7 WAY S TO I N C R E A S E
AGENCY PROFITS
Offices of LHM, Synergist users
WE ASKED AGENCIES:
What are the best ways to increase profitability?
We list their top seven responses.
1. STAFF UTILISATION
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
It’s all about time. Synergist users give staff
It spells out where the issues are hidden.
utilisation a top profitability rating because it
Focusing on the chargeable / non-chargeable
answers questions at the heart of every agency’s
ratio lets you steer the direction of one of
business: How effectively is our time being
your agency’s highest costs — your people.
spent? What’s the ratio of chargeable to non-
Remember: just having a busy team doesn’t
chargeable work?
guarantee profitability.
“Synergist makes [big decisions] feasible, because
we know exactly when it makes sense from a staff
utilisation viewpoint, and everything is tracked so
we’re in control.”
STEVEN CLARK, FINANCIAL & COMMERCIAL MANAGER, TAYBURN
Client work by Tayburn
2. JOB HEALTH
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Full control and total visibility of jobs. Jobs
It warns you of issues while there’s time to act.
and projects can slip. It’s inevitable. But if you
In combination with Staff Utilisation, the way
aren’t given any warning about it, you can’t do
to profitability is to ensure jobs come on or
anything to fix it. Job Health is all about being
under budget. Knowing about delinquent jobs
informed and having the reassurance that there
at the moment they miss target gives you a
are no big surprises lurking.
chance to solve them.
Client work by Tayburn
“We can act before it’s too late.
We now see issues sooner.”
SIMON BUTLER, CO-FOUNDER OF
PURESTONE
Client work by Purestone
3. SAVING STAFF TIME
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Speeding up processes, releasing time for more
More time, a unified system and better client
productive work. You can’t increase the number
service. One factor alone — the time saved
of hours in a day. But you can substantially
— more than justifies the ROI. The rest is a
reduce time spent on administrative work
bonus: efficiency, everything in one place,
or searching for information that’s scattered
better client service. And you can take on more
across the company.
work without adding staff.
“We used to spend masses of
time searching for information
or pulling together reports
or estimating work or doing
invoices. Such a waste. Now,
that’s all cleaned up. It leaves
more time for client focus.”
KENT VALENTINE, MD, DRAW / FOCUS
Client work by Draw for Jimmy Choo
4. BETTER DECISION-MAKING
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Business intelligence. If the decisions you
It brings clarity to your decisionmaking.
make each day are based mostly on hunches
A comprehensive system will bring
and guesswork, you’re bound to be making
transparency and reason to difficult
some expensive errors from time to time —
decisions about clients, recruitment and
and it’s not your fault. You just need better
pricing. And, in any agency, there aren’t
data to support you.
many more challenging questions than those.
“Synergist makes it easier to
make those tough decisions
about jobs, because the
information is there to back up
your hunch. Today, we don’t
have to make as many hunches.
Now we have the data to back
up our instincts.”
IAN MAY, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, AND
GARETH MOORE, CHIEF OPERATING
OFFICER, CREATIVE JAR
Client work for Knight Frank by Creative Jar
5. RESOURCE SCHEDULING & CAPACITY PLANNING
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Reducing nasty surprises in your resourcing.
It gives you more control. Reducing reliance on
Planning resources is all about trying to even
last-minute freelancers and other recruitment
out the load as far as possible. Knowing
costs is a big win. Your ability to schedule with
everything you can know about the days
confidence also helps client service. And internal
and weeks ahead helps you avoid expensive
comms also win — everybody knows what they
resourcing issues.
should be working on.
“Synergist pulls everything
together. Jobs, estimating,
scheduling, purchase orders,
quotations.”
DEEP SANGAR, PRODUCTION MANAGER,
CLEVERCHERRY
Client work for Marston’s by Clevercherry
6. ACCURATE ESTIMATING
& QUOTING
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Accuracy, speed, intelligence and presentation.
It increases focus and rigour in a crucial
In the enthusiasm of setting out prospective
element of business. Correct pricing is
work to clients, it’s so easy to overlook details,
obviously vital for profitability. With the right
make a mistake in the budget or not learn from
system, quotations are going to be more
similar previous jobs. Once a quote’s issued,
accurate, faster and more likely to reflect
you’re stuck with it.
previous experience.
“When estimated costs logged
to a job reach 50% we see
whether we are half way
through completing the job.
It flags up problems early. So
when we get to 100% there
aren’t any surprises.”
STEVE LAWRENCE,
OPS DIRECTOR, LHM
Creative work by LHM
7. NEW BUSINESS
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
HOW DOES IT INCREASE PROFITS?
Keeping track of opportunities and helping
It triggers the actions needed to maintain
to smooth the flow of business. It’s important
revenue flow. Better management of the flow
to know, as far as possible, what bumps and
of business helps avoid the peaks and troughs
hazards are looming in the road ahead. New
that lead to under- or over-resourcing. And
business planning helps you match resources and
better tracking of opportunities helps you avoid
initiatives as needed.
overlooking new business.
“Synergist helps us throughout
our whole process. From
monitoring our lead generation,
pipeline and new business
activity all the way through to
“Synergist pulls everything
setting up client projects and
together. Jobs, estimating,
monitoring purchase
their health.”
scheduling,
orders,
SARAH WELLER, MANAGING DIRECTOR
quotations.”
(LONDON), MUBALOO
DEEP SANGAR, PRODUCTION MANAGER,
CLEVERCHERRY
Client work for The Met Office by Mubaloo
Implementation and consultation by
www.synergist.co.uk
01625 572 690
www.theagencyworks.co.uk
01455 553 246