If in doubt, give it the overnight test

There is a saying my creative director had way back. He said ‘if you ever had an inkling that the creative was not right, give it the overnight test’. That’s exactly what we used to do. We would hang the artwork on the wall, and examine it the next day.

Writing a proposal or a difficult email late at night can benefit from the overnight test too. Creatives tend to practice this more than client service. With fresh eyes the following morning, you see more objectively.

When you are tired, or distracted, it is easy for the meaning of an email or an idea to become distorted. It is better to delay sending until you have had time to review it the next day.

Delaying sending it can avoid the necessity of apologising and re-writing a new one.

To conduct an overnight test, leave proposals on your desktop, and emails in your draft folder. In the morning you can correct ambiguous explanations, and remove any tone which may be misinterpreted.

This practice backs-up the idea of doing less, but doing it better. By getting it right the first time, you conserve energy and save yourself the time repeating the task.

Vision, first and foremost

Having a vision is what drives results. Vision is foresight to see beyond the hurdles and distractions of now, to what is possible and necessary tomorrow.

To develop a vision, client service need to deeply understand the nature of their client’s business, and the behaviour of their customers. They have to not only come up with an idea, but simulate how it would fly in the face of reality.

Creating a vision requires experience, reflection and conviction. It should come from a person who is closest to the Client, as they are the most motivated to see the project succeed.

Client service need to believe with their hearts and minds in the vision. They shouldn't be precious - instead sharing their vision with many colleagues and laypersons to get feedback.

Once the Client and others in the Agency have bought into
the vision, it becomes a matter of maintaining it through to execution.

This is easier than it sounds. Production is complex, and there are issues which arise not considered before. To overcome these problems and not cut corners requires discipline, and an inbuilt guidance system to check decision-making is inline with the vision.

Protecting the vision from erosion is paramount. The trick is to place a perimeter around what is fundamental, and then guard it viciously. You must be clear on what can and cannot be compromised.

Taking ownership and becoming custodian of the vision may make you unpopular in the short term. However this approach in the long run will reduce the number of client revisions, and make the most of the Agency’s creative people.

Clients don’t engage Agencies to prove they can produce a television commercial, or a website for that matter. They are paying for a vision, and the results which come from a vision.

Client service are doing everyone a favour each time they remind themselves and others of this often forgot truth.

The conference call made personal

Where possible, try to engage in face-to-face meetings, especially when you are expecting to meet key stakeholders for the first time. People are more comfortable doing business with someone they have met in person, than an anonymous voice on the phone.

However, globalisation of business has meant we can't always be in the same room. For many business transactions, we may never have the luxury of a face-to-face meeting. The expectation placed on an Agency to deliver is no different. Just because the Client is in conversing from another country, won't make expectation of the project less.

1. Establish who is in the room. Write down the name and rank of each participant, and picture them seated at a table. You will need to call their names during the meeting to get the right person's attention. Make sure all the parties are experiencing clear reception, and verify the length of time the call is expected to take.


2. Progress one point at a time. Go over each point carefully, and anticipate which parts of the discussion may need extra explanation. Send visual aids to all parties before the presentation to improve comprehension.


3. Shorter meeting times. Attention spans on conference calls are shorter compared to face to face. All parties are focusing solely on audio, which can get tiring, especially if the audio has poor reception. Conversely, in-person meetings are full of body language and eye contact, which provide a source of stimulus. Focus on the most important areas for discussion, and use email to solidify details after the call has ended.


4. Voice projection. Speak slowly, clearly and voice project. If this is your first meeting with the Client, they'll be listening to your cues in your voice which tell them your level of influence and seniority. If the Client can't hear properly, it is likely they will miss important information. Clients whose English is not their first language, will need extra attention.
   
5. Say less. Telephony has a lot of limitations. Although it can connect many people remotely, only one person can speak at a time. Allow longer pauses between speech than in a normal face-to-face meeting, to allow others opportunities to contribute.

Brave are those who face ‘difficult conversations’

Client service with foresight make small interventions each day, to prevent an issue escalating. These are small investments diffuse any issues, before it becomes an issue.

However, if either the Client or the Agency are what negotiation strategists call 'avoiders', it is unlikely either party is practicing diffusion. Having a genuine desire to maintain good relations, an avoider is not prepared to risk the relationship to table an issue. They are affraid of the emotional consequences of an arguement or conflict. So an avoider delays, procrastinates, and by not acting excacerbates the issue.

It is natural to want to avoid confrontation. After all, no one enjoys confrontation, especially with a Client.

Avoidance however is no cure. The ostrich that stuck its head in the ground never helped anyone. Every relationship, no matter how healthy and endearing, is likely to present challenges.

Planning a difficult conversation
Difficult conversations are fraught with danger. It is easy to get caught up in one's emotions, or to lose focus and miss the point all together. A great deal of skill and time is required to succeed.

Here a few measures client service should take to prepare for a difficult conversation.

1. Confirm you have an issue. Nothing is worse than client service forcing an issue which does not exist. If the Client is uninterested, it may be a sign they believe there is no issue. Even if there is an issue, there be another way to resolve it without the Agency's involvement.


2. Send your best people. No amount of preparation can conceal the fact client service are preparing to criticise the Client. This manoeuvre takes a lot of courage and experience. Sending a junior to hangout dirty laundry is not an option. Unless you plan to terminate the relationship, make sure the person you send is experienced and trusted by the Client.


3. Assess the risk. Map out scenarios, including a 'do nothing'. When risking a possible confrontation, think about what kind of positive return it will bring the Client and the Agency.
   
4. Invite the client to your office. Find a way to conduct the conversation face to face, instead of on email. Placing criticism on email is dangerous, as you cannot sense the Client's mood at the time they read it. It may also be interpreted as cowardly, and not worthy of consideration.


5. Maintain self-control. Before the meeting, write down your points, and refer to it during conversation. This way you stay focused, and are less likely to fall victim to your emotions. Anger, blame and sarcasm only reveal weakness of character, and will work against you.


6. Be sincere. If you value the relationship, this should flow naturally. The challenge is to maintain a polite, sincere and focused conversation, minimising long term damage to the relationship. If you have had to conduct a difficult conversation, you will know just how hard this is to accomplish.


7. Take indirect action. Make it known you are treating the matter seriously, by placing embargoes. These are indirect measures to begin limiting liability and demonstrating to the client that their money is not everything to you.

Presentations are a dialogue

It is remarkable how often client service deliver a presentation, without pausing once to allow the Client to make comment. They bolt from the moment they hear the starting gun, and don't stop talking right until the end.

By refusing the Client the right to interact, isolates the Client and slows down their cognitive responses. Soon they begin to fidget and become distracted, and cease listening.

A far better way to hold the attention of a Client is to engage in a dialogue. A dialogue is two-way communication, where parties learn simultaneously about the subject matter and each other.

Many find dialogue in a presentation unnatural, as they have scripted their presentation one-way. The presentation has been scripted as a soliloquy, where the spot light remains fixed on them.

It is no wonder client service are caught off guard when the Client interrupts them. They are so focused on their presentation, they can't hear or see what is happening around them.

This disconnection between the speaker and the audience produces no results, and wastes the time of the participants. A better approach is to have a dialogue.

While rehearsing, imagine your presentation is a conversation between friends. Deliberately script the presentation with pauses, and invite others to contribute opinions. Simulate what their contribution might be. Anticipate which areas of the presentation are likely to draw criticism, and plan an adequate response.

Here is an example of a client service person, scripting themselves for a dialogue. In this example the client service person is looking for opportunities to draw chatter from all parties present.

Example dialogue
Agency: Good morning Jon. Thank you for inviting us to present today. We have three concepts we will we showing you. One of them is very similar to what you briefed in. The other two however, are quite different. We have given your brief a lot of thought, and we feel the last two have merit.
Jon: Okay great.
Agency: This is our first concept. No surprises here. It is exactly what you asked for.
Jon: Yep. Perfect.
Agency: Jennifer, you haven't seen this concept before. What do you think?
Jennifer: It's good. You have listened to what we wanted.
Agency: Okay. Then let's move to the next concept. I'm going to let Jasmine talk through this concept as it was her idea…

This presentation is staged. It took place in someone's mind. Notice how the client service person was more than a presenter - they were also a mediator. A dialogue will make the presentation more productive and enjoyable for all the attendees.

Client-slave relationship. Are you in one?

For decades the act of love deprivation and guilt trips have turned the most disobiedient children into high performing, role models. It is the kind of conditioning whereby those who underperform meet the end of a big stick.

Unfortunately some of us carry the master-slave paradigm we learned during childhood into the workplace. Instead of encouraging staff and suppliers to be self-governing, responsible individuals, they revert to master-slave roles to get what they want.

How to get in one.
Nine times out of ten, client service become slaves by poorly framing a Client's expectation. The Agency is so focused on getting the business, they neglect to negotiate the Agency's requirements, and project an unbalanced picture of the working relationship.

They say 'yes' to everything - just to secure the sale. They fail to mention the effort they require the Client into a project, the potential situations for variation fees and realistic turnaround times for changes to production.

Client service will know they have become slaves, when the Client emails a request then calls five minutes later to make sure it is being executed. The Client has been conditioned to micro-manage.

How to get out of one.
The problem is no number of Client lunches and boozing can guarantee the situation can be turned around. The most painless way to fix the issue, is to end the relationship. When you hear of an Agency walking away from a Client's business, this is usually what has taken place.

The good news is most Clients don't want a master-slave relationship. They recognise the relationship is unprofitable for both parties. Playing the master role saps them of precious time and energy, and forces them to micro-manage. All an Agency need do, is prove to a new client, that they can perform without having to be whipped.

You will know you are not in a master-slave relationship, when client service is able to negotiate with confidence at different stages of the relationship. Rather than feeling under the thumb, they have room to manoeuvre when making a request or presenting costs.

Example pitch.
“Hi Bill. You have just seen a presentation of our creative work. You can see we are good. However we believe our creative is a given. If you are an Agency and can't get the creative part right, there's no point being in this game.

Although we are small, we compete with firms many times our size. Clients work with our Agency because they are not willing to pay the high fees demanded of a large agency, but still value client service. They want accountability, accuracy in workmanship, and to never have to chase the Agency to find out the status on their job.

In fact, you can expect us to chase you.

You have a corporate background, and I know service will be important to you. Let's face it, most small agencies are in survival mode, and struggle just to output the product.

Unless this you place a dollar value on your time, there is no point working with us, as you will never feel like you are getting value for money.”

In this delivery, the value proposition is clear - you are dealing with professionals, and this is a scarce commodity which comes at a price. It is said in a very business manner, with a practiced delivery that wastes not a single word.

Cleverly, the last paragraph implies the Client is pitching to the Agency, as much as the Agency is pitching to them. This plants a win-win mentality which will give the Agency an edge in negotiate.

This kind of setup is key to breaking down the master-slave paradigm. The Client is confident they can let go of power, without risking a drop in performance. This freedom places both parties on an even keel, and in good stead for a healthy relationship.

To pitch? Or not to pitch? That is the question.

While free pitches can sharpen the saw and bring glory for the winner, it can spell disaster for the losing parties.

Know you are going to win.
The best military leaders of all time never went to war unless they knew they were going to win. I think pitching for free is much the same. When you consider the opportunity cost of battling it out with agencies - the angst, forgoing paid work and over working staff - you really have to pick your pitches carefully.

Unless you have intelligence which suggests you will win, perhaps the time is better spent on an existing Client.

Devaluing the agency.
In most cases when you pitch, you have to reveal your big idea. You deal your trump card, right at the start of the game. Any seasoned poker player will advise you such a move smells of desperation.

In addition, giving away the most valuable work at the beginning, devalues the remaining work to be completed. This could be avoided had the Client paid for the big idea.

Samson or Goliath.
Clients could be doing their business a disservice by calling a pitch. Perhaps Agencies with no work spend more time pitching, while the successful ones are busy servicing paying Clients.

The Client gets free ideas, but not necessarily the right Agency to work with.

This is particular true when dealing with small agencies. To survive, they must deliver fast and accurate work to their Clients. Instead of pitching, they build intimate relationships with fewer clients, and incremental grow their retained business.

After all, it is statistically proven easier to retain business than win new business.

Larger Agencies are different. Their business model requires they drive new business, which means lots of pitching. They have more fat in their organisation, and need to continuously pitch to cover their large overhead.

Quite often they are pitching on budgets of $250k and higher, making the carrot enticing enough to pitch for free. They can afford to lose a few pitches and not feel the pinch.

See the full article published in marketing interactive.

Clients play a role in the success of projects

The confidence the Client has in the Agency's capability to deliver a scope of work, impacts on whether the project will be a success or failure. Put simply, if those around you are telling you that you will fail, your chances of success become slimmer.

From the time we learned to walk or ride a bicycle, we have needed the confidence of others to overcome obstacles. A Client's confidence is no different. The vested confidence in an Agency gives client service power to be effective, make decisions and focus on the deliverables of the project.

For all the reasons confidence empowers, lack of confidence disempowers. The Client will behave unproductively - micro-managing client service, demanding trivial reporting and face to face meetings which accomplish little except appease the Client's emotions. With their focus divided and their attention occupied by the Client's emotional state of mind, client service become tired and ineffective.

The net result for the Agency are projects which never end, projects with no outstanding result to promote the Agency's services, and the threat the Client may refuse to pay. The Client is unlikely to be a long term prospect, or refer the Agency to other professionals.

Client service should keep a mental register of how negatively or positively a Client perceives the Agency, and establish practices to prevent or correct instances where confidence is slipping.

A few practices to minimise the likelihood of a Client losing confidence include:

1. Seeking win-win deals. Ask yourself 'Does the Client trust us?'. If the answer is no, consider not taking the project. There is a tendency for deal makers to ignore underlying emotional problems, and simply focus on the deal size or particulars. The underlying issue is left unresolved, later surfacing and reducing the value of the contract.
2. Communicating clearly. Comprehend the Client's needs and understand their intent. Deliver accurate, timely documentation, free of typos. In an existing relationship, a Client may overlook many of these errors, but in a new business context, their tolerance may be much lower.
3. Assessing personality types. Discuss and assess the Client's personality, where they have worked before, and their pain-points. Tolerance for errors will vary from Client to Client, and depend largely on their expectation and experience.
4. Act on warning signs. The Client may be testing the Agency's ability to read their body language by dropping subtle clues. Serious or not, warning signs must not be ignored and acted on immediately.
5. Establish a clear path of complain. Allow Clients to air their complaints by appointing an independent party as a silent listener. The listener is normally someone senior in the Agency, who is approachable and possesses many of the faculties stated above.
6. Knowing when to call it a day. When confidence slips too far into the red, no reasonable effort may reverse the perception. It may be best to terminate the scope of work agreement, than to continue to push in a direction which is causing all parties undue stress.

Positive client experience is more valuable than the deliverables

Projects requiring an investment of the Client's time expose the Agency to risks they may not have foreseen. On such projects, it is not good enough to exceed the expected deliverables. Agencies, like all service-based businesses, need to deliver not only a great outcome, but a positive client experience.

Client service may deliver a project on time and budget, but it will not be remembered if it came at huge cost of the Client's time or emotional energy. This is because over the course of the project, the Client begins to measure the performance of the Agency with a non-tangible criteria.

Instead of focusing purely on milestones and the end result, the Client begins to measure the project from the perspective of their day-to-day experience. How they feel about the client service person, and their confidence and attitude to the project begin to influence their overall perception.

So no matter what the outcome, a negative Client experience will smear a great result. The outcome becomes worthless if the process was not a class act. In fact, a less than expected result will be more often forgiven if the Client had a positive experience.

Client service should be aware in such circumstances, that their performance is being measured in real time, and strive to operate professionally and with finesse. The Client should be hardly aware of the Agency's labour, or their efforts to minimise the number of times the Client is touched and inconvenienced.

New relationships are most endanger of a negative Client experience. To mitigate the risk, client service should spend ample time during pre-sales educating the Client on their process, procedures and expectations on the Client.

Forming a solid foundation of trust and connectivity with the client before the project begins will improve the chances of a positive client experience.

With so many service providers to choose from, the deliverable has become a parity. What differentiates Agencies now is the Client experience. A positive experience will be the catalyst for ongoing work and referrals.

Moving from talk to the deal

For an Agency to move the project from a discussion (or scope of possibility), to an approved estimate, client service are required to draft a scope of work.

Drafting a scope of work requires accuracy, negotiation and speed. Top client service can read between the lines, and pitch the right idea which makes sense for the Client, and can be furnished by the Agency.


How fast client service can draw a red box largely determines if they have created value. Value is created if the Client is not required to do too much thinking. Accurate documentation is drafted, and few amends are required. Long term, the Client grows accustomed to the timesaving created by client service, and the Agency enjoys repeat business.

No matter how knowledgeable client service may be on a subject of marketing, value is recognised by how long client service take to arrive at the real project.

A lot of discussion can ensue during the scope of possibility. Unless client service can move the discussion to a scope of work, they are adding no value and wasting the Client's time.

MNCs favour working with small Agencies which can save them time. Rather than work with large companies, retarded by red tape and slow decision-making, MNCs seek to outsource to agile firms which provide a pointed approach to getting the job done.

Client service who can wade through the delicate process of creating a neat, square box create many benefits.

1. Empowerment. As the Agency has taken the initiative to write the scope of work, the expectation is shifted to the Client. Subsequent delay becomes the result of the Client slow decision making, and not because the Agency have not delivered.
2. Conversion. An accurate and complete scope of work attracts less scrutiny, and fewer reasons for the Client to challenge costs.
3. Ease of execution. A clear square box gives the Agency's production people focus, and maintains budget and delivery timing.
4. Flexibility. Clients are far more likely to forgive small mistakes which occur during a project, if client service provide an overall timesaving.

Over inflating ones capability

Client service have reasons for over-selling either themselves or the Agency. They may prize personal development, which they experience when they push themselves beyond their limits. Or perhaps they are trying to guard their relationship with the Client, by pitching for projects to lock-out threats from potential competitors.

Whatever the motivation, the question is, what are the ramifications of over-selling?

Agencies rarely get into trouble for the claims they make which inflate their capability. More often, Agencies get skewed by Clients when they fail to deliver on a promise which cause the Client damage or embarrassment.

So over-selling one's capability poses no real harm to either the Agency or the Client, assuming client service deliver what was promised.

A smart team of client service are well aware of the necessity to deliver. They know their strengths, and how far they can extend before they get into hot water. They can clearly calculate where they are and the risk of extending. They are comfortable when in situations where they don't have answers, because they know that in time they will find solutions.

The decision to over-commit, or risk passing up an offer is not an easy one to make. By turning down a project, client service invite potential competitors. On the other hand, the single act of over-committing could jeopardise the very relationship, the Agency sort to protect.

Have an opinion, or become a puppet

It is easy for client service to fill their day aimlessly shuffling documents from one place to another. Rather than effectively adding value by carrying out negotiations and advising clients, they resemble pigeons relaying messages.

When they are expected to share an opinion or negotiate, you'll commonly hear 'I'll get back to you'. Example: Client service agree to meet a Client to discuss their requirement, and short of the cleaner, invite everyone from the Agency to attend the meeting.

In such an instance, client service lack knowledge and experience to make decisions. They rely on the Client and their own people to tell them what to do and what to say. Client service who are not in control of the project frustrate the Client and exhaust resources in the Agency. Frustrated Clients are less receptive to new ideas, and exhausted production people more likely to leave the Agency.

It is crucial client service remain in control. Client service need to be critical of Client's requests, and the contributions of others in the Agency. They recognise that behind every opinion, is someone's own agenda, which may not necessarily align to Client's or Agency's goals.

By having an opinion, client service speed up decision-making and improve the Agency's capability to complete a project. They use the opinions of those around them as a guide, not gospel.

The daunting role called client service

Client service is a lever into the client's world, making them an important asset to an agency. With the strategic importance of their relationship comes responsibility many client service are ill-equipped to deal with.

Management expects client service to divide their time between managing the client, third parties and internal resources. They are expected to influence these three groups in different ways, depending on the objective and desired outcomes.


They are managing tight budgets, high expectations and sometimes uncooperative parties. In this difficult environment they are still expected to grow the business, build agency influence and scale their own team.

It's no wonder we commonly hear the industry refer to client service as 'glorified secretaries'. To the quite observer, they can appear inept when faced with the daunting challenge of dealing with this complicated landscape.

The question is then, how to train client service to be able to better respond to the pressures, and reduce instances of attrition. Here are some suggestions.

1. Identify the paradigm
   
2. Teach manoeuvre
   
3. Set up a training ground

Identify the paradigm.
Agency management need to highlight the landscape in which their client service operate, and make the behaviour of the different stakeholders a study. It is not until client service understand the gravity of the forces on them, can they begin to learn how to deal with them.

Teach skills
'Service' in client service encapsulates a broad range of tasks. These tasks are skills which can be taught. To varying degrees, client service excel in all or few of these skills. However, to provide a 360 degree solution, they are required to be supreme in all three.

The client services person who is apt in the art of negotiation, may not be good at coping with the rigorous discipline required to project management.

To be able to negotiate, project manage and expand relationships is a prerequisite to becoming a successful client service.

Teach manoevre
Strategic orientation of oneself in this landscape is important. No matter how developed a client service skill levels may be, they have to take positions and understand how the game is being played.

Manoevre is the study of where best to situate one self to apply maximum effect. By being in the right position, they can exert pressure without writing an email or making a call. They are able to see passed the day-to-day, and understand underlying trends in relationships.

Being able to manoevre gives client service options when they are faced with challenges. Instead of one plan, they have multiple ways of reacting to each group to achieve their end goal.

The chellenge for agencies is how to teach manoevre. Unlike skills which become honed through repetition, manoevre is a way of seeing and thinking about a problem.

Establish a training ground
Nothing can replace practice. The best group to practice skills and manoevre is with suppliers. Clients and production staff are less forgiving, and may not provide feedback. However a long time supplier can make a better test subject, being more accommodating and provide truthful feedback.

Tackling motivation.

Tackling unmotivated client service raises a few questions. Can we motivated them, and if we can't, you got to ask why we hired them in the first place.

Hiring an unmotivated individual, regardless of their capability, is a mistake. The unmotivated, instead of solving their issues, can turn their energy to distract the motivated.

Being career-oriented, or motivated, is often confused as a responsibility the agency must bare. It isn't. Having career goals is a matter of personal choice every employee makes.

So agency management can be forgiven for failing to motivate the unmotivated. And instead, can place their energies in getting the right people on the bus, and maintaining the motivation of the right people.

One simple way to keep high performing client service motivated, is to give them opportunities to work on, not problems. Motivated client service measure their success by personal growth. Facing a difficult problem that they cannot surmount, their growth is stunted, and they despair.

Agencies will always have problems, but opportunities are rare. To close opportunities, and keep motivation high, point your best and greatest towards opportunities.

Effects of inertia

When client services under perform when they have to stop and start projects, or are frequently required by management to change direction. Each time this occurs, client services must first slow down, and then power back up. This effort, or energy requirement is called inertia.

Put in physics terms, inertia is the force required to overcome friction and move a project from rest to a certain velocity. The quantity of force required to 'kick-start' the project is substantially more than what is required to keep it running once it is moving.

Overcoming inertia involves setting up meetings, reconnecting with facts, checking with all parties for status reports. For the client service, this can rack up unbilled hours. This unseen cost to services business is transparent in other industries like building and construction. For example, a foreman who books a concrete mixer to arrive on-site, but finds he has nowhere to lay the concrete faces a financial penalty from the truck driver, even though no concrete was poured.


What's more, client service management fail to recognise the debilitating effects of inertia. Inertia consumes precious time and energy of client service, and produces no value for the company or client. Inertia therefore could be blamed for low motivation and staff attrition.

Clients are also taxed by inertia through lost sales revenue. Even though the scope of work has not changed, it has taken longer than forecasted to launch the new product or service.

It stands to reason both the agency and client have a vested interest in keeping a project moving without rest. For client service are most productive when maintaining a constant speed, and least productive when overcoming inertia.

Scaling client service

Getting the right client service on the bus is hard enough for multinationals to accomplish. For small agencies, it is even harder. Talent is seduced to join the larger companies because they have greater scale, a globally-recognise brand and more internal support structures.

So small agency's find themselves locked out of the talent war, attracting fewer CVs than an MNC. The obvious alternative is to hire staff who lack skills but have potential. Staff who have potential are believed to have the right attitude, but lack experience or proficiency. Therefore, they have a competency gap.

To close a trainee's competency gap, at least three elements are required:

1. Motivation
   
2. Aptitude
   
3. Support functions and incentives

The larger the competency gap, the greater the likelihood the trainee will not succeed. What's more, a competency gap of say two points, compared to four more than double. In fact it could be as much as six times greater. This is because the combination of the three criteria create a multiplier effect - the exact result is hard to predict.

For most small agencies, the pressure to provide value is unrelenting. So delivering on a promise to provide support and incentives to trainees is not easy. Providing training can distract key staff from creating value, cause customer dissatisfied and even financial loss.

So it is no wonder we see management tossing their hands in the air, and cursing the quest to scale.

there is another alternative. For the firm to focus on creating client value, hiring experienced people is a better strategy. A more experienced trainee can bring networks of clients, suppliers and new perspectives to improve the firm.

In addition, the risks associated with a competency gap are minimised, as the person is assumed to be proficient.Emphasis shifts from training, to one of maximising the performance of people.

To hire such talent, management will have to offer more salary, and expect to wait longer to find the right person. Using unconventional means to identify talent may be required, like prowling trade shows.

Why small is beautiful

Contracts alone cannot protect Agencies and Clients in every instance. There is simply not enough time to write a contract for every engagement. Nor are contracts always feasible. For example, you can't write a contract to make a Client give a referral, if you complete project successfully.

In Robert Leonhard's book The Art of Maneuver, Robert criticises the US Military heavy reliance on IPB (Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield). Simply, IPB is a heap of satellite data and surveillance feed which allow military leaders to plot successful attacks.

Although IPB providing intelligence in real time, Robert suggests it slows down decision-making - the necessary ingredient to taking advantage of opportunity. Similarly, large organisations can be subject to an over reliance on information - obsessing over making every decision an 'informed decision'.

However, if the resulting plan cannot be executed faster than the competition, it is not as effective. What's more, the 'mass' - the strength of large organisations - has been proven by history to be rarely used effectively. Only a small portion of the total mass is ever effective during conflict, due to geography and time restrictions.

So large companies can quick loose both speed and mass.

It has never been a better time to be small.

Speed as a survival mechanism

The key to Genghis Khan's success was not the size of his army, but the momentum at which it could move. In all accounts of the battles he fought, Khan was reportedly outnumbered by his opponents.

Khan contributed to today's military thinking of maneuver, with his concept of force. Force is the power or influence a company can exude. Force is equal to mass times acceleration (f=ma).


What Khan lacked in mass, he made up for in speed.

Therefore, when a firm is relatively smaller than its competitors, speed is vital for survival. Without speed, small companies lose, because organisations with greater mass are able to exert more force.

To maintain speed, management need to think and execute carefully:

1. Hire self-starting people. These are people who have the motivation to make decisions and execute work with little supervision. They enjoy an automous working environment, free of red tape and micro-management.
2. Take only small projects. Set a finite length of time, like one month. For projects which are longer, break them into parts. In a small firm, large projects slow down people, make them tired and reduce their motivation.
3. Spend time planning the week. Encourage all people to plan their day using calendars. Become masters of our time, we move with greater speed, because we are effective. We see problems much earlier, and we plan how to circumvent them.
4. Discipline to follow core procedure. Discipline to follow a well designed class of company processes, procedures, documentation, we become efficient. By being efficient, we make fewer mistakes and save time, which can be reinvested to provide customers greater value.
5. Focus every effort. This is probably the most important, and is present in points 1-4. The objective is to do less. Write fewer emails, give few instructions, ask fewer things of suppliers and deliver fewer items to customers. Focus prevents us loosing site of objectives, and prevents all parties, including the client, from tiring and becoming unmotivated.