A happy and prosperous new year to all our clients and
contacts, and may you all get an early, motivated start on the year ahead.
Having listened to so
many of you during 2007, we are confident in recommending three essential steps
to help maximise profitability when managing your projects.
1) Agree
with your staff on exactly what functions are chargeable.
2) Determine a realistic percentage of billable hours for each employee.
3) For
completed projects, especially the larger ones, always check on the accuracy of the estimated hours against the
actual hours.
While these may seem obvious, all too frequently they are
not implemented or maintained regularly, which can have an enormous effect on your income.
There are often misconceptions among account managers,
creatives, and directors about what costs should get passed on to the client. Reluctance
to charge can also be the result of under-quoting the hours initially. Though
perceptions may vary regarding ideal percentages and rates, there is no
question that your 'Actuals' must be as accurate as possible.
Rather than increasing your charge-out rates to increase
your profitability, more efficient timesheet keeping and more accurate
estimating can have the same effect, allowing your rates to stay competitive.
So, with that in mind - we hope you can make your January
count. If it's traditionally a quiet month for you, use some time to assess
your needs for the next year. Are you getting the reports you need? Do any of
your team require training on any aspect of your systems?
We are here to help, and look forward to assisting with a
successful and profitable 2008.
Sincerely,
