to the agency?

How can account groups run more efficiently?

How would you strengthen employee training and education provided by the agency?

If you were in charge of the agency, what three actions would you make the top priorities to improve efficiency, value delivered to clients, and profitability?

Group exercises like this are difficult to keep up with when client workflow is heavy, but model agencies recognize their importance and make them a priority.

Talent Evaluation and Professional Reviews

Formal professional reviews are an essential element to training and advancement. They ensure that employees are staying on track with their development, and identify opportunities to address concerns and challenges. Although annual reviews should be standard for all professionals, more regular sessions throughout the year are a great way to keep managers in tune with the team's energy and motivation.

For most small agencies, the human resource duties often fall to the management team, which, most likely, does not have any advanced human-resource training. My best advice in these cases is to seek out reputable online sources for guidance, take a few cla.s.ses at a local university, consider hiring a consultant if you can afford the investment, find trusted advisors to support your programs, and read Topgrading by Bradford D. Smart, PhD.5 Topgrading provides a wealth of detailed and practical advice on "how leading companies win by hiring, coaching and keeping the best people." It is one of the most influential books I read while building PR 20/20's talent evaluation and advancement programs.

The Basics Professional reviews should a.n.a.lyze competencies and traits, motivation, and performance. We use a process that encourages self-a.n.a.lysis as a means to discovery and understanding.

Professionals are presented with approximately 140 statements, which they answer with a 15 rating: 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (neutral), 4 (agree), and 5 (strongly agree). Each statement also has a notes column, which responders may use to further explain any ratings. There are no right or wrong answers, and we do not consider the c.u.mulative total of the ratings.

Our goals are to: Create a snapshot of mindset and motivation, individually and as an agency.

Clearly define expectations.

Strengthen the team.

Provide all the feedback, guidance, and support needed for success.

Improve performance, and prepare for opportunities and growth.

The review is not meant as a burden or a test. Instead, it is an opportunity for professionals to gain a strong grasp on where they stand in their professional development, and identify opportunities to enhance their value and careers, while helping to grow the agency.

Once professionals complete their self-a.n.a.lysis, managers review responses and develop qualitative follow-up questions based on personal ratings, performance history, and supervisor feedback. Individual review meetings are then conducted with professionals and managers. Based on discussions, professionals develop and submit action-oriented, results-driven advancement plans. These serve as the basis for future evaluations.

Establis.h.i.+ng Systems with a Personal Touch Do not commoditize your talent. Although it is important to establish evaluation and advancement programs, take the time to personalize your approach based on the unique needs and personalities of each professional. Understand what is important to them, and treat them with respect and honesty at all levels.

Following are core components of an agency talent-evaluation system.

Define the Career Path Where are they going? What are the opportunities ahead? How can they build a successful career at your agency? These are the types of questions you need to answer with a career path. It lays out the roles, responsibilities, expectations, and opportunities at different levels of the agency.

Start with Metrics Give professionals a clear understanding of how they will be evaluated. Determine the metrics that matter to your agency and to the professional's advancement, and integrate them into evaluations. Model agencies focus on client retention and growth, as well as productivity, efficiency, and profitability.

a.s.sess Competencies and Traits Challenge professionals to critically a.n.a.lyze their strengths and weaknesses. Focus on the competencies and traits that are essential to their development. Here are sample statements you may present, and then have them rate their level of agreement with each, using the 15 rating system: 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (neutral), 4 (agree), and 5 (strongly agree).

I am quick to make decisions based on logic and reason. I am decisive in my actions.

I believe risk and failure are essential paths to success.

I have difficulty focusing on a single project or task for extended periods of time without being distracted.

I am adept at managing and controlling my stress levels, even when under tight deadlines.

I tend to get defensive when peers challenge my work or opinions.

Evaluate Drive Professionals must maintain high motivation levels. Although drive is readily apparent to perceptive managers, it is important to gauge how individuals feel they are performing. You can use statements such as: I focus the majority of my time and energy in business and life on the things I can control. I don't get distracted and overwhelmed by things I cannot influence.

I find myself constantly setting goals (personally and professionally) that require me to test my own capabilities, commitment, and limits.

No one will ever question my effort and desire to improve and succeed.

I create more value than I capture.

Connect to Performance The most effective evaluations are directly tied to performance. Professionals should understand, and be able to prove, their value to the agency. For example, have professionals a.s.sess how their contributions have led to key outcomes for the agency, such as account retention and growth, and for its clients.

Create Advancement Plans Use advancement plans to concentrate time and energy in the right areas moving forward based on training and education priorities. Advancement plans are personalized to address weaknesses identified in the evaluation process, and include detailed activities and timelines.

Leaders Must Lead: The LeBron James Parable

Cleveland is my hometown. I was born and raised in the city, and when I started PR 20/20 in 2005, I opened our office in a historic downtown building overlooking Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, and a block away from Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I have been a die-hard Cleveland sports fan since I was eight years old. I remember when it started because that was 1986-the year of what simply became known as The Drive. John Elway, the quarterback of the Denver Broncos, broke our hearts that season with a 98-yard drive in the closing minutes of the AFC Champions.h.i.+p game. It cost our beloved Cleveland Browns what would have been their first Super Bowl appearance.

We have dealt with countless collapses and close calls since that time, but when Cleveland's own LeBron James, the self-proclaimed King, was selected with the number-one overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft, that was all supposed to change. It would be only a matter of time until Clevelanders basked in the glory of our first professional sports champions.h.i.+p in more than four decades, but it was not to be.

The Leader Who Refused to Lead Shortly before NBA superstar LeBron James infamously took his talents to South Beach in 2010 to join Dwayne Wade's team, the Miami Heat, he played against the Boston Celtics in one of the most pivotal games in Cleveland Cavaliers franchise history.

The stage was set. Following back-to-back MVP seasons, James was poised to solidify his place as the greatest basketball player-and probably athlete-on Earth, laying the foundation for his legacy as the greatest of all time.

After a lackl.u.s.ter game two in the 2010 NBA conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics, which can best be described as out of character, James returned to MVP form in game three with a scintillating performance, scoring 21 of his 38 points in the first quarter.

He seemed to be the man on a mission that Cleveland fans and national media expected, but then something inexplicable happened-he quit.

For the first time in his ill.u.s.trious career, James' uninspired performances in games five and six left a.n.a.lysts and fans questioning the King's heart and will to win, and speculating on what happened. All the rumors and injuries aside, the best player in the game did not show up for his team when they needed him most. The most amazing part was that he did not seem to care. Although it might have been destroying him inside, perception is reality.

The compet.i.tive fire that burned inside him, after seven years of hearing that he did not have Kobe Byrant's killer instinct or Michael Jordan's drive, just appeared to go out. Instead of moving onto the NBA finals, and securing his first ring, James quietly planned for his exit through free agency.

Great Teams Need Great Leaders As a fan and someone who deeply cares for Cleveland, I was disappointed when James left, but only because I believed he had the ability to be so much more, and do such amazing things for the city. As an entrepreneur, I took a more objective approach and tried to find some relevant meaning in the situation.

At the end of the day, it is irrelevant how many MVPs and t.i.tles James wins in Miami, or if he continues to disappear on the Heat as he did in the 2011 NBA finals. He had the potential to be the greatest of all time, and bring his hometown of Cleveland its first professional champions.h.i.+p since 1964. However, when things got hard, he chose to walk away. He was not the leader we all wanted him to be.

James has the ability to dominate every game, and win every scoring t.i.tle. Instead, he does what leaders often do, he delegates and builds his team's confidence and morale by involving them and giving them opportunities to excel and achieve.

However, there comes a time when leaders must lead in a different way. They are obligated to take their game to a whole new level, and pull everyone along with them. Their pa.s.sion, drive, and refusal to lose must s.h.i.+ne through. Think James in game five of the 2007 conference finals against the Detroit Pistons-48 points, including 29 of his team's last 30. That is the James the Cavs needed against the Celtics in 2010 and the leader every organization needs when it is all on the line.

What It Means to Your Agency Throughout this chapter, we have talked about the importance of building teams of hybrid professionals who are driven to be great. We covered how to attract and retain young professionals whom you can mold in your system, and then complementing them with the right mix of seasoned professionals when it is time to go to the next level.

However, the final and most essential piece of every great team is a great leader. There will be difficult times ahead. Your agency will face endless obstacles in its pursuit of success, and true leaders step up when they are needed most.

Sometimes success and victory come down to the sheer will of a leader's refusal to lose.

Chapter Highlights.

When all else is equal-processes, services, pricing, and infrastructure-it is talent that cannot be replicated.

Model agencies take a controlled, almost methodical, approach to expansion. They develop talent from within, and construct teams based on shared values, innate abilities, and complementary character traits.

The most desirable A-player competencies and traits include the following: a.n.a.lytical, balanced, confident, detail-oriented, focused, intrinsically motivated, "it" factor, listener, positive, relations.h.i.+p-builder, risk-taker, social-web savvy, strategic, team player, tech-savvy, and writer.

The top firms, which will lead industry transformation and deliver the most value, are built from within, meaning they hire and develop young professionals.

Agencies cannot push growth beyond their capability to service it.

Commitment, perspective, and speed are three factors that can affect how quickly A players realize their potential.

Intelligence becomes secondary to effort in the agency world.

View free agents as the final pieces to the puzzle, rather than the building blocks of your agency. Use the infusion of experienced talent and fresh perspective to push the agency to the next level.

The two best sources for prospects are inbound candidates-those who complete an online form or submit unsolicited resumes-and social candidates-students and professionals who separate themselves through their use of social media.

Agencies are most productive and efficient when functioning near capacity.

Hiring decisions must be data driven otherwise you are putting your agency's financial stability at risk.

Model agencies recruit to retain. They seek to hire career professionals who view the agency as a destination rather than a steppingstone.

Agencies can mold young professionals into valuable consultants and pract.i.tioners by mixing internal curriculum and exercises with the wealth of education and resources available on the web.

Professional reviews should a.n.a.lyze competencies and traits, motivation, and performance.

There comes a time when leaders must take their game to a whole new level and pull everyone along with them. Their pa.s.sion, drive, and refusal to lose must s.h.i.+ne through.

Chapter 4.

Build a Scalable Infrastructure The best plan is to prepare for perpetual change.