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Testimonials
"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone involved in the upgrade of TimeFox. TimeFox Premier is excellent; it's just what we needed, and the to-dos are awesome!"
Felicia Gillham
Gillham & Associates Marketing Communications
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"I wanted to tell you how much I love your product. We had tried a couple other Project Management products before, but nothing quite suited our needs. When I came across you guys' ad in HOW magazine, I was thrilled to see that it said it was for small, creative firms and couldn't wait to give it a shot. TimeFox molds to the way we work and all of my designers have taken to it so easily. We love your reporting system and how easy it is to modify rates, status and jobs. It has really helped streamline our process."
Lydia Pickett
Westminster Printing & Promotions
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"TimeFox has streamlined my workday more than I could've imagined. LOVE it!"
Todd Brame
Machare & Associates, Inc.
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FunctionFox is committed to helping smaller creative companies improve their business. TimeFox, our web-based time and project-tracking software, is designed to help smaller advertising, design, marketing and PR firms manage their business, and do more with their valuable time.
This month we bring you insight and advice from a leading industry expert, David C. Baker. In this month's feature article, David writes about how things like account service and traffic & production management can affect your clients perceived value of the creative work you do. If you're looking for some first-hand advice from David on how to better serve your clients and shape your service role, check out our
free 30 minute live webinar
on May 22nd.
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Feature Article: Staffing Decisions With the Greatest Impact on Clients
FunctionFox Webinar Series: Making the Most of the Account Service Role
TimeFox Tip: Project Calendar
Contact FunctionFox
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Staffing Decisions With the Greatest Impact on Clients
by David C. Baker
Your clients care more about how the work is managed and delivered than the work itself.
Many of you are going to disagree with that statement, and I'm fine with that, but I wanted to put it
in a separate paragraph just to be very clear about what I've noticed when listening to hundreds of your
clients over the years. Yes, I can't count how many times they've told me that they place great value on
an agency that "gets it" in their ability to listen, push the envelope appropriately, and consistently hit
home runs out of the park. But the work itself just needs to be good enough (that is not a negative in
spite of the way it sounds), while the management and delivery of that work needs to be remarkable.
Why We Get it Wrong
Here are some of the forces that are working against that premise. These are why the work is often valued
over how the work is delivered.
First, your employees care about the work they do. So much, in fact, that they find it very difficult to
apply a measured effort to each project, instead lavishing great amounts of attention on everything,
whether the client is paying for it or not. Their work is informed by their own very high standard
rather than what the client would find acceptable. If any particular client isn't willing to pay for what
the employee wants to do, the actual target becomes "the book" or the "body of work" that will be used
to snag deserving clients later. This is a good problem to have, but it can be difficult to make money
in this environment, and those who are managing and delivering the work will have a real challenge in
hitting budgets and deadlines.
Second, your industry doesn't give out awards for great traffic or great account service. They should,
but they don't. Nearly every award is centered around the admiration of peers instead of the admiration
of clients.
Third, hardly anybody starts a firm like yours as an expert in traffic, production management, or
account service. Instead, you started as an expert technician in something, whether public relations,
advertising, design, account planning, copywriting, media planning, or whatever. So from the very
beginning you set out to sell that. This thing you did was the core competency and all the rest was
fluff. Chances are you didn't even feel comfortable charging (or charging enough) for the services that
were wrapped around that core competency, and perhaps you even hid them in estimates and invoices.
Putting it in Context
Sometimes the people who allow you to do great work need a lot more
attention than the people who do the work that you sell. These folks are the offensive line who allow
the quarterback and running back to move the ball down the field. It's a thankless job to help other
people succeed, but a great offensive line can make even a mediocre quarterback look pretty good.
Yet a great quarterback is nothing without a strong offensive line.
You know what else? Nearly every mistake you'll make in structuring roles at your firm will relate in
some way to how you handle the coordinating of the work you do and the interfacing between the firm
and your client. These employees are the core of what clients value and notice. And they're likely to care
about how the work is delivered long before they notice mistakes in the work itself.
This article has been reprinted with permission from David C. Baker of ReCourses, Inc. ReCourses, Inc. is the leading management consulting firm that works exclusively with small service providers in the marketing industry. For more information, please visit
www.recourses.com
For more articles and resources, see
www.functionfox.com/resources.html.
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Serving Clients Well: Making the Most of the Account Service Role
Presented By David C. Baker of ReCourses, Inc.
Thursday May 22, 2008 4 PM Eastern | 1PM Pacific
This informative webinar provides a great overview of client-service essentials, including developing a clear understanding of the control each party brings to the relationship, how to shape your role for increased effectiveness, the essence of your job description, a summary of how your clients wish you would serve them, and how to grow existing accounts as your focus switches from service to expertise.
After the 30 minute free webinar David will spend 15 minutes answering your questions – to help you apply the info to your own specific situation.
May 2008
for this free webinar.
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Project Calendar
Newly added as part of
TimeFox Premier,
the Project Calendar provides managers with a single view into upcoming milestones, meetings, due dates and action items.
View the Project Calendar for all clients and projects, or use filters to see schedules by client, project or project manager.
Click in to complete details without leaving the Project Calendar, or drill down to a production report by clicking on the report icon
 .
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For a TimeFox Demo, go to:
www.functionfox.com/demo
To arrange a guided tour of TimeFox, please send your request to:
info@functionfox.com
To order a TimeFox subscription, go to:
www.functionfox.com/purchase
If you would like your company to be featured in a TimeFox
newsletter, on our website or in our promotional package,
please send your request to:
info@functionfox.com
You can opt out of the About Time Newsletter at:
www.functionfox.com/newsletter/no_thanks.asp
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