It’s Possible to Get More Business and Keep Your Employees Happy!
Well, this is just great, Alice was thinking while sitting at her desk well past 7 pm. She had just missed another family dinner! The publisher company where she worked as a campaign manager recorded a continuous growth over the past six months. She was glad that the business was flourishing, but her work just kept piling up and she wasn’t able to get everything done, not even with cutting corners. As Alice was finishing up, Tom, one of their top salespersons, entered in a desperate mood. When she asked what happened, Tom gave an exasperated answer:
- I just can’t cover all of my clients anymore! I can’t remember the last time I didn’t work for 12 hours straight and I just got an urgent RFP for one of our international partners! I can’t push the deadline to tomorrow, as they want to launch the campaign in 2 days!
- Well, I know this is probably not the best idea, but what about the memo?
How to Get the Ball Rolling
Ah, yes, the memo. All of them got it. The top was letting them know that they understand their struggles and they are bringing in reinforcements! They hired an external team that supposedly could help both sales and campaign management teams, as well as the creative development team. Their business hours allowed them to get things done while you were sleeping, the enthusiastic memo said! To put it mildly, Alice was incredulous. She was thinking that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. However, it looked like Tom was at the end of his strengths and Alice was also a little curious to see how this amazing external team would do.
- You know what? I’m gonna give them a go, Tom said.
All in One
As Alice got in the cafeteria the next morning to grab a cup of coffee, Tom was there, eating his breakfast. When he saw her, a huge smile replaced the look of calm he was wearing before. He started:
- Last night, I sent the RFP to our new friends and hoped for the best! I asked them to send me the proposal once they were done putting it together, but they asked for my email sign in details instead, telling me that they can send directly to the client once they were done. So, I took a leap of faith and fell asleep 5 minutes after that. And, Alice, you wouldn’t believe it! Not only did they send a beautiful custom deck with mockups of client’s ads, they also filled out our media plan template and sent it with the reasoning behind the media they chose! Well, our partners loved it, but being the tough cookie that they are, they said that they can’t sign before their IO template is filled out, along with Prisma! And the new guys actually did both in two hours! The deal is signed and I am the office hero again!
Alice was glad for Tom, but his success made her even more anxious to get to her desk and start working. She had about a zillion emails to answer, and on top that she now had to fill out Salesforce and Operative1, AND put together a kick-off deck for the new deal. For a second she was panicking, and then she started writing an email to the external team, delegating the entire work that needed to be done for the new campaign. Fast forward to the end of the day, all of her tasks were done and the new campaign was ready to launch!
Over the next two weeks, she learned that the team was able to take on any and every task she just didn’t have time for. She was used to getting impeccable reports, along with creative analysis, screenshots that served as troubleshooting for anything out of the ordinary, and the wrap-up reports she sent to her clients were a beauty to look upon. She was happy to use some of the external team’s best practices that proved to work great with their other publishers. Her wrap up decks went out with recommendations that suggested creative improvements, as well as what other activations the client should try next. It was never easier to secure repeat business, and she now had time to meet with her clients and make sure they were happy.
Give it Time and Space to Grow
One day, while Alice was taking her time eating lunch in the company cafeteria, Jim from the creative development team entered, obviously under the weather. Alice thought she recognized the long face she often saw in the mirror not long ago. When she asked him what happened, Jim started complaining how he didn’t see his wife and two kids since his colleague went away for a vacation, and he had another 2 weeks to survive. Alice said:
- You know what, I think I know just the guys that could help you! They come with an impressive design portfolio, and they know our website and specs! I bet they could jump in right away!
Needless to say, Jim happily played with his kids in the backyard the same night.
