This document provides tips for running a PR firm in 3 or fewer sentences. It emphasizes that PR firms are simple businesses at their core, focusing on hiring and retaining talented people. It also stresses the importance of understanding clients' needs, maintaining financial discipline, and adapting to changes in the media and technology landscape. The tips aim to help PR firm leaders effectively manage their businesses through common-sense practices.
The 'ruthless application of common sense' or 'how to run a PR firm'David Brain
This document provides a list of tips from the CEO of Edelman Asia Pacific for running a successful PR firm. Some of the key tips include: keeping business strategies simple; focusing on client needs over internal processes; hiring and retaining talented employees through fair compensation instead of benchmarks; being transparent about revenue and costs; constantly evaluating your offerings to ensure excellence in at least one area; and maintaining a positive office culture. The overall message is that running a PR business can be straightforward if common sense practices are followed.
The Ruthless Application of Common Sense - or How to Run a PR FirmEdelman APACMEA
David Brain, CEO of Edelman Asia Pacific, provides concise tips for running a PR firm simply through ruthless application of common sense. Some key tips include: focusing on what clients want and your people can do rather than complex strategies; hiring the best people and empowering rather than micromanaging them; basing pay on talent rather than benchmarks; being transparent about revenue to budget accurately; and maintaining a happy office culture with no "assholes" or "gunslingers."
The document discusses creating a customer-centric experience and culture within an organization. It emphasizes that a customer-centric approach requires focusing on customers at all levels of the organization, from leadership to employees. This ensures a single-minded purpose of satisfying customers and building loyalty. Key aspects include living the company vision, clear communication, empowering employees, and holding all accountable for customer satisfaction. The goal is to provide legendary customer service that exceeds expectations.
The document discusses creating value for customers to build engagement and loyalty. It emphasizes understanding customers, bringing them value as experts, and developing strong relationships through education, problem-solving, and regular interactions. The goal is to establish customer loyalty and become the brand customers seek out.
The document discusses managing a sales team effectively. It dispels myths about salespeople and emphasizes the importance of truly knowing your team members' personalities, skills, and what motivates them. It argues for flexibility in matching team members' strengths to tasks rather than focusing on weaknesses. Regular training is key to helping all team members, including potentially strong performers, achieve their full potential.
Start A Company in International EducationGo Overseas
How to be an entrepreneur in the international education industry. Learn how to be a creative thinker, find a mentor, and implement a start-up company!
This document provides guidance on redefining one's career by understanding oneself, developing skills, and designing a flexible career path. It encourages the reader to identify their skills, qualities, interests, and mission statement. It also recommends acquiring in-demand skills like problem solving, teamwork, and adaptability. The document discusses evaluating one's career path and considering lateral moves, strengthening one's current role, advancing up the ladder, or branching out. It emphasizes finding a balance through side jobs, family time, exercise, and personal development.
The 'ruthless application of common sense' or 'how to run a PR firm'David Brain
This document provides a list of tips from the CEO of Edelman Asia Pacific for running a successful PR firm. Some of the key tips include: keeping business strategies simple; focusing on client needs over internal processes; hiring and retaining talented employees through fair compensation instead of benchmarks; being transparent about revenue and costs; constantly evaluating your offerings to ensure excellence in at least one area; and maintaining a positive office culture. The overall message is that running a PR business can be straightforward if common sense practices are followed.
The Ruthless Application of Common Sense - or How to Run a PR FirmEdelman APACMEA
David Brain, CEO of Edelman Asia Pacific, provides concise tips for running a PR firm simply through ruthless application of common sense. Some key tips include: focusing on what clients want and your people can do rather than complex strategies; hiring the best people and empowering rather than micromanaging them; basing pay on talent rather than benchmarks; being transparent about revenue to budget accurately; and maintaining a happy office culture with no "assholes" or "gunslingers."
The document discusses creating a customer-centric experience and culture within an organization. It emphasizes that a customer-centric approach requires focusing on customers at all levels of the organization, from leadership to employees. This ensures a single-minded purpose of satisfying customers and building loyalty. Key aspects include living the company vision, clear communication, empowering employees, and holding all accountable for customer satisfaction. The goal is to provide legendary customer service that exceeds expectations.
The document discusses creating value for customers to build engagement and loyalty. It emphasizes understanding customers, bringing them value as experts, and developing strong relationships through education, problem-solving, and regular interactions. The goal is to establish customer loyalty and become the brand customers seek out.
The document discusses managing a sales team effectively. It dispels myths about salespeople and emphasizes the importance of truly knowing your team members' personalities, skills, and what motivates them. It argues for flexibility in matching team members' strengths to tasks rather than focusing on weaknesses. Regular training is key to helping all team members, including potentially strong performers, achieve their full potential.
Start A Company in International EducationGo Overseas
How to be an entrepreneur in the international education industry. Learn how to be a creative thinker, find a mentor, and implement a start-up company!
This document provides guidance on redefining one's career by understanding oneself, developing skills, and designing a flexible career path. It encourages the reader to identify their skills, qualities, interests, and mission statement. It also recommends acquiring in-demand skills like problem solving, teamwork, and adaptability. The document discusses evaluating one's career path and considering lateral moves, strengthening one's current role, advancing up the ladder, or branching out. It emphasizes finding a balance through side jobs, family time, exercise, and personal development.
Important Leadership Traits for Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Tough TimesAbhishek Shah
Trying to grow your business in this sluggish economy is a little like trying to swim through Jell-O. Ineffective or uncertain leaders definitely need not apply. So what does it take to lead a small business through this ongoing economic mess?
Tom Magen Shared the Way to Create Loyal, Effective Employeestommagenn
Tom Magen is a business consultant who provides advice on creating loyal and effective employees. He recommends that managers focus on individuals rather than numbers, adapt their management style to each person, and measure what is truly relevant rather than just metrics. Managers should also give each employee only one priority at a time, stay even-tempered, take responsibility for low performers, share their own thoughts and ideas, ask questions instead of always providing answers, treat everyone equally, don't expect more than they are willing to give themselves, explain the reasoning behind their decisions, and make decisions without prevaricating.
The document provides advice for entrepreneurs and startups, emphasizing the following key points:
1) Stay small and avoid extensive planning, as plans often fail to materialize. Focus on living the values of your business rather than having a mission statement.
2) Start small with minimal risk by working on a business part-time while keeping your day job, rather than spending a long time planning and seeking funding. Iterate based on what works rather than having a predefined path to profit.
3) Make decisions and ship products/features quickly through iterations rather than waiting for the perfect solution. Keep projects small and focused so they can be completed in a week or less.
The document provides advice for student entrepreneurs who are preparing to graduate and start their own businesses. It recommends that students (1) clarify their business idea and plan how it will end before starting, (2) build a strong founding team and mentor network while still in school, and (3) work to complete an initial product, get into an accelerator, and raise capital all before graduating so they are well positioned to succeed after leaving campus. It also warns against waiting until the last semester to start a business or becoming too focused on attending conferences rather than customers.
This Leadership Mashup features sage advice straight from the experiences of an innovative and successful entrepreneur, G.L. Hoffman, CEO at JobDig. Hope you enjoy!
Life Hacks Workshop (Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship)Sebastiaan Hooft
How do we make the most of our day by optimizing our time and resources?
Workshop Focus: Practical Lifehacks on how to make yourself efficient and focus on what matters. How to make the most of your resources (time, money and people).
In the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship Student workshop series, we would want our Community to learn practical tips that they imbibe in their lifestyle to achieve their goals. The workshops are set in a casual setting that enables interaction and conversation to be at the core. 17th January 2019 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
The document provides an overview of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process. It defines key terms like entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, and discusses frameworks like the entrepreneurial operating system. It also covers topics like developing a business idea, creating a minimum viable product, conducting market research, and financing a startup. The document aims to equip readers with the essential knowledge to understand and pursue entrepreneurship.
IDEA Network Workshop 4 - Leadership and Networking (Mike French)Angela Li
This document discusses the importance of networking for startups and leadership. It provides reasons for networking such as finding customers, partners, advisors, and investors. It then gives tips on how to network effectively both online and in-person at various events and organizations. The document stresses listening skills, follow up, and maintaining relationships over sales. It also addresses challenges with networking and provides advice for startups.
Dreaming of Going into business for yourself? Here's what you can really expect, from Texas Enterprise | Big Ideas from The University of Texas at Austin.
Developing Entrepreneurial Excellence by putting Entrepreneurial Excellence as fundamental in life, career, and business. There are7 Powerful Secrets of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur...
Webinar I gave in 2017. The very early days of thinking that led to the Aesthetic Entrepreneurs. In this webinar, I challenged and an exercise to get people out into their local community and network with local businesses
SMU MADI: Inside the Designers Studio, Feb 2019James Helms
James Helms shares his personal and professional journey of the people, roles and events that shaped his career and his philosophy as a Design Leader and as a human.
You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: Start Leading Now. Lucas Group
You don’t need a job in corporate management to learn how to develop leadership skills. As the manager of a team of recruitment professionals, I look for qualities of leadership among individual contributors and managerial candidates alike. Almost all businesses involve working in teams where there are opportunities to lead by example, if not by title.
The document discusses customer delight from a sales perspective. It outlines that customer delight is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction through delivering an experience that exceeds expectations and creates loyalty. It discusses that understanding customers, identifying their needs, establishing the right solutions, addressing queries and objections, and following up are key to achieving customer delight. Customer delight is both a science and an art that requires understanding customers, paying attention to their unique experiences and perceptions, and going above and beyond to satisfy their needs and create unexpected value.
The 7 Habits of Successful People document outlines habits that lead to success. It discusses:
- Working smarter, not harder, and striving for accuracy before building momentum.
- Finding a niche by becoming an expert and improving existing products.
- Building a reputation on integrity, quality and value while constantly improving products.
- Listening to customer needs and planning for success with long-term goals.
- Being creative, adaptable, and promising more than expected to deliver exceptional results.
Top Entrepreneurship - A career in the music industrySebastiaan Hooft
In this presentation Sebastiaan Hooft talks about top entrepreneurship in the music industry at 2016 Dancefair. Based in his TEDx talk on top entrepreneurship, Hooft covers his five facets every artist should think about: idea; team; planning; resources and health.
Over the past fifteen years, Sebastiaan has founded more than twenty companies, becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs
in the Netherlands, and living a wealthy but stressful life. Slowly but steadily, music faded to the background as his career took over. Unaware that life had other plans in store for him, he lost himself in managing the empire he’d built. Inevitably, though, 2010 brought a turning point: Sebastiaan ended up in the hospital with serious health issues. That’s when he knew change was coming. And so, he sold his companies, gave his profits to charity and started travelling the globe talking to other inspiring and successful people and get to know their tactics. He talked to over five hundred of them, turned himself into a speaker and mentor for startups and managers, and created a canvas for living a healthy entrepreneurial life. One of the companies that was interested in using this canvas was a DJ school in Amsterdam. Right there, back behind the decks, Sebastiaan found what he’d lost so many years ago – and he didn’t hesitate a second. He took a deep dive and made a bold move by choosing to go for his passion: music.
Dancefair is a two day event for everyone who wants to grow as a performing professional in the electronic music industry. The event is fueled with more than 200 seminars and workshops across 18 mind blowing areas and a 1800m2 expo floor. Dancefair takes place in the Jaarbeurs Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The success story of this extraordinary concept has it’s origin in the Netherlands. Over the last three years Dancefair has established themselves as the approachable educational electronic music event for music producers and dj’s from around the globe. Dancefair is now considered one of the largest educational electronic platforms worldwide.
For hard-charging Millennial women – 10 principles for taking no bull. Including: Take Care of Your Future Self, Develop Multiple Income Streams, and more.
BSRP identified 12 behavioral patterns associated with sales call reluctance or inhibited social contact initiation syndrome. These behaviors can limit the number of prospecting attempts made by salespeople. BancorpSouth Insurance sent some of its sales staff through a BSRP training program to address sales call reluctance. The program helped generate a 335% increase in prospecting attempts in the 4 weeks following the training. Hiring salespeople who are willing to prospect is important for sales managers, as 80% of salespeople do not last a year, and prospecting new customers is key to generating business.
Important Leadership Traits for Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Tough TimesAbhishek Shah
Trying to grow your business in this sluggish economy is a little like trying to swim through Jell-O. Ineffective or uncertain leaders definitely need not apply. So what does it take to lead a small business through this ongoing economic mess?
Tom Magen Shared the Way to Create Loyal, Effective Employeestommagenn
Tom Magen is a business consultant who provides advice on creating loyal and effective employees. He recommends that managers focus on individuals rather than numbers, adapt their management style to each person, and measure what is truly relevant rather than just metrics. Managers should also give each employee only one priority at a time, stay even-tempered, take responsibility for low performers, share their own thoughts and ideas, ask questions instead of always providing answers, treat everyone equally, don't expect more than they are willing to give themselves, explain the reasoning behind their decisions, and make decisions without prevaricating.
The document provides advice for entrepreneurs and startups, emphasizing the following key points:
1) Stay small and avoid extensive planning, as plans often fail to materialize. Focus on living the values of your business rather than having a mission statement.
2) Start small with minimal risk by working on a business part-time while keeping your day job, rather than spending a long time planning and seeking funding. Iterate based on what works rather than having a predefined path to profit.
3) Make decisions and ship products/features quickly through iterations rather than waiting for the perfect solution. Keep projects small and focused so they can be completed in a week or less.
The document provides advice for student entrepreneurs who are preparing to graduate and start their own businesses. It recommends that students (1) clarify their business idea and plan how it will end before starting, (2) build a strong founding team and mentor network while still in school, and (3) work to complete an initial product, get into an accelerator, and raise capital all before graduating so they are well positioned to succeed after leaving campus. It also warns against waiting until the last semester to start a business or becoming too focused on attending conferences rather than customers.
This Leadership Mashup features sage advice straight from the experiences of an innovative and successful entrepreneur, G.L. Hoffman, CEO at JobDig. Hope you enjoy!
Life Hacks Workshop (Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship)Sebastiaan Hooft
How do we make the most of our day by optimizing our time and resources?
Workshop Focus: Practical Lifehacks on how to make yourself efficient and focus on what matters. How to make the most of your resources (time, money and people).
In the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship Student workshop series, we would want our Community to learn practical tips that they imbibe in their lifestyle to achieve their goals. The workshops are set in a casual setting that enables interaction and conversation to be at the core. 17th January 2019 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
The document provides an overview of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process. It defines key terms like entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, and discusses frameworks like the entrepreneurial operating system. It also covers topics like developing a business idea, creating a minimum viable product, conducting market research, and financing a startup. The document aims to equip readers with the essential knowledge to understand and pursue entrepreneurship.
IDEA Network Workshop 4 - Leadership and Networking (Mike French)Angela Li
This document discusses the importance of networking for startups and leadership. It provides reasons for networking such as finding customers, partners, advisors, and investors. It then gives tips on how to network effectively both online and in-person at various events and organizations. The document stresses listening skills, follow up, and maintaining relationships over sales. It also addresses challenges with networking and provides advice for startups.
Dreaming of Going into business for yourself? Here's what you can really expect, from Texas Enterprise | Big Ideas from The University of Texas at Austin.
Developing Entrepreneurial Excellence by putting Entrepreneurial Excellence as fundamental in life, career, and business. There are7 Powerful Secrets of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur...
Webinar I gave in 2017. The very early days of thinking that led to the Aesthetic Entrepreneurs. In this webinar, I challenged and an exercise to get people out into their local community and network with local businesses
SMU MADI: Inside the Designers Studio, Feb 2019James Helms
James Helms shares his personal and professional journey of the people, roles and events that shaped his career and his philosophy as a Design Leader and as a human.
You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: Start Leading Now. Lucas Group
You don’t need a job in corporate management to learn how to develop leadership skills. As the manager of a team of recruitment professionals, I look for qualities of leadership among individual contributors and managerial candidates alike. Almost all businesses involve working in teams where there are opportunities to lead by example, if not by title.
The document discusses customer delight from a sales perspective. It outlines that customer delight is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction through delivering an experience that exceeds expectations and creates loyalty. It discusses that understanding customers, identifying their needs, establishing the right solutions, addressing queries and objections, and following up are key to achieving customer delight. Customer delight is both a science and an art that requires understanding customers, paying attention to their unique experiences and perceptions, and going above and beyond to satisfy their needs and create unexpected value.
The 7 Habits of Successful People document outlines habits that lead to success. It discusses:
- Working smarter, not harder, and striving for accuracy before building momentum.
- Finding a niche by becoming an expert and improving existing products.
- Building a reputation on integrity, quality and value while constantly improving products.
- Listening to customer needs and planning for success with long-term goals.
- Being creative, adaptable, and promising more than expected to deliver exceptional results.
Top Entrepreneurship - A career in the music industrySebastiaan Hooft
In this presentation Sebastiaan Hooft talks about top entrepreneurship in the music industry at 2016 Dancefair. Based in his TEDx talk on top entrepreneurship, Hooft covers his five facets every artist should think about: idea; team; planning; resources and health.
Over the past fifteen years, Sebastiaan has founded more than twenty companies, becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs
in the Netherlands, and living a wealthy but stressful life. Slowly but steadily, music faded to the background as his career took over. Unaware that life had other plans in store for him, he lost himself in managing the empire he’d built. Inevitably, though, 2010 brought a turning point: Sebastiaan ended up in the hospital with serious health issues. That’s when he knew change was coming. And so, he sold his companies, gave his profits to charity and started travelling the globe talking to other inspiring and successful people and get to know their tactics. He talked to over five hundred of them, turned himself into a speaker and mentor for startups and managers, and created a canvas for living a healthy entrepreneurial life. One of the companies that was interested in using this canvas was a DJ school in Amsterdam. Right there, back behind the decks, Sebastiaan found what he’d lost so many years ago – and he didn’t hesitate a second. He took a deep dive and made a bold move by choosing to go for his passion: music.
Dancefair is a two day event for everyone who wants to grow as a performing professional in the electronic music industry. The event is fueled with more than 200 seminars and workshops across 18 mind blowing areas and a 1800m2 expo floor. Dancefair takes place in the Jaarbeurs Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The success story of this extraordinary concept has it’s origin in the Netherlands. Over the last three years Dancefair has established themselves as the approachable educational electronic music event for music producers and dj’s from around the globe. Dancefair is now considered one of the largest educational electronic platforms worldwide.
For hard-charging Millennial women – 10 principles for taking no bull. Including: Take Care of Your Future Self, Develop Multiple Income Streams, and more.
BSRP identified 12 behavioral patterns associated with sales call reluctance or inhibited social contact initiation syndrome. These behaviors can limit the number of prospecting attempts made by salespeople. BancorpSouth Insurance sent some of its sales staff through a BSRP training program to address sales call reluctance. The program helped generate a 335% increase in prospecting attempts in the 4 weeks following the training. Hiring salespeople who are willing to prospect is important for sales managers, as 80% of salespeople do not last a year, and prospecting new customers is key to generating business.
This document provides tips and advice for sales skills and success from Lucid Agency. It discusses the importance of networking and identifying core competencies. It encourages attendees to evaluate their own abilities and consider outsourcing non-essential tasks to focus on their strengths. Finally, it promotes developing strategic partnerships with other agencies.
This document provides an overview of common sales mistakes and how to improve sales skills. It discusses 13 key skills and traits that are important for sales success: readiness, knowledge, rapport, prospecting, qualifying, presenting, closing, objections, customer service, administration, attitude, drive, and influencing. Some common mistakes include lack of readiness, knowledge, or proper rapport building skills among salespeople. High or low scores on these traits can also indicate issues. Regular skills assessment, training, and support can help salespeople improve.
Sales Hacker Conference San Francisco - Brendon Cassidy - The First Order of ...Sales Hacker
The document provides advice for a VP of Sales at a startup on key issues to consider when building a sales organization. It recommends analyzing existing marketing and lead data to structure the sales team, hiring primarily from one's existing network to reduce risk, and ensuring the pricing and sales approach align with customer needs. It also stresses the importance of retaining top talent through compensation and career growth opportunities.
The document outlines 10 essential skills for entrepreneurs: 1) having a sustainable business model with cash flow, 2) developing a financial plan for the business and personal finances, 3) having passion, ambition, focus and resilience, 4) strong sales skills, 5) continuous education on the business, competition, and trends, 6) creating a business plan but being willing to pivot, 7) delivering high quality products and services, 8) effective communication and decision making, 9) building a strong reputation and image, and 10) giving back to the community.
Terrence H. Seamon provides advice on marketing yourself as a job hunter. He discusses that marketing is getting noticed by potential employers, demonstrating how you can solve their problems, and making it clear you are the right fit. Some key strategies include identifying target companies and developing relationships, showing your expertise through free work examples, and selling yourself as the solution to their needs. Overall, job hunting is about marketing yourself as a valuable brand through your team, expertise, vision, and solutions.
How to Build and Run Social Support TeamsJerome Pineau
Part of the #socialstrategy series on various social and community topics at the enterprise level. This set discusses building and running real time social support crews.
1. The document discusses aligning social customer relationship management (CRM) strategies with recruiting strategies to attract job candidates. It emphasizes being real, social, and open with candidates to build trust.
2. It recommends focusing recruiting efforts on where candidates spend time socially and listening to their concerns. Companies should also evolve to meet changing candidate preferences for how they are contacted.
3. The overall goal is for companies' core values and workplace culture to attract candidates of all generations by being honest and addressing candidates' needs.
This document provides an excerpt from a book about follow-up strategies for small businesses. It discusses the importance of frequent and consistent follow-up with customers to build relationships over time. The author shares a story of a business owner who lost a favorite customer because she did not stay in contact after completing a project. Maintaining relationships keeps customers remembering a business when they are ready to make a new purchase. Referrals from happy customers can reduce marketing costs compared to chasing new leads. The document examines different follow-up methods like direct mail, phone calls, texts and email, noting limitations like impersonal feel, interruptions, and high deletion rates.
The document provides advice for recruiters on best practices when recruiting candidates. It discusses the importance of selling your services to clients and candidates, using various tools and platforms to source talent, building relationships with candidates, listening to clients' needs, following up consistently, being honest and transparent, asking questions to avoid surprises, and focusing on candidates' strengths rather than weaknesses. The overall message is that recruiters should market themselves effectively, cultivate strong relationships, properly understand requirements, and highlight what candidates can offer an employer.
Adam Honig provides tips for salespeople to reconnect with lost prospects. He argues that salespeople should not disappear after failing to close a deal, as prospects' needs may change. Honig recommends staying in touch with prospects through relevant content emails on a regular basis, such as monthly, to remain top of mind. After a few emails, a salesperson should call to schedule a follow-up phone call or meeting. Consistently following up in this manner over several months can help reengage lost prospects and find new opportunities.
Brian Tracy is a top sales trainer who has taught over 500,000 salespeople in over 500 companies. The document provides tips and strategies for becoming a top salesperson, including thinking like top salespeople think, believing in yourself and your product, preparing thoroughly for every sales call, accepting complete responsibility for results, committing to continuous learning, and building long-term relationships with customers by being a financial improvement specialist. The overall message is that mastering sales fundamentals and strategies used by top performers can help anyone achieve success in sales.
This document provides tips for marketing yourself and finding a government job. It discusses that career changes are now common and networking is the best way to find opportunities. Effective networking involves continuously building relationships, not just when looking for a job. The "Brand of You" is one's reputation and how you present yourself. Developing an online presence through profiles and maintaining them is important. Recruiters look for keywords and spend little time reviewing each resume. Referrals remain the top way positions are filled.
The document provides 21 career goals for HR professionals to tackle in 2013 to advance their careers. Some of the goals include getting 20 recommendations on LinkedIn, publishing 3 articles in an HR publication, writing an HR book, developing a white paper, speaking at an HR conference, starting an HR blog, and clearly defining what makes you distinctive in the HR field. The document encourages readers to pick 2 goals to work on to propel their careers forward.
Employers Say Skills Are LackingIn Candidates And New Hires.docxSALU18
Employers Say Skills Are Lacking
In Candidates And New Hires
Today, more than ever before, employers say job candidates are outside the company. If you can't accept feedback, handle
lacking basic skills. They may have a degree or a diploma, but emotions, resolve conflict, and work well with others, you won't
don't measure up to workplace standards. Several skills areas be hired and if on the job, could be fired.
frequently mentioned include: Adaptability. Change is constant. We all have to adapt -
Speaking skills. Many of us have grown lax and don't even to new things, new people, new ways, new technologies. If you
hear ourselves use phrases like, "he ,---------------------, can't adapt and if you don't quickly
don't", "it ain't right", "he and me bounce back after set-backs, you
went" and so on. But others do hear it r.~'iIt--,\ won't last long.\tc'3~
and it will keep someone from getting Problem solving and critical
a job or a promotion. thinking. Employers want employees-.
Businesswriting. With Twitter and who can innovate, analyze situations,
texting, it's easv-to-tall into-the -trap - - and find-solutions-to problems. With
of shortcutting and taking liberties less people and fewer resources,
with generally accepted writing rules. employees have to be self-directed,
But, whether it's a letter, memo, work independently as well as in
e-mail, phone message, or a report, teams, and think on their feet.
employers expect employees to write, ~ These skills seem common
proof, and distribute proper, clear, sense. But they are not transferring
and error-free messages. into the workplace. Some of these
Understanding numbers. Everyone is responsible for the skills can be measured, some observed, others are harder to
bottom line and the bottom line is defined by numbers. Without assess. But all of them are essential.
being well-grounded in simple and complex math, you won't One excellent program for assessing skills of job candidates
have value. and skill gaps for employees is the Office Proficiency Assessment
Interpersonal skills. Today's workplace requires teamwork
- with people above and below your rank, people inside and ... see Skills Lacking on page 3
Susan Fenner, Ph.D. has made a career out of following workplace and workforce trends. For
more than 25 years, she was the Manager of Education and Professional Development for the
International Association of Administrative Professionals (IMP) and now serves as the Chief
Learning Architect for Speakers you Need (SyN), a consortium of subject-matter experts who
provide training to organizations. She was the Admin Support Advisor on Monster, and had columns
in Office
Solution
s and OfficePro magazines. She was also the General Editor for The Complete
Office Handbook. Susan has worked with business educators and corporations to prepare office
professionals to excel in their roles. She has also worked with educators to develop a business/
administrative curriculum used throughout the U.S. and Can ...
# You are getting fired?
# You are already fired ?
#You would think you will never be fired!
This presentation takes you through the risks associated with real world employment, steps you need to take in case you get fired and how to inspire yourself and get back on track in finding a new job. Last but not the least are some tips on being valuable and retaining your hard earned job.
# You are getting fired?
# You are already fired ?
#You would think you will never be fired!
This presentation takes you through the risks associated with real world employment, steps you need to take in case you get fired and how to inspire yourself and get back on track in finding a new job. Also, included are some great tips on staying current and valuable and how to retain your hard earned job.
# You are getting fired?
# You are already fired ?
#You would think you will never be fired!
This presentation takes you through the risks associated with real world employment, steps you need to take in case you get fired and how to inspire yourself and get back on track in finding a new job. Also included are some tips on being valuable and retaining your hard earned job.
Similar to The ruthless application of common sense or 'how to run a PR firm' #2 (20)
2016 Edelman Trust Barometer New ZealandDavid Brain
This document summarizes key findings from the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer report for New Zealand. Some of the main points include:
- Trust in institutions is rising globally but declining in New Zealand, with media being much less trusted.
- There is a significant divide in trust levels between the informed public and mass population in New Zealand and globally.
- Peer-driven media and social networks now have more influence than traditional top-down sources of news and information.
- Experts and peers are seen as more credible sources of information about companies than CEOs or government officials.
- Business is the most trusted institution in New Zealand to keep up with changing times. Within industries, technology and
Maria Sharapova failed a drug test at the Australian Open. Initial sentiment about this news was negative, but later shifted towards being more supportive of Sharapova. Other tennis stars like Serena Williams spoke out publicly in support of Sharapova, with a positive sentiment.
Trends for corporate communicators in asia pacificDavid Brain
This document outlines 13 issues that will affect corporate communications and public affairs strategies in Asia Pacific:
1) Economic growth has increased government pressure on businesses to demonstrate social and environmental contributions.
2) Rapid growth of the middle class will drive demand for trusted brands, while inequality is increasing pressure for inclusion.
3) Communications must reach new cities and regions as wealth spreads across tiers.
4) Issues like regulation, food safety, and the environment now directly impact company revenues and reputation.
5) Stakeholder engagement and responsible practices will be increasingly important across sectors and markets.
The document is a presentation from Edelman's 2014 Trust Barometer on trust in institutions in Singapore and globally. Some key findings:
- Trust declined slightly globally over the past year but varied regionally, with Singapore still among the most trusting countries.
- Non-governmental organizations were the most trusted institution in 20 of 27 countries surveyed.
- Trust in media reverted to 2010 levels, with nearly 80% of countries reporting less trust in media over the last year.
- Online search engines were the most trusted source of information globally and in Singapore, which remains most trusting of traditional media sources.
From Perception Managers to Change AgentsDavid Brain
The document discusses the benefits of exercise for mental health. Regular physical activity can help reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood and cognitive functioning. Exercise boosts blood flow, releases endorphins, and promotes changes in the brain which help enhance one's emotional well-being and mental clarity.
Media Cloverleaf Presentation to the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival, ...David Brain
The document discusses strategies for telling stories across multiple media channels. It outlines the current media landscape, which includes traditional, hybrid, owned and social media. It emphasizes using insights from search and social media to craft stories that are findable and sharable. The goal is to synchronize content across different platforms so the story is amplified to wide audiences and drives high engagement and conversation.
The document summarizes the methodology and key findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer study in Hong Kong. The study surveyed 1,000 members of the general public and an additional 200 "informed publics" in Hong Kong. It found that Hong Kong was considered a "Truster" market, with a composite trust score of 61, indicating that respondents trusted institutions like business, media, NGOs and government. The study has tracked trust levels globally since 2001 and noted declines in trust in many countries between 2011 and 2012.
2012 Edelman Trust Barometer Indonesia David Brain
The document summarizes the findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer in Indonesia. Some key results include:
- Trust in media is the only institution to see a rise globally, and trust levels in media and business remain high and steady in Indonesia compared to other Asian countries and globally.
- Indonesians need to hear information about companies 3-5 times on average to believe it is likely true, and trust in traditional media and social media as sources of corporate information rose.
- NGOs are the most trusted institution globally despite some drops including in Indonesia, while academics, peers and regular employees gained credibility as spokespeople over CEOs in Indonesia.
- There are gaps between how important various issues are to
The document summarizes the findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer in Indonesia. Some key results include:
- Trust in media is the only institution to see a rise globally, and trust levels in media and business remain high and steady in Indonesia compared to other Asian countries and globally.
- Indonesians need to hear information about companies 3-5 times on average to believe it is likely true, and trust in traditional media and social media as sources of corporate information rose.
- NGOs are the most trusted institution globally despite some drops including in Indonesia, while academics, peers and regular employees gained credibility as spokespeople over CEOs in Indonesia.
- There are gaps between how important various issues are to
The document provides an overview of the methodology for Edelman's 2012 Trust Barometer study in Malaysia. Key points:
- The study surveyed 1,000 members of the Malaysian general public and an oversample of 200 "Informed Publics" ages 25-64 online.
- It measured trust in four institutions (government, business, media, NGOs) and various industries.
- In Malaysia, NGOs and business had the highest levels of trust at around 65%, while government and media were trusted by less than half.
- Trust patterns in Malaysia were generally similar to those in the Asia Pacific region but differed from global trends, where trust declined sharply in government.
2012 Edelman Trust Barometer Asia PacificDavid Brain
The document summarizes the key findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer survey in the Asia Pacific region. It found that nearly twice as many countries in the region are now classified as "skeptics" regarding trust in institutions, including South Korea and Japan. However, four Asia Pacific markets - China, Singapore, India, and Indonesia - are still considered "Trusters". It also highlights the significant decline in trust seen in Japan between 2011 and 2012 across business, media, NGOs, and government according to the survey of informed publics ages 25-64.
Genius, the ability to hold many ideas in your head at one time....we all need a bit to get on in the business of PR. A presentation to Edelman Asia Pacific employees by David Brain. This slide presentation has an audio recording with it.
Impact of Effective Performance Appraisal Systems on Employee Motivation and ...Dr. Nazrul Islam
Healthy economic development requires properly managing the banking industry of any
country. Along with state-owned banks, private banks play a critical role in the country's economy.
Managers in all types of banks now confront the same challenge: how to get the utmost output from
their employees. Therefore, Performance appraisal appears to be inevitable since it set the
standard for comparing actual performance to established objectives and recommending practical
solutions that help the organization achieve sustainable growth. Therefore, the purpose of this
research is to determine the effect of performance appraisal on employee motivation and retention.
A comprehensive-study-of-biparjoy-cyclone-disaster-management-in-gujarat-a-ca...Samirsinh Parmar
Disaster management;
Cyclone Disaster Management;;
Biparjoy Cyclone Case Study;
Meteorological Observations;
Best practices in Disaster Management;
Synchronization of Agencies;
GSDMA in Cyclone disaster Management;
History of Cyclone in Arabian ocean;
Intensity of Cyclone in Gujarat;
Cyclone preparedness;
Miscellaneous observations - Biparjoy cyclone;
Role of social Media in Disaster Management;
Unique features of Biparjoy cyclone;
Role of IMD in Biparjoy Prediction;
Lessons Learned; Disaster Preparedness; published paper;
Case study; for disaster management agencies; for guideline to manage cyclone disaster; cyclone management; cyclone risks; rescue and rehabilitation for cyclone; timely evacuation during cyclone; port closure; tourism closure etc.
Small Business Management An Entrepreneur’s Guidebook 8th edition by Byrd tes...ssuserf63bd7
Small Business Management An Entrepreneur’s Guidebook 8th edition by Byrd test bank.docx
https://qidiantiku.com/test-bank-for-small-business-management-an-entrepreneurs-guidebook-8th-edition-by-mary-jane-byrd.shtml
From Concept to reality : Implementing Lean Managements DMAIC Methodology for...Rokibul Hasan
The Ready-Made Garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh is a cornerstone of the economy, but increasing costs and stagnant productivity pose significant challenges to profitability. This study explores the implementation of Lean Management in the Sampling Section of RMG factories to enhance productivity. Drawing from a comprehensive literature review, theoretical framework, and action research methodology, the study identifies key areas for improvement and proposes solutions.
Through the DMAIC approach (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), the research identifies low productivity as the primary problem in the Sampling Section, with a PPH (Productivity per head) of only 4.0. Using Lean Management techniques such as 5S, Standardized work, PDCA/Kaizen, KANBAN, and Quick Changeover, the study addresses issues such as pre and post Quick Changeover (QCO) time, improper line balancing, and sudden plan changes.
The research employs regression analysis to test hypotheses, revealing a significant correlation between reducing QCO time and increasing productivity. With a regression equation of Y = -0.000501X + 6.72 and an R-squared value of 0.98, the study demonstrates a strong relationship between the independent variables (QCO downtime and improper line balancing downtime) and the dependent variable (productivity per head).
The findings suggest that by implementing Lean Management practices and addressing key productivity inhibitors, RMG factories can achieve substantial improvements in efficiency and profitability. The study provides valuable insights for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers seeking to enhance productivity in the RMG industry and similar manufacturing sectors.
Colby Hobson: Residential Construction Leader Building a Solid Reputation Thr...dsnow9802
Colby Hobson stands out as a dynamic leader in the residential construction industry. With a solid reputation built on his exceptional communication and presentation skills, Colby has proven himself to be an excellent team player, fostering a collaborative and efficient work environment.
Project Management Infographics . Power point projetSAMIBENREJEB1
Project Management Infographics ces modèle power Point peut vous aider a traiter votre projet initiative pour le gestion de projet. Essayer dès maintenant savoir plus c'est quoi le diagramme gant et perte, la durée de vie d'un projet , ainsi que les intervenants d'un projet et le cycle de projet . Alors la question c'est comment gérer son projet efficacement ? Le meilleur planning et l'intelligence sont les fondamentaux de projet
Originally presented at XP2024 Bolzano
While agile has entered the post-mainstream age, possibly losing its mojo along the way, the rise of remote working is dealing a more severe blow than its industrialization.
In this talk we'll have a look to the cumulative effect of the constraints of a remote working environment and of the common countermeasures.
Designing and Sustaining Large-Scale Value-Centered Agile Ecosystems (powered...Alexey Krivitsky
Is Agile dead? It depends on what you mean by 'Agile'. If you mean that the organizations are not getting the promised benefits because they were focusing too much on the team-level agile "ways of working" instead of systemic global improvements -- then we are in agreement. It is a misunderstanding of Agility that led us down a dead-end. At Org Topologies, we see bright sparks -- the signs of the 'second wave of Agile' as we call it. The emphasis is shifting towards both in-team and inter-team collaboration. Away from false dichotomies. Both: team autonomy and shared broad product ownership are required to sustain true result-oriented organizational agility. Org Topologies is a package offering a visual language plus thinking tools required to communicate org development direction and can be used to help design and then sustain org change aiming at higher organizational archetypes.
2. No great books on business management have been written by PR people.
We are traditionally crap at it. We rise to the top or ownership of PR agencies by being
good at PR not management. Then we find we have an office, with people, clients
and a budget. And that’s when the wheels come off. Which is a shame,
because running a PR business is just about the ruthless application of common
sense and is a far simpler thing (intellectually at least) than formulating advice
for a client in a crisis or finding a creative way of giving a tired brand
some interest and competitive differentiation.
I have run practices, offices and regions for three of the biggest global PR
firms and two small independent companies in both EMEA and Asia Pacific
and the wheels have indeed come off once or twice. They probably will
again, but if they do it will not be because I made the mistake of
thinking PR firms have a complicated business model.
PR agencies are simple businesses. They have inside them
often difficult people doing some (occasionally) clever things, but they
are simple businesses.
Here are my refreshed top tips for running one.
4. Deciding what you are not going to do is as
important as deciding what you are going to do
5. Ideas that work for an office of hundreds of people, will very
often not work for an agency of 30 people – filter out the HQ
crap because they won’t
6. When deciding what to do, focus on what your clients want
and need and your people can do and like doing – please,
no gap analysis
7. Don’t buy a dog and then bark yourself – hire the best people
you can; train, mentor and support them, but never
micromanage
8. Salary benchmarking is the work of the devil; hire promote and pay
people on talent and value, if you adopt benchmarking and banding
your best will leave and the dull, lazy and feckless will seek you out
9. Darwin was right; the fittest do survive, so over-hire at intake level and be
honest that not all will make it. The survivors will be the best, they will be digital
natives and they will raise the standards of those above and around them
10. Always know your future revenue; you
must know how to value your pipeline
21. 70% of women at intake being managed by 70% men at the
top remains an industry disgrace and will hold your business
back if it applies to you (you may also burn in hell)
22. Size matters; because an office of scale can specialise and
clients and staff value more specialised knowledge, skills &
careers
26. …and on the sixth month of each year, thou shalt read,
digest and amend thine ways in accordance with the annual
findings of our lady Mary of Meeker
27. What is your product stack? PR is now
also a software business
28. If your office does not have access at editorial
level, you’re publicists (which might be fine too)
29. Just like the deadly sins, there are seven types
of fake news…be very careful out there
35. If you are responsible for 70 people or more, do only as
much client work as keeps you current, relevant and
credible. Any more is vanity or self-delusion or both
36. The result of every pitch is one winner and a lots of agencies
that also claim they won, but for price or politics
38. In every market there is an agency that will hire your staff on
twice the pay and pitch your business at half the fee rate
39. If four or more PR people are in a room at once, there will be
politics about P&Ls and salary. There is no right answer. Do
your best to be fair, but whatever it takes, run a happy office
45. Good news on a Friday, bad news on a
Monday; never the other way around
Editor's Notes
I wrote the first version of this in 2011 when I was running Edelman Europe and had GMs who ran PR businesses reporting to me, who asked the quite reasonable question; “how do you expect us to run this thing”? As many will subsequently attest, I do actually follow these tips myself. Time has moved on and life for the poor manager of a PR business or agency has not got any simpler, so this version is longer and updated. But I hope the practical essence of it remains.
No great books on business management have been written by PR people.
We are traditionally crap at it. We rise to the top or ownership of PR agencies by being good at PR not management. Then we find we have an office, with people, clients and a budget. And that’s when the wheels come off. Which is a shame, because running a PR business is just about the ruthless application of common sense and is a far simpler thing (intellectually at least) than formulating advice for a client in a crisis or finding a creative way of giving a tired brand some interest and competitive differentiation.
I have run practices, offices and regions for three of the biggest global PR
firms and two small independent companies in both EMEA and Asia Pacific
and the wheels have indeed come off once or twice. They probably will
again, but if they do it will not be because I made the mistake of
thinking PR firms have a complicated business model.
PR agencies are simple businesses. They have inside them
often difficult people doing some (occasionally) clever things, but they
are simple businesses.
Here are my refreshed top tips for running one.
Our basic business model is very simple and has not changed that much for many years. And yet the amount of time devoted by managers of PR businesses as small as 20 people to their ‘business strategy’ would make you think they were running Google. If you have done an MBA or studied business at school, then keep that learning for understanding your clients’ business and don’t torture your colleagues with it or worse, bore your clients.
It is now harder than ever to be a ‘full-service agency’. For example can you cover health and within that can you handle health professional, consumer wellness, nutrition, hospital marketing, digital health and market access communications? And you might have media relations and generalist PR people, but can you offer planning, search, analytic and creative services? Sometimes your best definition (for planning purposes at least) is to be clear about what your agency is not going to do. And usually ‘less is more’.
There are few things in this world quite so parochial as a Londoner or a New Yorker. Most have lived in one city or country all their life and are fluent in just English. But many (at least in the big agencies) are equipped with a ‘G’ (global) in their title, which means that you are probably paying for part of their salary though they will often feel you owe them tribute. At the very least, they will have developed global products and services (many that work in just UK or US) which they will send you in the form of a 70 page corporate-colours PowerPoint. If you are running a small network office then part of your long-term career success will be predicated on your ability to filter the nuggets and gems from this tide of slides and quietly ignore the crap.
When you are looking to extend your businesses offer, follow what your clients want and your employees like to do and are good at. It’s expensive, time consuming and risky trying to create demand for a service clients have not asked for and then expensive and time consuming again trying to staff it with new people. Occasionally, you have to take a bigger leap, but mostly grow quietly and insidiously like a deadly virus!
Everyone knows you have to hire the best people. Many then forget that the best people want to grow and get on themselves. What they don’t want is to be double-guessed or under-mined or kept back. If you can’t trust your people to do the right thing or you constantly check on them, then you either hired the wrong people or you are that terrible boss you read about on Buzzfeed and your business won’t grow, your people already hate you and you may be heading for a heart attack.
HR people can be wonderful, but in their rush to make your business fair and consistent, beware they don’t make it safe and comfortable for the mediocre.
Every year refresh your business with as many new intakes as you can. As you put pressure on from the top, they will create pressure from below. Oh and try and makes sure that not all of them are urban, middle class media studies graduates.
When it comes to the business of your business, this is rule number one, two and three. No-one can run a business if they have no visibility of future revenues. A business of over 20 clients should be able to predict revenue to within 5% a month out and to within 10% three months out. Six months is guesswork, so be a good guesser too. Big account wins or losses on the horizon will give you occasional big variables, but don’t let that be an excuse for the rest of the business.
Keep track of your predictions vs actuals on both the one month and three month horizons. Best to know if you are a financial optimist or pessimist. Optimists tend not to make a profit; pessimists tend not to grow as fast as they could.
In every market in every region I have worked in, no matter what the size of business, over a period of time and putting in all real staff costs and owner dividends, this is the median and appropriate ratio. It is the key one to manage because it is the biggest and it is the one that relates most directly to the quality of your offer and your fair remuneration of employees.
If you are making a P&L profit over time there should be cash in the bank. If not you have a problem.
Your clients do it to you. Do it it to your suppliers. Incentivize your finance team; with the right motivation they will save you thousands. Whatever you do, don’t just add 10% or the rate of inflation to each cost line from the previous year.
Not every month, not when you start up, not after you lose your biggest client, but if your business is stable and growing you should be making an appropriate margin. If you are not; then you are an NGO.
What we do has value. Clients should pay for it and we have every right to earn an appropriate profit from it. Get better at asking for it.
Don’t be just OK at everything.
We tell our clients to be thought leaders; we need to take our own medicine.
Obviously it will help to market your agency, but advice from someone who writes, speaks and is in the media spotlight themselves sounds different.
And in most markets the most famous PR industry spokespeople are often ‘old-school’ or, worse, just publicists or ex hacks. Thinking professionals with a point of view need to stand up for all of us. Otherwise journalists will continue to refer to what we do as ‘spin’ and ‘dark arts’ and we will deserve it.
The numbers look great, the clients seem happy, the staff appear to enjoy being here, but you just can’t shake that feeling that something is wrong. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people are not out to get you”. Learn to recognise and read your own instincts.
Most big decisions about your business are part hunch. No-one has all the information. Indecision kills as many agencies as wrong decisions.
But when you do make a business mistake; don’t keep making it. Kill it. Remember the pain. Admit you messed up and reverse or find a better plan fast.
And if your staff don’t include minorities; working class or people NOT from a big city you are also stuffing up.
Strictly speaking, An agency wishing to cover the tech industry now has to cover enterprise, consumer, B2B and start-up clients. It perhaps has to have a sector capability; health-tech, financial tech or mobile tech. It could be asked for subject specialism; say ‘big data’ or the ‘gig economy’. And a multi-stakeholder client program may of course need PA or crisis capabilities as well as analyst or financial media relations. That consumer brand campaign should these days have planning (needing a planner), a great idea (needing a CD) and then a content creation, media relations and paid media outreach (that could be 12 people). This is happening on big clients in the big PR centres. We now have individual PR agency offices of 1000+ people. 500+ is not unusual. More and more clients are experiencing this level of specialist capability. Assuming the culture that sits between all these specialists is half decent, then the offer becomes highly effective and highly valued by the client. If big agencies use their scale properly, they should have a better, specialized offer. If big agencies use their scale properly, they should be able to offer a greater variety of careers and training and keep their better people longer. Happily for small agencies, very few big agencies are using their scale properly. Watch this space.
Young agencies grow fast. You go from one to six employees in year one and you have 600% growth. But rapid growth does not invalidate all the other normal rules of creating a great agency. In your rush to handle growth don’t build an ugly agency.
Most of what you need to know is published by these companies. You just need to take the time to learn. Or if not you, ensure someone in your agency does.
Hopefully you do. If you don’t then plagiarize and apply and develop your own. Most of the big agencies, as well as the better smaller ones, helpfully publish much of their approach or ‘methodology’ online. Bloggers and hi-profile PR folk do as well. Personally I don’t think you can claim to be in PR these days unless you can help clients manage their brand or reputation across these channels effectively.
And then you must keep up because this stuff changes fast. Mary is great for the overview but there are many others. Oh….and your clients and smarter employees are reading these studies by the way.
http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
And as communications has moved online, so the tools to manage it have too. The good news is most of this stuff is cheap to subscribe to. And with it you can do things like:
Automate repetitive tasks
Manage projects
Map networks and influencers
Manage your SEO and keyword reporting
See what your target audience are interested in in your category
Build online newsrooms
Test your digital content
Create simple info-graphics
Manage your paid campaigns
Curate your clients’ digital content
Produce and share social media dashboards
There are many helpful lists of these things out there (https://prstack.co/#/ )
Assign someone to be in charge of this and train your people. Again, smart employees and clients are already expecting this.
The old skill is still the key skill.
Fake news is real and present danger for the PR industry. Paul Holmes described it as an ‘existential threat’ ( https://www.holmesreport.com/long-reads/article/fake-news-is-an-existential-threat-to-pr-s-future-(part-1-of-2) ) To date of course, mainstream media have been in the spotlight. That could change if agencies and clients are not careful and ethical.
Again there is a lot out there to help guide you in creating training and guidelines for your people. My strong suggestion is every agency should run sessions on this.
PR budgets are no longer too small to research consumers or even opinion formers and influencers. Online tools abound to help supplement the tried and trusted telephone call to your own network. Here are some lists:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222389
http://au.pcmag.com/cloud-services/40101/guide/the-best-online-survey-tools-of-2017
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/market-research-tools-resources
Some of this stuff is actually free; most is now very reasonably priced. And don’t forget all the data available from the big social platforms for free.
If your strategy is not based on an audience insight at least partly gleaned from empirical research then check your pension contributions are up to date.
In most markets, the ‘fees’ paid to ‘creative’ agencies by CMOs are about 14 times those paid to the entire PR industry.
And yet CMOs are now more interested in our approach than they ever have been because traditional paid channels are collapsing and the power of indirect communications and influencers is more recognised and valued now than ever.
But those PR agencies that want to access these fees beyond our traditional tactical role of amplification and brand issues management need to appreciate how to manage the creative process better than we have in the past.
PR agencies tend to be service focused. The best creative agencies are idea focused. There is a big difference. Creativity and big ideas for brands have to be built on great planning which is built on great insights. That’s a big team and big commitment right there.
And then you need professional ideas people. You might get lucky with amateurs or part timers every now and again, but the generation of ideas is done better and more consistently by people for whom that is their passion and their main job.
And managing creative talent is a deck in and of itself.
At its core, what we do is imagine how people will react to messages or actions. There are no business disciplines I know that are as creative as ours. Don’t let process and the rational aspects of running an agency crush your imagination or those that work for you.
The retainer fee is a blessing and a curse.
But as we offer more and more specialised services like paid, SEO, planning and creative on top of the old favourites like crisis and audits, you need to ‘productize them’ or clients will try and wrap it in to the base fee.
Define the problem you are addressing
Describe the process you will address it with and if necessary the clients you have done this for before
Detail the outputs the client will receive
Price it
Don’t start doing it until they agree to pay for it
Review your retainer contracts to ensure they do not include ruinous catch-all scope of work descriptions.
Legal firms have many clients in the same category and this is seen as specialism and is therefore a benefit. Agencies have two clients in the same sector and it is conflict and people start screaming and calling their lawyers. As you get bigger the problem gets bigger and more constraining. I only have two tips; radical transparency and recognise you can’t win them all and sometimes you just have to walk away from business.
This has never been a fashionable view. Client work is where we all started and from where we believe we get our authority and, often, satisfaction. But humans can’t scale. And once your business does, you need to lead the business more than do fee paying work with clients. Don’t lose touch with clients, don’t stop selling, don’t stop managing the most important client relationships, but don’t be the main fee earner. And if you can’t let go of this, then hire a CEO.
If you lost you lost. Price and relationships were part of the equation and you did not manage them as well as others did. Don’t make excuses. Work hard to find out why the other firm were better than you and do better next time.
Service quality and therefore client retention and growth will put more on your top line than pitching ever will.
No there isn’t. The math does not make sense.
Managers will often tell you that staff left because someone else doubled their salary; often the same firm that apparently win pitches by undercutting you.
When you hear this you have a management problem not a competitor problem.
One big P&L and an ‘everyone is in it together’ approach: a number of smaller P&Ls so individual teams are motivated and effort rewarded: shadow P&Ls for creative, planning or digital; a central services unit funded by taxes on all the P&Ls.
They all work and they all don’t work at different times and with different people.
Pick the least worst and then spend all your effort on the culture and morale.
You know who they are. Your team know who they are.
…at least not outside of the creative department
No pessimists (outside the crisis team). It’s still a people business and your clients and best teams don’t want the oxygen sucked from their bodies either
As you get bigger the temptation is spend less time with clients and teams. You don’t always have to bill and you don’t always have to write the releases or strategy papers but you do have to have your finger on the pulse of key clients and key staff. Just hang out with them a bit more.
My old boss Richard Edelman believed we all had to ‘live in colour’.
By that he meant that we would be better consultants and client people if we were interesting and to be interesting, we had to participate in sport, NGOs, culture, media, society whatever. We had to have an outside life, because if we succumbed to working all the daylight hours in the office and then going straight home we would become boring and clients would not want to work with us and staff would not want to work for us.
Don’t be boring.
When I worked for Tim Sutton of Weber Shandwick, he always schooled us that burdening him with bad news at the weekend, when his ability to do anything about it was limited and the stress it would cause is maximised, was career limiting. “Tell me bad news on a Monday because Monday’s are shit anyway so you are not spoiling anything and I can deal with it because I am in work mode”. Even in todays’ 24/7 work environment, you don’t need to send emails at 2am or cc the entire office on your issue (that enormous crisis apart of course). If you do, you are spreading unnecessary stress amongst your colleagues and just signaling that you are a panic merchant and probably not a great person to have in an already stressful enough business.