Fancy a beer or two?

February 18th, 2010 No comments »

Sohnar Traffic is holding an exclusive event at The Groucho Club in Soho London:

Wednesday, March 24th, 6.30pm

Come and join us for a demonstration of the award-winning Traffic project management system!

We will be demonstrating some of the latest Traffic features, such as Drag and Drop Scheduling and Traffic Airtime with single-click time recording; the slickest time recorder you’ve ever seen.

And of course we’ll show you the fantastic range of features that have kept Traffic the industry leader for over eight years:

-Documents and Contacts in one place
-Contact & Document Management
-Fast, Flexible Quoting
-Record time – your way
-Easy Scheduling

All this and a cold beer or two!

We hope to see you there. Please email enquiries@sohnar.com to secure your place today!

Traffic Featured in Creative Review

February 5th, 2010 No comments »

A recent article in Creative Review talked to influential studio managers and creative agency MDs about tips and tricks they have for running their studios as effectively as possible. Georgina Lee, Managing Director at This is Real Art said the following:

 ”We invested in something called Traffic about nine months ago which allows us to do all the planning and the scheduling, and even allows the designers to do timesheets, very simply! One thing that we all have to do on our side is work out if we’re budgeting properly, if we’re making money out of these jobs. Traffic allows us to work out whether we’re budgeting for things correctly. It was a big thing to change to and it links in with our accountancy stuff now, too. I love my reports! I get very excited.”

Read the full article below:

http://www.sohnar.com/marketing/case-studies/vision.pdf

Feedback – Traffic at the Apple Store

January 28th, 2010 No comments »

The Traffic demonstration at the Apple Store on Wednesday 27 January was a great success.

The workshop space was completely booked out with standing room only for late arrivals.

Feedback about the presentation and the hospitality has been fantastic. If anyone has comments to share please feel free to do so.

Embracing Change

December 10th, 2009 No comments »

2009 has brought some unavoidable changes. Businesses have had to work smarter and be nimble just to survive.

But this change can be a good thing. It gives you a chance to re-evaluate every aspect of your business and start to work smarter.

Many companies have found they need to go back to the drawing board and work out what it is they actually offer to clients. For others it may be a process of analysing revenue streams and what aspects of the business are most profitable, then developing those streams or looking for additional opportunities in similar areas.

It’s a matter of cutting your cloth to fit; you may find, as many of our clients are, that print advertising work is down but digital is a growth area, and look to develop business further in this area.

Value-adds are one way to increase revenue from your existing clients without raising prices for existing services; something your clients may not appreciate when facing difficult times.

A tactic which has worked for many design businesses is offering retainer services, whereby they receive a monthly fee to pick up a range of projects along with smaller ad hoc pieces of work from a client. They offer a reduced rate in return, creating a guaranteed income stream while keeping the client happy.

Cutting costs can help the bottom line in the short-term, but inevitably will not help your company’s growth. Looking for ways to improve your business and innovate to meet changing business needs will bring you far better pay-back in the long term.

There are many ways in which change can be beneficial to your business once you embrace the opportunities it brings. Here are just some of the ways which you can use change in your favour:

  • Return to the drawing board and rediscover the essence of your business
  • Develop existing revenue streams with value adds
  • Clean your house and get rid of dead weight
  • Guarantee an income by offering retainer work
  • Work smarter rather than harder using your existing resources
  • Remove redundancies such as client over-servicing
  • Cut your cloth to fit your most profitable business areas

So as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave. Be bold and embrace change as a way to build a better business.

Showcasing Traffic at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London

November 13th, 2009 No comments »

Event – Boost your bottom line with Traffic, come and see the great features of the award winning project and studio management software for the creative industry.

WhereApple Store, Regent Street, London

When - 4pm Wednesday 27th January 2010

After-Match – 5.15pm All Bar One, Regent St

See how Traffic, the award winning project and studio management software, makes your creative business more profitable. Traffic combines CRM, scheduling, quoting, invoicing and more, streamlining your processes and supercharging your productivity. Over 5,000 creatives worldwide find Traffic an invaluable tool in managing their studio processes.

Traffic Air Launch Party at the Groucho Club

October 7th, 2009 No comments »
Name:

When:

Time:

Where:

Reason:

Traffic Air Launch Party

Thursday 29th October 2009

18:30 – 20:30

The Groucho Club, London

It’s Halloween! and we have some great new features to shout about.


Dare to join Sohnar for an evening of fun and fright?!
Why not come and join us at the Groucho Club, we are showcasing the great new features of Traffic and having a little get together for Halloween!

The evening will be hosted by the Sohnar team, the creators of the award winning Traffic agency software. Not only will you get to see Traffic’s new features, but you will find out what’s really happening in the creative industry, with over 500 clients in the UK we have a wealth of industry information to share with you.

We will be featuring a talk from one of our clients, and learn what Traffic has done for them and could do for you. In addition you will have the opportunity to network with other creative professionals.

Join us for our Halloween bash, RSVP your attendance by clicking here or call 0800 880 3008 to receive your printed invitation.

Traffic confirmed as headline sponsor of the Design Week, Benchmarks Awards.

September 29th, 2009 No comments »

The Benchmarks Awards are designed to set a standard in the recognition of excellence in brand communications. They differ subtly, but significantly from traditional awards schemes, both in their scope and in their spirit. In terms of scope, the entry Categories represent market sectors rather than design applications. This means the judges compare chalk with chalk and cheese with cheese.

The Benchmarks have focused until now solely on full-blown branding programmes. This year though they have been extended to include one-off campaigns to enhance or extend the brand. There is potential, therefore, for two separate awards in each category: one for a branding programme; and one for a campaign.

All Benchmarks entrants are asked to demonstrate how their branding programmes or campaigns work across a variety of different communication platforms. While a single example of brilliance cannot win a Benchmark, a strong strategic concept, which can be shown to work effectively in a variety of areas, will be a lively contender within its category.

Entrants are judged on the consistency of the brand message, within the programme or across the campaign, overall creativity and innovation achieved within the constraints of the brand guidelines. The judges also consider the appropriateness within the relevant market sector.

http://awards.designweek.co.uk/benchmarks/

So How Are Agencies Really Doing?

September 24th, 2009 No comments »

People are keen to know what is really going on in Agency Land. Is it all doom and gloom?

Whilst people are not popping the Champagne corks just yet, the market is reasonably stable. We have over 500 agencies using Traffic and have had two go bust in the last year, one about 9 months ago, and the other about 2 months ago, but they have  since reformed as a new company.

Lets be honest, these statistics are alot better than we thought. Some of it maybe that we have a self segmented group who manage their business well with an agency management system, but overall the signs are encouraging. Agencies are not going bust.

Are agencies laying off people?  When the October headlines hit last year we saw very little movement in staff numbers. Agencies had legacy work and staff numbers in the main stayed pretty static. From about April to July redundancies seemed rife as the work slowed down and businesses adjusted size to cope with the new world. Recently things seem pretty stable.

We have just launched a business confidence survey, so as soon as we here more we will let you know. Why not take the survey and tell us what you think? http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1RoJlrI3pct8LzRD43eMrQ_3d_3d

Finally we have just launched a new version of Traffic today that incorporates benchmarking, so as soon as we have enough clients on the system to be statistically meaningful, we will let you know. If you would like a hint as to a quick win, we can suggest you look at markup on 3rd party costs. These range from nil to 40%. If you thing 40% is ridiculous, please don’t shoot the messenger – plenty of agencies charge it.

 

Jeremy Rudge, Chairman

gems on effective agency workflow procedures

September 10th, 2009 No comments »

Hi

I just wanted to share my thoughts regarding  some  gems on effective agency workflow procedures.

I hope these points help your agency, Tracey Shirtcliff: MD Sohnar

1. Remember the overwhelming value of efficiency in your agency. With all markups on outside purchases on decline, or at least seriously renegotiated by clients, the only sustainable resource is the billing of hours or fees to clients. The world of successful agencies now belongs to those who can bill more time to clients in the same 24-hour period. This means no slippage of hours and no hours that are thrown away at the end of a project. Watching this in your agency could in fact increase your billable hours by up to 25% (a figure we have got from one of our clients FST Marketing – do let us know if you would like their case study).

2. Build an estimate of time and a timeline for every project. This way you will have some sense of what you are aiming for with regards to estimate vs. actual and can keep the hours and overall job and stage profitability at your fingertips.  Also it’s easier to see the order and delivery of stages rather than the overall deadline.

3. Make sure the client sees and agrees with the time estimate and the overall timeline. If they consistently blow their part of the timeline, or they make changes which affect your time on the project, then you need to alert them by charging for that time or charging overtime to complete the work. Put terms on your estimates stating that “the client understands the submitted timeline and hours to complete the project and agrees that they must conform to the dates; and if they make changes they will be charged.” If you give the client a timeline on the project and you tell them they may incur extra charges if they don’t comply with their portion of the timeline, you will see your scheduling pain ease by 30%. Clients can cause up to 30% or more of scheduling issues in agencies.

4. Publish a daily “hot list.” This allows everyone in the agency to have a sense of what’s going on. Make sure everyone reads and reviews this every day. This is a major tool for the account team who need their projects completed, and for the creative teams who need a sense of structure.

5. Appoint one person to be in charge of studio management. In most agencies, studio management and good workflow are so important to profitability that it pays to hire a person to fill this position. Try not to assign that person to other jobs within the agency. Studio management is important enough in a busy agency to keep someone going full-time. If the studio manager is active, they will track every job, every day, every step of the way and will pay for themselves quickly.

6. Make sure no one “side tracks” the studio manager. If the project or account handlers, creatives or owners bring work back to the agency, or want changes to work already in the studio – but neglect to run this by the studio manager – all previous scheduling will be shot. The truth is no traffic and daily workflow system will function, regardless how carefully planned or how heavily computerised, unless everyone wants it to work, from the owner or boss down to the junior designer.  Almost any system will work if the team wants it to work.

Thought for the Month

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can … begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”  Goethe

All the best,

Tracey

Design agency rules

September 10th, 2009 No comments »

One thing we never like to talk about is rules – those things that govern how we do things – but they are of course everywhere from the roads to schools to how we are supposed to behave at the pub and at work.

Your rules for running a creative business are no less important – you will have them – it’s just that perhaps they haven’t been defined or listed for everyone in the business to agree. Traffic as an award winning management system is principally based on a set of rules. So what are the rules that we regard as key in getting to the top of running a successful creative business.
We believe that you should have rules for estimating and project management.

Firstly, every piece of work no matter how big or small should be estimated and given a job number before any work is done on it. No job number no one works on it, simple one really.

Always make sure we define who the relevant client or suppliers are for each and every job.

Hold all the correspondence from a client or supplier in one area – whether it be emails, briefs, estimates, specifications or suppliers quotes.

Also make sure all project mangers / account managers or designers who work on a project put all notes in the same place – so you have a full history that anyone can pick up at any time.

Make sure you move a status of a project or job forward. When jobs are progressed they are either pending / accepted / closed or billed.

Another key set of rules should cover estimating practices – all project managers should use simple stages such as Design, Artwork etc. And all descriptions should be listed.

When we set up a job we define a deadline, we always have a team leader responsible for a project, jobs are set up with Job types and every job should have a brief. Once a job is set up we must define which staff will work on what.
The rules for the studio are even more important.

Every member of the studio must enter 7.5 hours of timesheets per day. Timesheets should be entered everyday – and in preference more than once a day. Everyone must take responsibility for time – and if you feel that a job is overrunning then contact the manager and let them know so you can start to do something about it before it overruns.

The key rules in Management are about making sure you have in place the catch all processes. A Monday morning meeting – where are we on jobs. An overrunning jobs meeting – where are we on these? And key a job status meeting – what is open, what’s to be billed etc.

The rules are simple rules. Everyday a Sohnar we speak with creative businesses who are fantastically creative but, no matter how creative – if you don’t adhere to at least the basic rules, and these aren’t lived by every person in your creative agency then the business can only fall short on its delivery to clients, staff and on projects. If you live by your rules and continue to grow with them you will prosper.