It’s often been said, your most valuable assets walk out the door at five o’clock.
Make sure they want to come back.
Why don’t we treat them that way and develop a strong agency training program?
American corporations dole out an estimated $15 billion per year on training and consulting for up-and-coming mangers and leaders. Sadly, most marketing firms spend very little on developing their staff. It’s the one thing most leaders tell me is on their yearly goals, and yet somehow it always fades by the wayside. The ad agency training program always seems to sit on the shelf.
However, a few highly successful firms target high performers and potential leaders within their organization and work with them to develop their skills. These are the firms that make up most of our clients.
We have been arguing and writing about the science and practice of new business since the early 1980’s all in an effort to demystify this critical element of agency operations.
Our experience as managers, leaders, and consultants, both nationally and internationally, have helped us to understand the nature of that work, and the science behind it. Over the past several years we’ve seen the growth of many new business consultants. However we do see a unique difference between most of them and Sanders Consulting: few if any offer detailed training programs.
In the economic downturn marketing firms started asking their leaders to take new business seriously – a critical success factor to organizational growth. Learning leads to more effective action and, therefore, improved performance – and is no longer an option. More and more of the firms we interact with are recognizing that the roles of new business and agency leadership are different, and the skills required to be a great agency leader do not necessarily transition into the world of new business.
What To Do?
Invest in your staff. Your leaders. Yourself. Your agency.
Sanders Consulting Group is best known for its full range of skill-building training programs that are agency-specific, meaning no extraneous, non-industry materials are included. It’s 100% directed at all marketing communication companies of all types, and it builds skills in learning how to do new business better, and how to improve account service by learning new ways to present and new skills in project management, time management, work flow, account planning and negotiation. Other learning programs cover how to increase client retention, learning how to do brand consulting, and new tools to help agencies learn new ways to provide better strategic leadership to clients. We also do on-site consulting in improving work flow, agency profitability, and process management. Most of the learning programs are supported by training manuals designed to keep the skill-building fresh for years to come.
If you don’t see what you need, give us a call to discuss building a custom training program for your agency. It’s an area we know well, and we’ll work with you to develop the training materials you need, either within the budgets you have or we’ll work with you to develop a budget for management approval. Call 412.897.9329 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
Photo By woodleywonderworks
