Buying time
Posted: Fri, 13 Apr 2007
Having the right software and information systems in place can save time and money for agencies and clients. Sales Promotion looks at what is on offer.
Long gone are the days when account handling was about job books filled in by hand. Software has become ever more sophisticated, with new products aiming to make the lives of marketers just a little bit easier.
According to research by Agency Software Worldwide (ASW), the creative industry wastes a day a week on non-billable time because of poor management practices and inefficient use of time. Its survey of agencies found that up to 20 per cent of employees' time was devoted to non-client activity, with administration accounting for 60 per cent of that.
Introducing new software allows the user to do more and to do it more efficiently. There is a growing range of new-generation accounting systems being used within agencies, such as Rebus which covers all aspects of a project from job costing through to invoicing. ASW is the author of Paprika, a fully integrated job costing, client management and accounting system specifically developed for the marketing and communications industry. It covers all the key elements of a project's lifecycle and helps reduce administration along the way - including the promise to make the keeping of timesheets easier.
ASW has become a member of the ISP and has formed alliances with several of the industry's trade associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, to share best practice.
Luisa Pollini-Kommu, international marketing manager at ASW, explains that having the right systems in place is becoming vital as agencies come under increasing pressure to control costs. "Too much time is devoted to non-revenueearning activity, and this time could be easily reduced by having job-management software that is easy to understand and use. The entire creative sector is experiencing rapid and constant change that threatens to leave behind those organisations not willing to or able to adapt."
With so many campaigns now integrated and using lots of different channels, account handlers are required to have a huge breadth of knowledge across many media and can sometimes find it daunting to meet clients. Mark Wilson worked agency side as an account handler himself and, with this background, founded MentorMarketing.net. He remembers how account handlers were often in need of a reference tool that covered all marketing disciplines. "MarketingMentor.net was inspired by the book Key Management Questions by Tom Lambert," he explains. "Most of the knowledge resources open to account handlers focus on the answers. But Lambert argues that business expertise usually comes down to asking the right questions.
"In an agency environment, not asking the right question will usually lose you and your client money. It'll certainly make you unproductive. It can also lose you an account. Consider for example the question, 'Has VAT been added to the self-liquidating promotion?' How much could forgetting to ask that question cost you?"
MarketingMentor.net is a high-tech information solution that provides both questions and answers across all the media channels that use promotional marketing. Although it can be used by brands directly, it is particularly valuable to agency staff.
Wilson explains: "Account handlers hate two things: losing credibility when they say the wrong thing due to their lack of experience and going home late because they've been unproductive."
With the answers in the content coming from the best practice sections of the websites of trade bodies and other online resources, MarketingMentor.net provides opportunities to learn and increase knowledge at a click of a mouse. But, Wilson adds, the major benefit is that it can bring peace of mind and confidence to account handlers that they are fully prepared before even the most difficult of client meetings.