Can you believe 2023 is almost over? It’s crazy to think that this year simultaneously felt like two weeks and a whole decade. As I look back on everything that has happened and all that the Bureau has accomplished together, I want to express my gratitude for all our wonderful members and the wisdom they have shared.
A lot of that wisdom comes from the Bureau Slack, and I share some of the best nuggets each week in our email newsletter. I hope you consider signing up for it. But in case you’re having a hard time picking out the good from the holiday shopping spam, here are some of the most enlightening finds that we have shared this month.
Business Strategy
As long as your clients keep paying you, all is well, right? Not necessarily. It’s important to be able to measure their satisfaction with more objective metrics that will tell you how things are actually going. Upsourced has a good article on the topic, and it runs through the value of knowing your Net Promoter Score combined with a few other best practices. Take a look and see what you might be able to improve on!
More on ensuring your success:
KPIs that Matter: How to Protect Project Margins Amid Economic Uncertainty (Blog link)
Ensure Your Brand’s Direction by Auditing These 5 Key Areas of Your B2B Digital Strategy (Blog link)
What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently (Blog link)
Maximizing Key Account Success (Blog link)
All about Those Benjamins
Hot take: revenue generation is a pretty important aspect of running a business. Seriously, though, Promethean Research has put together an incredible report that is all about how we can address the shortcomings in the typical agency’s revenue cycle. Far too often it’s a constant cycle of feast or famine, and consistent success requires seamless integration between business development, marketing, sales and account management.
Mo’ money talk:
Agility Over Rigidity: Rethinking Fixed Contracts in Software Development (Article)
Be Reckless With Your Money But Be Ruthless With Your Time (Article)
Building a Winning Culture
If you’ve never heard the Weird Al song “Mission Statement,” you’re missing out on the most jargon-filled business parody ever. And the reason it resonates is because so many companies parrot the same lines about how they embrace integrity and efficiency, which their actions don’t mirror -- and their employees barely even know. Parallax has addressed the lack of genuine meaning in their piece about how to develop a set of values that don’t suck.
More cultural tutoring:
Another new employee isn’t working out? Create a new-hire ramp-up plan! (Blog link)
Coded Bias (Netflix Series)
Confessions of a Middle-Class Founder (Blog link)
One more month to go, and before you know it we’ll be well into 2024 reevaluating those goals we set at the end of this year. Remember, you can get on our Bureau nice list by signing up for the newsletter here, and I’ll see you back here next month!