Headcount is vanity, profit is sanity. 

It’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true. 

Today, agencies are putting profit first. They’re asking themselves how they can be more profitable now.

• “We’ll be profitable in two years once we’ve scaled”
• “We’ll be profitable when we’re more established.”
• “We’ll be profitable when we’re through this growth phase”.

All these excuses are being dropped in favour of a desire to run agencies for a return the owners can see, smell and touch. 

If this sounds familiar, join us and agency CFO Simon Collard as we delve into the world of agency profitability.

“People always set a target, but not always a strategy and a plan to achieve that target,” says Simon. “But it’s not just setting a goal; it’s about having an action plan to get you there.”

Part pep-talk, part strategy masterclass, we’ll talk about:

• Diagnosing profitability issues sooner. “The P&L is a lagging indicator, it tells you what has happened. And by the time that it has happened, it’s less helpful.”
• The importance of targets. “In my experience, if you give agencies a clear target and a clear pathway, then they’re really good at delivering. It’s about training your team, using them and hopefully having a commercial culture so that not only are they looking for opportunities within clients and looking for upsell potentials, but understand the need to be always be marketing as well.”
• Revisiting pricing. “A lot of agencies get into trouble because they don’t understand the value they bring to clients and therefore don’t price properly. But you can’t just raise prices. It’s about understanding what the clients value and then being able to articulate and show that value.”

Some of what Simon says will be new – some of it will be a welcome reminder. That’s good, because this is stuff you need in your bones.

“Every plan is wrong, that’s a fact of life. But my one piece of advice for every agency is to be as forward looking as possible to be always paranoid about six months time.”

If you’re interested in navigating the complexities of agency profitability, join our upcoming webinar with CFO Simon Collard. He’ll share his insights on handling slowdowns, the importance of clear targets, and getting your pricing just right.