Time and materials. Abstract time and materials. Flat fees. Value-based pricing. With such a dizzying array of pricing models available today, it can be tricky to know which one is right for your agency. If you’re feeling confused by it all, then read on. We recently brought together the brains of three pricing experts for our monthly webinar series – and we think you’ll be surprised (and even inspired) by what they had to say.

How do you create long-term relationships with clients? You want to provide enough value to keep clients coming back for more, but this is tough when you don't know if the client will stick around. That’s why many agencies use retainer agreements: to ensure reliable relationships and revenue. But (like everything else in the business world), retainer agreements come with both benefits and drawbacks.

Note: If you aren’t seeing Clients in your left-side navigation, not to worry! Click here to learn about how to enable it. When managing multiple clients and their projects, the last thing you need to worry about is manually cobbling together metrics across their projects just to get a sense of how things are going, or realizing you have a client directory with gaps and outdated information. Being the only platform built to run client work, we have just the fix for you!

Processes and systems are essential for growing an agency. They’re the scaffolding holding the structure in place. But too many agencies mistake scaffolding for structure, becoming overburdened with procedure at the expense of productivity, creativity and collaboration. Process should help agencies scale, not become a straitjacket that belabours daily tasks and prevents knowledge sharing.

Mention the word “timesheets” to someone who has worked at an agency and it’ll probably send shivers down their spine and have them running for the hills. It’ll conjure up memories of frantically going through emails and to-do lists on a Friday, and somehow making things add up to 40 hours for the week. We’ve all been there! For an industry so dependent on good time management for success, it can be difficult to explain why most agencies struggle to do it effectively.

In today’s globally connected economy very few businesses of a certain size restrict themselves to just a single country. In fact, even small ‘mom-and-pop’ businesses sell their products online all over the world. Employers of all kinds are tapping into talent and expertise from all around the world, and not just those with subsidiaries in multiple countries. Almost all businesses, organizations, and even governments are under pressure to reduce costs and do more with less.