Which metrics should you track, to run your agency as efficiently as possible? In this episode we speak with Richard Brett. Rich is a seasoned FinOps professional with 15+ years of experience, including a decade in the agency world. Rich has played a key role in scaling agencies, setting up financial processes, and supporting sustainable growth. Rich will take us into a deeper dive of agency finances, starting with revenue recognition – recording revenue when it's earned, not when payment is received – and explain why this is so important.

Harv Nagra, former in-house agency ops director presents a webinar on agency productivity with Agency Hackers.

As an Ops person, the role of IT expert is often part of the job. So how can you ensure your agency’s IT infrastructure is set up for scaling? That's the focus of our discussion with Dan Timmiss, Technical Director at Kaizen IT Solutions. With over two decades of experience, Dan has helped hundreds of creative agencies optimize and manage their IT setups, from audits to complete IT overhauls and supporting scaling teams.

Winning pitches is tough. Ghosting has become a common challenge, and even when you win, clients may be commissioning smaller pieces of the project rather than the full program. But that’s only part of the struggle - crafting pitch decks takes a lot of time and energy. Surely there’s a better way than packing slides with your best creative ideas. In this episode we tackle these challenges and introduce a strategic approach to pitching. The focus shifts from pitching tactics to showcasing value and ROI.

Part of the remit of an ops leader is to ensure they’ve got the right people, in the right place. In many agencies, account managers handle sales, client relationships, AND project management. However, this hybrid role often leads to trade-offs. Everyone’s got their own strengths and preferences – and these responsibilities seemingly require very different personality types.

We’re in the age of remote and hybrid working, and our physical distance from one another is having a huge impact on company culture. Previously, grabbing lunch or a drink after work was easy. But now, even small talk needs to be consciously brought into our scheduled Slack calls to avoid things becoming too transactional. This new way of working can lead to serious challenges like feeling disconnected from colleagues and the company mission, lacking motivation, and experiencing loneliness.

Without financial results, we can’t see the impact of the decisions we make on our agency’s profit. In this episode we’re joined by Alfie Wenegieme, a seasoned chartered accountant with over 17 years of commercial finance experience. Alfie shares important metrics for us to understand, report, and improve on. We explore the fundamentals of agency finances, common issues agencies face, and tips for improving your team’s understanding of key financial metrics.

Some platforms for niche use cases don’t require much consideration – you can try, and if it doesn’t work as intended, you can move onto something else. Other platforms, particularly those that are linked to your client services and business finances, require careful consideration. How do you ensure you’re making the right decision? In this episode, we discuss why growing and maturing agencies looking to scale make the transition from disjointed tools to professional services automation (PSA) platforms.