The saying goes ‘time is money’ and in an agency setting specifically, that’s really true. In fact, 花费在任何流程或任务上的时间可以说是决定你的机构是否盈利的最大因素. With so much resting on the time your team takes to get tasks completed, reviewing if the overall workflow is as effective as it could be has got to be one of any agency owners priorities.
When we talk about ‘workflow’ throughout this article, 我们谈论的是在你的机构中帮助客户从第一步到完成工作的所有过程. Let’s now have a closer look at how you can improve your agencies workflow in a few simple ways.
The first review
The first step to improving anything is identifying where the problems are. When it comes to your agencies workflow, you need to have a clear understanding of where it is that issues are arising. Identifying time delays in your workflow aren’t the only thing to look out for, 还有其他的挑战会导致你的工作流程效率降低，比如那些让你的团队感到缺乏动力或困惑的流程，从而拖慢了他们的速度.
So, how can you go about identifying those bottlenecks in your workflow? The first (and cheapest) thing to do is to simply talk to your team. This sounds very straightforward, but it’s something that is commonly overlooked in the busy day-to-day of your agency. Ask each member of the team what they spend the most time on, and if they are struggling with any of the processes they are involved with. Communicating with your team will give you insight into what’s making them feel less motivated or confused. With most agencies we work with, 我们发现，使他们的工作流程效率低下的最大问题之一是，由于机构正在努力满足需求，工作被分配给了没有所需经验的人.
As a really common example, in most cases, digital marketers aren’t also trained graphic designers. 因此，当他们被要求为客户提供他们想要的结果所需的所有关键图形设计工作时，它根本没有有效地发生. 相反，这些数字营销人员要么在Youtube上花费数小时，要么在Illustrator中尝试重新创建他们从Pinterest获得灵感的模板, 或者他们通过使用免费的在线设计程序提供的模板设计来快速完成设计工作，你所有的竞争对手也在使用这些程序. In either one of those common scenarios, 产出是低质量的，你会让你的机构面临定期流失客户的风险，并限制你的大量推荐.
发现瓶颈的另一种方法是使用项目管理工具来查看任务的进度以及任务被搁置的最常见步骤. I.e is it feedback from the client that is delaying deadlines, or are your team waiting on marketing collateral that is taking too long complete? Only when you know that important information can you take steps to improve upon it.
Playing to your strengths
We know that in a busy agency setting it can be tempting to have the attitude of ‘all hands on deck’, meaning that anyone and everyone can get involved in order to get a task done as fast as possible for a client. This is a damaging attitude for two reasons mainly:
1) Your client came to you as an agency because you had the expertise they needed, 因此，他们希望为他们服务的团队是专业的，能够实现你所承诺的结果. When you don’t assign tasks to those most qualified in your agency to do them, that quality begins to slip. 员工开始接手他们不应该接手的工作的另一个原因是，公司内部没有足够的能力, 这是你需要注意的非常重要的事情，因为它会导致你的代理人员过度劳累，你的客户注意到截止日期晚了，工作质量降低了.
2) Your agencies staff produce the very best work when they’re working on what they are most qualified in. Not only that, but that’s also when they can feel the most passionate and content in their job role. 确保不同部门或角色的人不会为了迫在眉睫的最后期限而承担他们不应该承担的任务，这一点也很重要，这样你就可以继续为员工营造一个喜欢的工作环境，这样你就会发现招聘更容易.
That being said, 让你的员工在他们觉得需要额外支持的地方得到反馈，这样他们就可以回到他们最初被雇佣去做的任务上，这是至关重要的，这样你就可以简化你的代理工作流程. It will also help you out with the next step, namely, building your agencies hybrid structure.
Using a hybrid agency structure to boost efficiency
随着英国越来越多的机构采用混合结构，“订阅员工”一词越来越受欢迎. The basic premise of the subscription workforce is to give your agency more capacity, without having to commit to a long-term employee and for a much more affordable cost. For example, some agencies use Design Cloud to build an entire design team that is flexible around their demands. When they need more design work completed for more clients, they simply add another designer to their plan. By adopting this way of working, you give your agency staff the helping hand they need to get more work completed in a shorter period of time. 与内部招聘相比，成本的降低也意味着你可以在一夜之间显著提高代理机构的利润率. For example, the average cost of a UK graphic designer is currently £2305.66 a month, whereas our tailored Agency Plan costs just £749pm when on a rolling monthly contract.
To improve your agencies workflow, compliment your existing team with outsourcing tools that give then the power to do their jobs better and faster. 如果你的营销人员需要图形设计支持，而你需要一种更实惠的方式从专门的设计师那里获得优质的设计, Design Cloud is your solution. 另一个用合适的外包工具来恭维你的团队以提高生产力的例子是用类似于 Copify in order to free up the time spent writing long form content that is necessary for reaching SEO goals.
Why assign outsourcing service leaders within your team?
如果您使用的是混合模式代理结构，并且您的团队与有助于提高生产力的外包服务和工具配对, it’s good practice to assign an outsourcing service leader. 这意味着你的团队成员是主要的联系人，并且负责管理服务或工具的使用效率. For example, 您的营销经理可能会带头确定优先级，并将新用户添加到设计云队列中，以保持对所有当前图形设计工作的清晰概述. By having one key communicator within your team who works with closely with the service provider, 您可以使沟通尽可能顺畅，从而提高整个团队获得所需支持的便利性. The result? A better workflow with less delays due to miscommunication.
Encouraging a culture of communication
确保你鼓励跨部门和团队内部的公开交流是非常重要的. For example, 鼓励你的销售和营销团队之间更好的沟通将帮助你更快地产生更好的质量线索. How? Your sales team will be able to ask for the marketing collateral they actually need to close a deal, rather than the ones your marketing team presume might work. A great example of this is a marketer who thinks a better looking presentation deck is crucial, 然而，每天在第一线与客户交谈的销售人员知道，他们迫切需要的是案例研究. Until there’s better communication across both of those departments, those issues won’t get solved and your agency won’t be as efficient as it could be in generating and converting leads.
How can you encourage communication both internally and across departments? At Design Cloud, even though our UK-based team are currently working remotely, we love having a full team meeting on Slack every morning and in the evening. Additionally, 我们通过设立部门Slack频道和一个完整的小组来鼓励更好的沟通. 其他鼓励公司内部更好沟通的方法包括1:1的会议和公司内部通讯，让每个人都能了解公司的最新情况. Using productivity tools like Asana or Monday.com will give your staff great visibility on what every member of their team are working on, which is another fantastic way to help a team to communicate on the help they need to reach objectives.
In this blog, 我们已经讨论了一些方法，你可以帮助使你的代理工作流程更有效率，不会打破银行，这是你今天可以实施的快速改进. From improving communication through to finding the right outsourcing tools, 有很多方法可以帮助整个机构的流程更顺利地运行，并鼓励客户提供更好的反馈，让员工更快乐. If you’d like to work with Design Cloud on any future projects, just get in touch here.
