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A short psychology lesson

Studies show that when staffers know what they are supposed to do, they are more productive and more secure in their work. Anyone who's willing to admit it will tell you that if they can, they'll choose the easy, fun tasks over boring ones any day - often without consideration for cost, schedule, or staffer expertise. When you assign tasks to staffers, you're in control of getting work done, done right, and done on time.

Also, go ahead and let staffers update a job's traffic and schedule (they can do this right from their timecard). They'll get an intrinsic satisfaction from "marking it off the list," and that goes a long way toward increasing morale and decreasing stress.

With task assignments, you are miles closer to analyzing the productivity of your shop. You can look at on-time task and job reports, billable vs. unbillable staff hours, and more. These reports will show you who per-forms well and who needs a little posterior encouragement.

No more excuses

So your staff claims they can't access Clients & Profits to see what they are sup-posed to do? No problem. End the bellyaching with My Clients & Profits!, the web-based job, time, and expense management system that links directly to your C&P database. Unlike other web-based job or time systems, everything entered through My C&P! updates jobs, financials, schedules, and more in real-time for real-time analysis. (Hint: Clients can also use My C&P! to check the status of their jobs. Studies show that when clients have the autonomy to check on their jobs, they maintain a better relationship with the agency. They feel that they have more control over their work, even if they can't change the job's progress.)

AEs need traffic, too

AEs are in a crummy position. In spite of fun-sounding client lunches and the like, they are the buffer between you and the client. Good ones have the uncanny ability to make everyone think they are happy, and they have intimate knowledge of what will keep the client on an even keel. They are a valuable resource in getting work through the shop, so find out from them what the client's expectations are. Likewise, keep AEs abreast of job progress and the inevitable traffic snafu. Remember, they are the buffer between the shop and the client, and can help you devise an acceptable response. If they ask for miracles, you have the power (and a database full of proof) to veto their proposal.

Build a living history

Collecting all of the information about past jobs helps you create your own benchmarks. With a long-running compilation of data, you're able to better define who the best resource for the task is, how long it should take, what it should cost, and how much profit you should make from it. Also, you'll have an ongoing record of archived jobs and job re-sources, like artwork and vendor info.

Once you have enough history, start analyzing past performance to improve the way things are handled in the future. Look for trends like common workflow clogs, skill set deficiencies, problem clients, or pushy AEs. Once you have a handle on where things slow down on your traffic highway, you can build a little cushion into the schedule. That gives you better on-time delivery odds -- and more satisfied clients.

Built-in stress-busters

Clients & Profits is loaded with tools to help you better manage job work flow. The Production Planner, Rush Manager, scheduling calendar, and auto e-mail are just a few.

A couple of new features that are part of Clients & Profits 5 are the Production Planner and the Rush Manager. Use the Production Planner to see and update every job's timeline, production status, and priority. The Rush Manager, a job priority tool in the Production Planner prioritizes jobs so that the highest priority gets top billing.

Sometimes traffic managers confess that they use other software combinations instead of C&P (even though the shop has it) because they think it does something Clients & Profits doesn't. In a way it does: it sucks up time and money. Clients & Profits is a powerful workflow management tool that works better and faster than juggling stand-alone applications. With time, you'll have loads of historic data in one place, so you'll know exactly how long it will take to complete a job and can accurately schedule it with just a few mouse clicks. And with full integration to your shop's accounting, it makes billing and account reconciliation easy and builds a database full of facts for easier strategic analysis. (Read: The accountant will love you.) Doesn't that sound more appealing than cold coffee, aspirin, and a white board?