Successful agencies are those that can bill more time to clients
in the same 24-hour period, with minimum slippage and no hours written off at
the end of a project.
It has been estimated that tighter time controls in most agencies
have in fact increased billable hours by up to 25% - having a sensational effect
on profits.
Recommendations for improving and
maintaining your control are very clear:
- Estimate a timeline for every project.
This way you will have some sense of what you are aiming
for with regards to estimate vs. actual, and can keep the hours and overall job
and stage profitability at your fingertips. It's also much easier to see the
order and delivery of stages rather than the overall deadline.
- Get the client's agreement with the timeline.
If any of your clients consistently fail to meet their part of the
timeline, or they make changes which affect your time spent on the project, the
changes need to be tracked and charged for, and the agreed deadlines altered accordingly.
Putting terms on your time estimates stating they are reliant on the client meeting their own agreed deadline for approvals
and changes etc. clarifies expectations and eases the pain of scheduling 'blow
outs'. ('Relaxed' clients can cause up to 30% or more of scheduling delays in
agencies.)
- Ensure you have a reliable system for time tracking.
A relational database will enable you to compile template estimates
and add a timeline for each project. It should be possible to create reports instantly to show
time commitments daily, weekly, monthly etc. with red light alerts showing on
individual dashboards if any components of a project are not going to make the
original completion date.
Time and expense management, access to all client communication, and the
instant retrieval of job-specific information, are essential in a good creative
management system.
- Monitor the workflow
Having good data input and communication on all projects makes
the workflow manageable, and appointing someone to studio
management enables better control. Creative brilliance doesn't prevent a
state of chaos. Deadlines still have to be met, budgets still have to be stuck
to, jobs still have to be specifically allocated. In short, every project
should be able to be tracked at every step, any day.
- Gain the commitment
of your team
Almost any system will work if the team wants it to work. No traffic and daily workflow system will function well, regardless of how carefully
planned or how heavily computerised, unless everyone is committed to it. Every
employee plays an integral role in workflow processes. Buying into efficiency
means your team is buying into profitability.
