TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS PAGE (A 5-minute read):
WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR STAFF AND YOUR CLIENTS REALLY THINK ABOUT YOUR AGENCY.
This knowledge is critical to 1) identifying potentially significant problems in their early stages so they can be addressed and solved before they become serious, 2) finding opportunities to strengthen the agency’s culture (and retention) by deepening your staff’s on-the-job satisfaction, loyalty and commitment, 3) developing new ideas for IP, growing the firm and profitability and 4) increasing the market value of your agency.
Specifically, this knowledge is essential to:
And… ultimately… your ability to reliably identify your successor and then command a premium market price for your agency when you decide it’s time to leave.
BUT UNCOVERING THE TRUTH IS HARD TO DO.
Unfortunately, It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get honest, objective and unfiltered information about how your people and clients really feel. For most agency owners, you’re limited to relying primarily on what you personally experience or what a handful of others are telling you.
Your personal knowledge will be, at best, limited and inevitably biased. The opinions of others (even your leadership team) can easily be too fragmented to be useful, just as biased as your own, based too much on hearsay, frequently driven by whatever their own agendas might be… or all of these things.
THE GOOD NEWS? WE’LL FIND IT FOR YOU.
Agency Problem Solver has developed a suite of confidential online surveys specifically designed to uncover and deliver the unfiltered truth about what your staff, clients or both are thinking about your agency right now.
In creating these surveys, I’ve applied my own deep experience as a two-time advertising agency CEO (and owner) combined with having personally conducted, interpreted and presented the results of similar studies (as a consultant) for more than 20 agencies. These surveys also address what I believe are the key issues in owning and running an agency in today’s complicated and ever-changing environment.
WHAT DO YOUR PEOPLE REALLY THINK? Eight highly informative, actionable and cost-effective surveys to choose from.
In addition to providing the candid information you need for making informed decisions, periodically surveying your staff demonstrates to your own people that their opinions matter, you take them (and their careers) seriously and will act decisively when warranted to address problems and leverage opportunities.
Our staff surveys focus on four important areas of the agency.
Agency Culture Audit – Staff’s perceptions and understanding of the agency’s values, mission and purpose, vision, working environment, professional development, management communication and decision making, key strengths and weaknesses of the agency’s culture and working environment, personal level of satisfaction.
Emotional Drivers of Job Satisfaction - Level of confidence and belief in leadership team, agency culture and working environment, compensation, personal/professional development and career path, agency’s relative competitiveness vs. comparable firms, feeling valued by clients/agency’s contributions and value delivered to clients, being part of a winner/agency’s ability to win new business.
Agency Capabilities/Drivers of Agency Performance & Success – Overall agency leadership and brand stewardship for clients, internal organization and structure, account management, strategic thinking/insights, intellectual property/proprietary processes, research, creative/message development, content development, media planning, media buying, digital, social media, message effectiveness, ongoing learning and improvement, new business development, achieving organic revenue growth from existing clients, providing value to clients. (These areas can be customized to fit your agency’s specific services/offerings.)
Assessment of working remotely or using a hybrid approach - Perceived effects on communication and working relationships within the agency and also with clients, quality of the work, productivity, personal preferences, job fulfillment, agency morale, primary likes/dislikes, advantages/disadvantages vs. working full-time in office. Also includes three “Before vs. After” multiple choice comparisons.
Each of these four surveys can be conducted at two different levels (for a total of eight surveys to choose from):
Level of participation: Depending upon the content of the survey, you may want to invite all staff members to participate or limit distribution of the questionnaire to those with the knowledge and experience to provide the most useful feedback.
WHAT DO YOUR CLIENTS REALLY THINK? Four surveys to help solve problems, strengthen client/agency relationships, extend client tenure and increase agency revenue.
These surveys will demonstrate to your clients that you’re fully committed to providing the best possible service to them and helping them grow their businesses and brands.
This information will also help you develop new products, IP and services to satisfy the unmet needs of both clients and prospects. These new products/services can be packaged and priced to increase the agency’s income on an account. You will also gain a solid and fact-based footing for negotiating higher compensation.
Agency Capabilities/Drivers of Agency Performance & Value – Clients’ perceptions of the agency’s overall level of leadership and brand stewardship, internal organization and structure, account management, strategic thinking/insights, intellectual property/proprietary processes, research, creative/message development, message effectiveness, ongoing learning and improvement, earning organic revenue growth from existing clients. Also, if applicable: Content development, media planning, media buying, digital, social media.
Assessment of the agency working remotely or using a hybrid approach – Communication, agency accessibility, working relationship, quality of the work, productivity, responsiveness, agency morale, respondent’s personal preferences/likes/dislikes, benefits/opportunities, disadvantages/drawbacks, areas of affected performance, level of satisfaction with agency, perceived value of agency.
Both of these surveys can be conducted at two different levels (for a total of four surveys to choose from):
PRICING, TURNAROUND TIME AND CUSTOMIZATION.
Pricing is determined by 1) the number of actual respondents who answer at least one question and 2) which level of the survey will be fielded (Topline or In-Depth Assessment – see above). We will provide a price after discussing these variables with you.
Turnaround time varies based on the number of respondents and the level of the survey fielded. Starting from having an approved questionnaire and a final, proof-read list of respondent names and e-mail addresses, it usually takes 5 weeks to present the results for a Topline Survey and 6-7 weeks for an In-Depth Assessment.
Please note that 1) the first 2-3 weeks are spent sending out the introductory “Please participate” e-mail followed by two follow-up e-mails asking recipients to “Please participate now if you haven’t already and 2) surveys with smaller or larger numbers of respondents may take somewhat less or more time.
Some degree of customization is possible if needed to tailor the questionnaire to your specific situation, goals or preferences.
DELIVERABLES.
The results of the survey(s) will be presented via PowerPoint during a 60-90-minute Zoom with the participating agency. (We encourage you to ask questions at any time during the presentation.)
We will then e-mail a copy of the PowerPoint to you within 24 hours.
SURVEY CONFIDENTIALITY.
These online surveys are confidential and respondents are not tracked by name. Confidentiality is important to not only increasing participation but also generating the most candid (and useful) responses.
EXPANDING THE SCOPE FOR ADDED VALUE.
Presenting the results in person – Allows for more Q&A/interaction and face-to-face discussions of the results, implications and possible next steps for solving problems or taking speedy advantage of opportunities. We can provide an estimate for doing this (including travel expenses) based on agency location and travel time/days required.
Six-month and/or twelve-month check-in (via Zoom or in person) to review progress to date on addressing survey findings.
Six-month or twelve-month re-surveying to measure progress in addressing problems identified in the first survey. The follow-up survey would cover only the problem areas from the first survey (plus overall satisfaction).
Completely customized surveys to explore areas not covered by the surveys outlined above. Example: Identifying opportunities for achieving organic growth from current clients.
Pricing and timing available upon request.
THIS IS THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF AGENCY PROBLEM SOLVER/MARK JOHNSON AND IS NOT TO BE USED, COPIED OR OTHERWISE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF MARK JOHNSON.
- Why it’s so important to know what your staff and your clients really think about your agency.
- But uncovering the truth is hard to do.
- The good news? We’ll find it for you.
- What do your people really think? Eight highly informative, actionable and cost-effective surveys which evaluate four key areas of the agency.
- What do your clients really think? Four surveys to help you identify and solve problems, better serve your clients, add value to your clients, build stronger client/agency relationships, lengthen account tenure and win more organic business.
- Pricing, turnaround time and customization.
- Deliverables.
- Survey confidentiality.
- Expanding the scope for added value.
WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR STAFF AND YOUR CLIENTS REALLY THINK ABOUT YOUR AGENCY.
This knowledge is critical to 1) identifying potentially significant problems in their early stages so they can be addressed and solved before they become serious, 2) finding opportunities to strengthen the agency’s culture (and retention) by deepening your staff’s on-the-job satisfaction, loyalty and commitment, 3) developing new ideas for IP, growing the firm and profitability and 4) increasing the market value of your agency.
Specifically, this knowledge is essential to:
- Reducing the risks inherent in owning and running a marketing communications agency.
- Making more informed decisions.
- Your strategic plan, growth and ability to remain successful over time.
- Making investments in people, new products, services and IP to further differentiate your agency from competition, create new revenue streams and increase profits.
- Winning high quality clients (including learning how to improve your new business batting average).
- Retaining the clients you’ve worked so hard to win.
- Attracting and retaining top talent.
- Identifying your top performers at all levels and treating them accordingly.
- Weeding out under-performing people, unnecessary services or problem clients.
- Making decisions about your office space requirements. More, the same or less? To lease or not to lease?
And… ultimately… your ability to reliably identify your successor and then command a premium market price for your agency when you decide it’s time to leave.
BUT UNCOVERING THE TRUTH IS HARD TO DO.
Unfortunately, It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get honest, objective and unfiltered information about how your people and clients really feel. For most agency owners, you’re limited to relying primarily on what you personally experience or what a handful of others are telling you.
Your personal knowledge will be, at best, limited and inevitably biased. The opinions of others (even your leadership team) can easily be too fragmented to be useful, just as biased as your own, based too much on hearsay, frequently driven by whatever their own agendas might be… or all of these things.
THE GOOD NEWS? WE’LL FIND IT FOR YOU.
Agency Problem Solver has developed a suite of confidential online surveys specifically designed to uncover and deliver the unfiltered truth about what your staff, clients or both are thinking about your agency right now.
In creating these surveys, I’ve applied my own deep experience as a two-time advertising agency CEO (and owner) combined with having personally conducted, interpreted and presented the results of similar studies (as a consultant) for more than 20 agencies. These surveys also address what I believe are the key issues in owning and running an agency in today’s complicated and ever-changing environment.
WHAT DO YOUR PEOPLE REALLY THINK? Eight highly informative, actionable and cost-effective surveys to choose from.
In addition to providing the candid information you need for making informed decisions, periodically surveying your staff demonstrates to your own people that their opinions matter, you take them (and their careers) seriously and will act decisively when warranted to address problems and leverage opportunities.
Our staff surveys focus on four important areas of the agency.
Agency Culture Audit – Staff’s perceptions and understanding of the agency’s values, mission and purpose, vision, working environment, professional development, management communication and decision making, key strengths and weaknesses of the agency’s culture and working environment, personal level of satisfaction.
Emotional Drivers of Job Satisfaction - Level of confidence and belief in leadership team, agency culture and working environment, compensation, personal/professional development and career path, agency’s relative competitiveness vs. comparable firms, feeling valued by clients/agency’s contributions and value delivered to clients, being part of a winner/agency’s ability to win new business.
Agency Capabilities/Drivers of Agency Performance & Success – Overall agency leadership and brand stewardship for clients, internal organization and structure, account management, strategic thinking/insights, intellectual property/proprietary processes, research, creative/message development, content development, media planning, media buying, digital, social media, message effectiveness, ongoing learning and improvement, new business development, achieving organic revenue growth from existing clients, providing value to clients. (These areas can be customized to fit your agency’s specific services/offerings.)
Assessment of working remotely or using a hybrid approach - Perceived effects on communication and working relationships within the agency and also with clients, quality of the work, productivity, personal preferences, job fulfillment, agency morale, primary likes/dislikes, advantages/disadvantages vs. working full-time in office. Also includes three “Before vs. After” multiple choice comparisons.
Each of these four surveys can be conducted at two different levels (for a total of eight surveys to choose from):
- In-Depth Assessment: Depending on the area of focus, participants rate between 29 and 58 statements on 1-to-10 scale, respond to between 7 and 11 open-ended questions and answer 1 to 3 multiple choice.
- Topline: Participants rate between 20 and 30 statements on a 1-to-10 scale, respond to between 4 and 6 open-ended questions and answer 1-3 multiple choice.
Level of participation: Depending upon the content of the survey, you may want to invite all staff members to participate or limit distribution of the questionnaire to those with the knowledge and experience to provide the most useful feedback.
WHAT DO YOUR CLIENTS REALLY THINK? Four surveys to help solve problems, strengthen client/agency relationships, extend client tenure and increase agency revenue.
These surveys will demonstrate to your clients that you’re fully committed to providing the best possible service to them and helping them grow their businesses and brands.
This information will also help you develop new products, IP and services to satisfy the unmet needs of both clients and prospects. These new products/services can be packaged and priced to increase the agency’s income on an account. You will also gain a solid and fact-based footing for negotiating higher compensation.
Agency Capabilities/Drivers of Agency Performance & Value – Clients’ perceptions of the agency’s overall level of leadership and brand stewardship, internal organization and structure, account management, strategic thinking/insights, intellectual property/proprietary processes, research, creative/message development, message effectiveness, ongoing learning and improvement, earning organic revenue growth from existing clients. Also, if applicable: Content development, media planning, media buying, digital, social media.
Assessment of the agency working remotely or using a hybrid approach – Communication, agency accessibility, working relationship, quality of the work, productivity, responsiveness, agency morale, respondent’s personal preferences/likes/dislikes, benefits/opportunities, disadvantages/drawbacks, areas of affected performance, level of satisfaction with agency, perceived value of agency.
Both of these surveys can be conducted at two different levels (for a total of four surveys to choose from):
- In-Depth Assessment: For Agency Capabilities - Participants rate 50 statements on a 1-to-10 scale, respond to 4 open-ended questions and answer 6 multiple-choice. For Hybrid or Remote Working – 20 statements, 5 open-ended questions and 5 multiple-choice.
- Topline: Participants rate between 12 and 25 statements on a 1-to-10 scale, respond to 2-3 open-ended questions and answer 3-4 multiple-choice.
PRICING, TURNAROUND TIME AND CUSTOMIZATION.
Pricing is determined by 1) the number of actual respondents who answer at least one question and 2) which level of the survey will be fielded (Topline or In-Depth Assessment – see above). We will provide a price after discussing these variables with you.
Turnaround time varies based on the number of respondents and the level of the survey fielded. Starting from having an approved questionnaire and a final, proof-read list of respondent names and e-mail addresses, it usually takes 5 weeks to present the results for a Topline Survey and 6-7 weeks for an In-Depth Assessment.
Please note that 1) the first 2-3 weeks are spent sending out the introductory “Please participate” e-mail followed by two follow-up e-mails asking recipients to “Please participate now if you haven’t already and 2) surveys with smaller or larger numbers of respondents may take somewhat less or more time.
Some degree of customization is possible if needed to tailor the questionnaire to your specific situation, goals or preferences.
DELIVERABLES.
The results of the survey(s) will be presented via PowerPoint during a 60-90-minute Zoom with the participating agency. (We encourage you to ask questions at any time during the presentation.)
We will then e-mail a copy of the PowerPoint to you within 24 hours.
SURVEY CONFIDENTIALITY.
These online surveys are confidential and respondents are not tracked by name. Confidentiality is important to not only increasing participation but also generating the most candid (and useful) responses.
EXPANDING THE SCOPE FOR ADDED VALUE.
Presenting the results in person – Allows for more Q&A/interaction and face-to-face discussions of the results, implications and possible next steps for solving problems or taking speedy advantage of opportunities. We can provide an estimate for doing this (including travel expenses) based on agency location and travel time/days required.
Six-month and/or twelve-month check-in (via Zoom or in person) to review progress to date on addressing survey findings.
Six-month or twelve-month re-surveying to measure progress in addressing problems identified in the first survey. The follow-up survey would cover only the problem areas from the first survey (plus overall satisfaction).
Completely customized surveys to explore areas not covered by the surveys outlined above. Example: Identifying opportunities for achieving organic growth from current clients.
Pricing and timing available upon request.
THIS IS THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF AGENCY PROBLEM SOLVER/MARK JOHNSON AND IS NOT TO BE USED, COPIED OR OTHERWISE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF MARK JOHNSON.