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Brian Tracy, the well known sales trainer and author, wrote a piece a while ago, and he’s so right about this: “No matter what your job you’ve gone as far as you can with what you now know. Any progress you make from this moment onward will require that you learn and practice something new.”

But how?

Earl Nightingale hosted a popular syndicated radio program many years ago and founded the training company Nightingale-Conant. One of his aphorisms was just one hour a day of study is all it takes to get to the top.

Are you kidding me? Who has that kind of time!

But it gets worse. Nightingale actually claimed that 1 hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years, in 5 years you’ll be a national authority, and in 7 years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.

If he’s only half right, that’s pretty astounding.

I believe the heart of his message is valid. To get beyond what you already know,you’ve got to learn all you can about our business, particularly the “softer” skills like personal relationships, persuasion, and thinking-around-corners. Those kinds of skills which you probably didn’t study in school are what make people in the advertising and marketing arena successful, right?

The fact is you’re just not going to get much schooling of any kind in most agencies today. And with the speed of change, you can’t afford to wait for the company you work for to invest in you. To get ahead you’ve got to go get smart on your own.

Think about it: you don’t actually work for anybody anyway – you’re self-employed. No matter what level you’re at, you’re working for your own advancement, to better your life and your family’s.

So let’s get crazy for a moment. What would happen to your career if you made a decision today to invest, let’s say, 2% of your annual income back into yourself, for your own personal and professional development? It makes no sense to be cheap about your education — you’re investing in yourself!

Look at your clients. They’re constantly evolving new and improved products to be more competitive and grab more market share. Why not do the same? Nightingale claims if you do you’ll probably never have to worry about money again.

And here’s something that may strike you as over the top, but it’s worth considering. Brian Tracy says that if you read only one skill-improvement book a month, that will put you into the top 1% of income earners. If you read one hour per day in your field, that will translate into about one book per week. One book per week is 50 books a year and that’s 500 books over ten years.

If you did that I have no doubt you’ll be one of the best educated, smartest, most capable and highest paid people in our business. Regular reading will transform your life completely; it has for many others, including me. And it could’t be easier these days with Kindle and iPads.

Here’s a way to put this idea into practice.

Ask the successful people around you for their best book recommendations.Whatever advice they give you, immediately go out and buy or download those books and commit to reading for one half-hour every morning before you start work (that way you’ll eliminate the excuse of being too tired to read in the evening).

Sounds impossible, right? Yet many people spend hours in a health club “working out” and do nothing to improve their biggest asset, their heads.

I guess that’s OK if you don’t mind being stuck right where you are for a long, long time.

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An RFP comes your way and the prospect is right up your alley. You decide it’s Full Speed Ahead!

Here’s the first thing to remember about answering RFPs: it’s nothing more than a stand-in for you. It’s a salesman. And so it needs to be likable, concise, and focused entirely on prospect need. Just like you if you were in the room when they read it.

Appoint a battle captain – Each RFP requires a heavyweight, one of your best, with the clout to marshal the company resources so it gets done with the least amount of tears and sweat. Don’t give it to someone with time on his hands and don’t anoint a neophyte either; there’s too much at stake.

1st Draft – Have a professional writer write it, someone who despises subjunctive clauses and passive voice. Do not dole out sections to multiple authors or else it will read like a committee’s fractured report. Edit ruthlessly. Be concise. Leave out all that just-in-case fluff which can make it look like you’re throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. This is an ad for your agency – write it like one!

Focus on 1 takeaway - Like any good ad there should be a singular mental leave-behind, an inescapable shimmering message pointed directly at THEM. Even though they want the goods on you, think about it: it’s not about you, it’s really about them, right?

Which means you have to use plenty of these phrases: This is relevant to (prospect) because… This benefits you several ways… Our experience here applies directly to (prospect’s) needs because… Tie any horn-tooting to their unexpressed but ever present “what’s-this-mean-for-us” concerns.

Cautions on case histories – Fuse each to their needs — never parade a case history without tightly lacing it to their problems and opportunities. Think of it this way: your case histories have to be in effect about them. Two, maybe three are all you need or else it gets confusing. Too many or too long and your best success stories appear merely self-aggrandizing.

Art direct it - Put an art director to work making your RFP response fun and accessible. Tell a story, use cartoons, make it a joy to read. But keep in mind this is your sales guy in loco agentis so don’t go over the top or it will have the same effect as wearing a loud plaid sport coat.

Bio-prudence – Be careful about showcasing every last person in the agency. Instead, customize each bio with something like, Susie Smith will be [prospect]‘s primary day-to-day contact. She’s known for…and her experience [describe] applies directly to your marketing needs because… The idea is to make them WANT Susie working on their business, and of course the same goes for others on your list. Throwing in too many resumes can look like you’re padding… and expensive.

Show some ankle – Imagine their surprise when buried in all those somniferous RFPs they’re plowing through, yours gives them just a little tease, a lagniappe, by showing one or two snippets of creative with their logo or product. Now you’ve got their attention and if you do it right they’ll want to see more. Bada-bing! I’m not suggesting creating full-blown campaigns, but use their name and I.D. when you can. It’s flattering.

Be memorable – Nothing’s more disappointing when we do “lost prospect” interviews (see below) than learning that the client, who chose someone else, doesn’t even remember your proposal. It means you made no impression whatsoever! Well of course they didn’t choose you — if it wasn’t crafted to be memorable, how could you possibly create arresting materials for them? Be not afraid to risk a little – you can’t lose what you don’t have.

Table appeal – Client committees often begin their decision-making meeting by laying out all the RFP proposals side by side on a conference room table. Make sure yours stands out and is immediately recognizable. Don’t be like the agency — I’m not making this up — that not only failed to have it’s name on the proposal cover, it wasn’t anywhere inside either!

Keep these suggestions in mind and let us know if your batting average improves.

Our sales pitch – We interview “lost prospects,” i.e. the ones you didn’t get, to find out why you’re not winning your share of new business. Because we’re an outside source, clients tend to give us direct answers which we use to provide you with straight-shooting recommendations on how to stop striking out. For details, call Joe Grant at 239.537.6133 direct to find out more. It’s a small investment which can pay off big.

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You know the line about give the busy man the work and he’ll get it done? It’s true. The more you do the more you can do, but here’s a twist you may find helpful especially if you’re trying to balance all the exigencies of running a company.

You’ll do more and be more satisfied with your job, too, if you take on something challenging and stimulating in your “off” time.

There are people – you probably know some – who run high-demand businesses yet still have enough time and energy to indulge in things they enjoy and grow from. They take on “parallel challenges” in addition to their demanding professional responsibilities. Effective people know that extra challenges make them better in all dimensions.

The magic in all this, especially if you tackle some long-buried desire to do something you’ve always wanted to do, is you’ll get more done at your regular job while you make a dream come true. Take on a “Gee-it-would-be-great-to…” project and daily work chores become easier and your confidence and enthusiasm improve. Along the way your neurotransmitter connections get polished up and all those mood-plussing chemicals we keep reading about start circulating more freely.

Like a sleeping acorn harboring the potential of an oak, dormant aspirations never really go away. They just need to be dusted off and fired up. Maybe you always wanted to play the piano, learn to fly, speed read, master French cuisine, ride a motorcycle…I don’t know. What’s important is it’s a blood-pumping challenge and when you take a step in its direction other issues in your life immediately become easier.

So what’s holding you back? Money? Doubt it, probably not at this point in your life. Not enough time?

Ahh. . .time! Let’s talk about time management for a moment. It’s so often misunderstood. The key is to remember that time management is not about time at all: it’s about priorities.

Think about the following.

1) We get done what we want to get done, what matters most to us.

2) Decisions about using our time, i.e. what we do next, are based on what’s important at the moment – if you see your wastebasket burning, getting that client brief written will not be as big a priority as dousing the fire.

3) Forget about how many hours are available or how many items you check off a to-do list. Processing more minutiae will just make the wheel in your personal hamster cage spin faster. Getting the important things done – the priorities – is what makes the difference.

At the heart of all this is deciding what those priorities are and then committing to them. And if you look inside and begin to actualize a long-unfulfilled desire you’ll be making a decision which will not only make you happier, it will sharpen your judgment and heighten productivity.

I mention all this because we frequently work with senior agency executives who don’t understand after attaining considerable material success why they’re so damn disenchanted. The answer is they’ve checked off the “run my own agency” box and now need additional challenges.

If your DNA programs you for measurable accomplishment, now’s the time to stretch for something else – true happiness and satisfaction don’t come from status quo. As the artist Paul Klee said, “Becoming is superior to being.”

A great resource on this subject of time and getting the important stuff done is First Things First by Stephen Covey.

Reading it would be a good priority, huh?

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Read – If you don’t continually feast on new ideas, you’ll produce only flat and predictable solutions, especially now as we’re nearly overrun with new technology and media options. Suggestions: The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Inc., Wired, and the many blogs, feeds, and tweets on every subject. It wouldn’t hurt to consult some of the classic leadership ideas of Peter Drucker or Jim Collins, either. It’s never been easier to stay au courant these days with Kindles and iPads. Every top ad guy I know reads voraciously.

Write – It’s a must for senior positions, and like tennis or golf, you can always learn to do it better. Get a coach, a teacher, a friend to critique your work - memos, plans, letters – and push yourself to improve. Don’t know how many times I’ve heard, “She’d be great for that job but can’t write a memo or plan to save her life. Let’s get someone else.” Clear compelling writing is imperative for success.

Present – Can you command a room? Just like writing, if you don’t present well you won’t make it up the ladder. Slay the butterflies by plunging into a local improv troupe to build your confidence and technique. Toastmasters is still around, it’s free, and it works, too.

Think – Strategically, that is. Everyone believes they can write a strategic plan but few even know what it is. Google “strategic planning” and you’ll drown in definitions and templates. Learn to think and write strategically or you’ll be stuck doing the little stuff for a long time.

Ask – Be curious, learn, and you’ll grow. Be inquisitive about everything and you’ll never be bored. Or boring.

Proactivate – Ours is a talent business – you need to stand out. But it takes extra work and often longer hours to separate yourself from the pack, so get used to it. Showing up just 9 to 5 and thinking “they owe me a better job” will keep you a back-marker.

Create – Progress is the product of innovation and innovation doesn’t happen unless you try new things – that’s creativity. An agency should be a Petri dish of

creative experimentation in all areas. If you’re the person who comes up with new ideas you’ll achieve more success than people who wait for things to happen to them.

Invest – When making decisions about your career, having money gives you freedom. Don’t kid yourself thinking that you’ll start saving or investing when you make bigger bucks. That’s stupid. It’s not how much you make but how diligent you are putting some of it where it will grow. And though you may be decades from even thinking about retirement, this is exactly the time to max 401k contributions and get smart about stocks. There are no pensions in advertising anymore.

Relax – A few pops after work or a quick puff on something may momentarily loosen those knots in your gut but over time that will quicksand you. Find someone who carries a lot of responsibility with ease and ask them how they deal with the pressure. Stress is a killer, but believe me there are keys you can discover to prevent your nerves from eating you alive.

The Main Thing -The real key to success is getting the important things done, not just minutiae. Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant, author Stephen Covey says, and doing more things faster won’t replace doing the right things well. So figure out what will have the most impact for improving your work, your life, and your happiness and concentrate on that. You get what you focus on.

OK, enough proselytizing. Try some of the above and see if it helps provide more meaning and challenge – and success – in your career this new year.

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1. Delegate Everything But Genius
We’ve counseled a lot of really bright creative folks over the years who’ve built their own jails and locked themselves inside. They wanted an outlet for their creativity so they started their own companies…and quickly got caught in the quicksand of “management.”

You know what that is – refereeing personality conflicts, motivating recalcitrant associates, approving supply purchases, making sure the conference room is cleaned up. . . Help!

Managing the little stuff is not what makes you successful. It’s capitalizing on your unique talents which nobody else has or can do the way you do. Anything else which distracts, upsets, perturbs, or otherwise beats you down to the point that you can’t do what you’re best at – and what you enjoy most – must be delegated or deleted. Hire it out or give it to somebody else to worry about. But don’t waste your most precious resource: you.

Your special talents are all you have to make your little enterprise work. It’s soul-splitting to create profound strategic ideas one moment and the next order paper clips. If you can’t delegate everything but what you master like no one else, get a therapist to help you understand why. Or else you’ll be welding the bars shut on your own cell.

2. It’s Not About You
Entrepreneurs can get so pumped up by contemporary can-do literature that they actually begin to believe they’re “partners” with their clients. They’ll say, “But we’re different than others – we’re true partners.”

Whoa! At the very best you’ll work determinedly to become a trusted resource, but becoming a true partner – with skin in the game, skin that bleeds? Not likely.

Think about it: a partnership is a business relationship in which you furnish part of the capital and labor for a money-making enterprise then share in subsequent profits or losses. Do you do that? No, your company merely provides a service and thinking you have a commensurate relationship with a client is a self-flattering delusion.

If you get over thinking you’re indispensable or equal it will be a lot easier doing what you’re really good at.

Truth is, it’s not about you and never has been. No matter how insightful or groundbreaking you think your contributions are, they’re merely a small part of your client’s galaxy of issues and opportunities. That’s why they don’t call you back when you wish they would – they have bigger (to them) elephants to shoot.

3. Know If Your Clients Are Happy
Market research is imperative because it’s so dangerous to “presume” what the market thinks of our products and services.

Yet in a client-centered business where relationships are based on so much more than just occasional purchases, we’re convinced we know how we’re doing.

Really? Then why do Adweek and AdAge have weekly cover stories about account firings where agency honchos misread the smoke signals and in their hubris believed their client relationships were impregnable?

Don’t rely on the account team to tell you how great things are; after all, their opinions are likely a conflict of interest. Instead consider having your relationships audited by a disinterested 3rd party because people, especially in close business relationships, aren’t comfortable telling you directly what you need to know.

They’ll complain about you to others, they’ll talk behind your back, but they won’t tell you face to face. It’s human nature – many of us can’t stand conflict. An objective survey will yield factual evidence of what needs to be improved – by both parties.

Many agencies use our Client Satisfaction Survey to improve client retention and reignite account profitability. To find out more, call or e-mail. Or read the Client Retention section on our website. As one client said, “I’m impressed the agency is actually auditing itself – it proves they’re committed to my business.”
(The above is from 15 Things Every Agency Owner Should Know. The article is available in its entirety on our home page.)

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As a young account supe a couple of decades ago I remember it seemed like our CEO at Ketchum Pittsburgh did nothing but play golf or go to ball games and dinner with CEOs of our clients Westinghouse, ALCOA, H.J. Heinz, PPG, etc. What a life, I thought – to be paid all that money to schmooze, play golf, and have a cold one on the 19th during business hours! All while we lackeys sweated in windowless offices to get estimates approved or minor copy changes made.

Until one day there was a significant crisis involving a potential conflict of interest.

We were about to lose one of our largest blue-chip accounts (and my job would have gone, too) when the agency’s Big Guy came down the hall and announced to our account group that he’d worked things out with his close personal friend, the client CEO. Everything was fixed with a phone call.

As the years went by and more senior positions came my way, a couple of things became clear. First, no matter how diligently you worked or how good the work itself was, in this business things may get badly sideways for reasons beyond your control. Second, these pickles are best resolved by the top people – the agency president relying on the friendship and trust developed over time with his or her client counterpart.

I call it making your client a CPF – a Close Personal Friend.

Sounds a little unctuous, I suppose, until you remember that at its core business is all about relationships. . . and it’s easier to do business with a friend. Because with friends you forgive the occasional bumps and navigate rough patches knowing that your friendship will pull you both through.

It also helps to remember that clients are not just tools or a means to an end.

They’re people with families, issues, interest and hobbies, and problems, trying to do the best job they can. They deserve friendship. Some of my closest lifelong friends were once clients; our friendships have lasted way beyond mere business deals.

Agency/client relationships sustain and work best when they’re fastened firmly at the top. Because everything else is just too fragile: people come and go and reporting structures often change. So the place to attach and snug up the anchor bolts is where things are least likely to shift: at the top.

Don’t be like an agency owner we know who refuses to “get his hands dirty” by spending time with senior client people. He’s uninvolved, preferring to have his minions do that messy client stuff. That’s a mistake and in fact he’s on the way to tough times – his clients told us (through our Client Survey program) that shunning them will soon have negative consequences.

Look, it’s not all about schmoozing, that’s for sure. The agency should be held accountable for tangible outcomes and ROI, especially these days when every expenditure must be justified. Performance and measurable results are table stakes in any client/agency relationship.

But if you’re an agency principal, it’s in your interest to make all your clients CPFs. We need all the friends (and clients) we can get, right?

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There’s a serious and potentially heart-wrenching problem in many agencies that bubbles just below audible conversation: senior executives no longer justifying their keep. It affects everyone. And it’s time to talk about it.

Here’s the problem.  People work awfully hard in our business and use up a lot of themselves in the process. That may be why in their 50s some conclude they’re not going to get a whole lot further than where they already are, so why push so hard? Maybe I can coast a little and still be well paid. I’ll retire soon enough, in a few years. But just not right now.

We call these people the “soon retiring” or SRs.

To some an SR who’s contributing less and less to the bottom line can appear to be selfishly harvesting profits and bleeding off a 6-figure salary. Toss in perqs (bonus, car, self-approving expense accounts, club memberships, etc.) and there’s a pretty big hole in the bucket.

Would the money spent on an SR yield a better return increasing new business efforts, developing new services, buying out a competitor, delivering serious training, or rewarding or hiring stronger talent? That’s the heart of the dilemma because those kind of business opportunities can be seriously thwarted by supporting an SR. More than once we’ve seen an agency starve itself from growth because it was carrying this sort of burden.

Yet it wouldn’t be fair to push that good ole’ SR out to pasture, you say. He or she was there at the beginning, risked so much, spent all those nights and weekends away from home (maybe a divorce along the way?). This is where it gets really torturous. You feel a moral obligation to be fair to folks who’ve given so much.

Alright. Let’s talk about “fair.”

Some say it’s not fair to allow the company to be held hostage by a highly paid but no-longer-as-productive SR. It’s not fair to those at full song trying to move the company forward. Ambitious younger people may seek opportunity elsewhere…and suddenly your competition has all the good talent.

OK, but what about “loyalty” and “reward”? Doesn’t the SR deserve a cushy last few years at the end of the work rainbow? Maybe, but some argue there shouldn’t be an unspecified “obligation” to keep anybody aboard indefinitely.

Reading this far you’re probably disappointed we haven’t revealed some bromide to fix this issue. Believe me, having guided several agencies through these treacherous waters there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It’s a tight complex knot of human compassion, economics, emotional baggage and unspoken expectations.

But there are a few guidelines we use when helping agencies unravel these sensitive problems:

1. Eliminate denial. Don’t pretend it isn’t happening or will fix itself. You, the senior team, and the SR must acknowledge that something’s out of whack. Face up to it because it’s the kind of thing you get paid to face up to. A Chinese proverb we’re fond of instructs that the beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name.

2. See the whole picture. Decisions about SRs rest on the leadership team’s responsibility to do the best forallemployees. These difficult resolutions have to be right for the company and its health, not just the convenience of a few.

3. Dignity is fundamental. That’s dignity for all. Resolve to honor everyone’s ego and emotional needs as well as your own sanity and good conscience. I’m here to tell you that you can craft solutions which can sustain self-esteem and not make people feel like dirt.

4. Be fair. But don’t confuse fairness with generosity. Sometimes those of us with soft hearts make really dumb business decisions because our emotions overpower common sense. Your actions must be consistent with the firm’s core purpose and values. Remember that treating one person with a heavy dose of “fairness” at the expense of others is wrong too. Principles by definition are ecumenical.

5. Get outside perspective. It’s a sure bet that you’re too close to the situation to see it objectively because, ironically, you know too much. Seek off-site counsel - all parties deserve it.

6. Be safe. Wearing a life jacket doesn’t mean you hope to end up in the water. Get legal guidance before any precipitous decisions.

One more thing. We better figure this out or the well-meaning baby-boomer SRs will unconsciously throttle down a lot of otherwise healthy agencies. Remember, the clock ticks for all of us. YOU’LL be an SR some day.

We all will.

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So…deep in your heart you’re a little concerned you’re working too hard, that your outlook and style is coarsening, and achieving meaning from your work gets more elusive every year.

You’re not alone. When we coach executive talent avoiding burnout comes up a lot, with both emerging leaders and 50+-somethings pushing for legacy and worth.

After many years as a business therapist, I’m convinced what keeps people creative and helps them prevent getting stale is scheduling plenty of personal time to focus on “un-business” and recharge. Yes, it can – it must – be done, even in our crazy business.

Let’s go for a low-hanging analogy. We’re bipedal computers getting sticky and slow trying to handle too many open programs. Our hard drives sluggishly strain to jump from sector to sector, churning away valiantly but always behind the curve.

Or how about high performance athletes? They know that to be competitive they must rest between heats and meets. But us, well, we treat ourselves like machines revving our engines at high speed for weeks, months, and sometimes years with little down time. Until something breaks.

Perhaps you know someone who brags about not having been on a vacation for several years. Well. . . that’s just dumb. It’s not that you “deserve” it, it’s that you need time away. Otherwise you’ll soon resent your work, your company, and what it’s all slowly doing to your health and your family relationships. Not to mention your sanity.

The truth is the longer you’re in our business with its unrelenting deadlines and sudden zigs and zags, the more you’ve got to make time to catch your breath.

Creative people know this. The reason so many good ideas come while singing in the shower or commuting in is that those are “down times” when your brain is not racing quite so fast to process multiple inputs. Good ideas bubbling to the top are easier to see when the surface is not roiled.

If you examine the lives of people who made great contributions, especially in their later years, you’ll see they understood that full speed ahead was not when they had breakthrough moments. It was when they lay quietly at anchor – remember Archimedes in his bath?

And here’s an irony. You know the line about give the busy man the work and he’ll get it done? It’s true. The more you do the more you can do, but there’s a twist you may not realize.

You’ll get more satisfaction out of your job if you tackle something challenging and stimulating outside your job. Something meaty. Especially if it’s a long-buried desire to realize a wish you first had in childhood.

Some examples: maybe you always wanted to play the piano, learn to fly, make outstanding pasta sauces, speed read, paint, restore an old car, build something out of wood that wouldn’t fall down when you leaned against it…I don’t know. What’s important is that it’s something you’ve always wanted to do and it challenges you.

You know people like this, right? Folks who run demanding companies but still make time to indulge themselves in things they enjoy and grow from. Effective people know that parallel challenges make them better in all dimensions and they’re not afraid to stretch for things which may at first appear slightly beyond their reach.

We take ourselves and “success” entirely too seriously. To stay engaged and vigorous, learn to take a breather and challenge yourself with something that has deeper personal meaning than just speeding up your personal assembly line to get more widgets out the door.

Remember, you have more than just “high” and “off” on that switch of yours. Try some different settings.

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Folks, I’m aware that some of you may have received duplicate copies of previously published posts.

This weekend I spent considerable time trying to track down the cause of this annoyance and wish I could report that it’s been fixed. But from the research it appears to be (1) a random/occasional Feedburner issue with RSS subscriptions that’s received many comments on the net and (2) there’s no apparent solution.

Hard to believe, I know. My blog, like others who’ve had the same problem, has not been updated, edited or altered in any way to trigger a new feed. At least by me. . .

We’ll keep looking into it, but I wanted you to know I’m aware of it and appreciate your understanding and patience.

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1. Internal account reviews – unless you commit to a measurable process for ongoing improvement, account teams will default to nothing more than enclaves of apathy. Account by account, herd everyone who works on the business into a room and walk through financial performance, market dynamics, client internal politics, growth opportunities, and agency soft spots, (see How Quarterly Reviews Make a Difference). Craft a 90-day action plan then do it all over again 3 months later. Accounts left unmanaged – “un-led” describes it better – eventually disappear.

2. What’s the plan? – seat-of-the-pants clients who hurl last minute projects at you which they’ve known about for months need to be roped into a plan before everybody goes nuts. Your mission: hold an annual planning retreat with every major client (or maybe do it every 6 months). Go offsite and spend a day planning TOGETHER what you’ll do and how you’ll work for the rest of the year. By the way, you pick up the tab – it’s the cheapest way we know to keep an account for at least another year.

3. Capabilities presentations – a lot has changed since this time last year – the client’s people and yours, market dynamics, competition, your competencies. Host a meeting to get your client current on your new capabilities – talented new staffers, new services and departments, enhanced capacity – and you’ll reinforce their decision to hire (and keep) you. Remember, it’s entirely possible that at this very moment your competitors are prepping a similar song-and-dance to woo your very clients to greener grass. The first rule of client retention is Never, ever take an account for granted.

4. Know your clients better – Plan now to attend some trade shows, visit outlying factories or stores in other markets, or put people through a client’s instruction program (“Put ‘em behind the grill,” we used to say in the fast food business). Do it on your nickel; it will be a statement. Clients don’t expect you to know everything about their business, but they want you to know more.

5. Reset the bar – Proactivity is at least 50% of keeping a client. Challenge the account and creative folks to generate one big spanking fresh idea for each client every quarter. All that high priced talent you’re warehousing ought to be able to come up with four sparkling ideas a year the client wasn’t anticipating. I’m talking big stuff here. It’s what they expect – unsolicited solutions and opportunities.

6. Fix the inside stuff – straighten out the sloppy or ineffective things in your own house that hinder your ability to deliver timely and flawless execution. If a recalcitrant internal department is road-blocking or you’re burdened with balky infrastructure, fix it. Because should the gods smile and you land all that projected new business, those internal snafus will really gum up the works when your agency machine gets larger.

7. Switch creative teams – people get stale working on the same stuff. Stir things up by assigning creative Team A to do a project for Team B’s clients. Sure, they won’t know all the peculiar little never-dos, but that’s exactly what you want – fresh thinking. You’ll reinvigorate the creative gang, give the account people practice in delivering lucid strategic briefs to an unfamiliar audience, and generate something fresh for your clients.

8. Revisit promises – when you pitched your brains out getting Client X, you made commitments and promises, written and unwritten. Ah, romance! But like any romance, promises uttered in the heat of the moment often fade. Dig out and revisit the presentation. Recommit to deliver the things you said you’d do – sort of like renewing marriage vows. Promises left unfulfilled undermine trust.

Now get out there and try some of these. They work, guys.

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