The Handbook: The Operations Podcast

Operations is a critical role within agencies today. But beyond the day-to-day, there’s a big opportunity to leverage this role as strategic driver of growth and efficiency. How can you develop both yourself as a leader and your agency to deliver better results?In this episode, Ryan McNamara, Head of Operations for Rise at Seven, highlights 3 key areas that every ops director should focus on:Financial rigor - what metrics you should be looking at and how often, to help you make strategic decisions.Performance culture - how Ryan sets up performance development plans (PDPs) in his team and the importance of company culture.Operational efficiency - what you should be optimizing to make things faster and easier.Ryan offers advice on how to use your data for better decision making. He explains how to use metrics such as utilization, revenue recognition, and recovery to build better plans and inform your strategy.Resources mentioned in this episode:Harv’s Presentation on Business Maturity Models - https://bit.ly/harvbizmaturity Follow Ryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanfmc/Follow Harv on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvnagra/Stay up to date with regular ops insights. Subscribe to The Handbook: The Operations Newsletter.This podcast is brought to you by Scoro, where you can manage your projects, resources and finances in a single system.

Why do agencies drop the ball on their own marketing?In Agencyland, we understand the importance of impactful campaigns, yet we frequently neglect our own – particularly when things start getting busy. 46% of agencies don’t practice what they preach, according to Chime Agency’s latest benchmark report. This may not come as a surprise if you’re an owner or ops leader trying to oversee or take on the additional responsibility of marketing.To grow your revenue and develop loyal clients, your agency needs consistent marketing. This can speak to both new and existing clients. Claire Hutchings, founder of Chime Agency, shares how agencies of all sizes can achieve consistently high quality marketing.In this episode, we’re give our operations audience the practical strategies they can apply immediately at their own agencies to get things in shape fast.What you’ll learn:What sets top performing agencies apartPractical tips for optimizing your marketing effortsWhy you need a strong Unique Selling Proposition (USP)Why you should develop a ‘Hero Moment’ of your ownFollow Claire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-hutchings/Follow Harv on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvnagra/Check out Chime’s Agency Benchmark report here - https://www.chime.agency/benchmark-reportStay up to date with regular ops insights. Subscribe to The Handbook: The Operations Newsletter.

New tools and processes can transform your workflow. Especially when they’re well communicated, properly tested and correctly implemented. Successful change management motivates your team to adopt new practices. And makes them productive and happier - now and into the future.In this episode, we’re joined by Claire Quansah, an ops expert in the agency space with nearly two decades of experience. Claire shares the steps to consider when implementing change within your agency. She gives advice on how to promote continuous improvement and set your team up for success.Her 6 steps for successful change management include:CommunicationPlanning & PreparationImplementationTesting WorkflowsDocumentation, Training & Support Continual Improvement This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to implement a new platform or process change within their agency.Follow Claire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-quansah/Follow Harv on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvnagra/Stay up to date with regular ops insights. Subscribe to The Handbook: The Operations Newsletter.This podcast is brought to you by Scoro, where you can manage your projects, resources and finances in a single system.

Tyler Caskey, a chartered accountant and founder of The Bean Counters, dives into the transformative power of consolidating tools and automation for agencies. He discusses the challenges of disjointed systems and underscores the importance of user-friendly technology. Tyler shares compelling examples of successful consolidations, strategies for staying ahead in tech, and the advantages of professional services automation tools. Discover how these changes can boost efficiency, data accuracy, and team morale in the fast-evolving landscape of agency operations.

Manish Kapur, with 25 years of experience in creative ops, shares how to optimize agency operations for profitability. He discusses leadership development, staff retention, financial planning, and process improvement. Learn how to boost profits by streamlining these 4 pillars within your agency.

Our new podcast The Handbook: The Agency Operations Podcast endeavours to create more community for agency operations people – a place where we can hear from our peers and other experts on best practice, experiments, successes and sometimes failures – and also a place to celebrate our journeys into operations. Before we kick off with the interview series, Harv Nagra, our host, and former agency operations leader talk about his own journey into operations. 

Agency ops can be lonely – you might be the only person in your agency that works in operations, and you might end up having to figure things out on your own – rather than having a team of people to support you and bounce ideas off of.That’s where our new podcast, The Handbook: The Agency Operations podcast comes in. We’ll be talking to fellow experts and operations leaders about agency life – discussing the challenges keeping us up at night, as well as strategies that help make things run a little bit smoother.Each episode, we'll have a guest speaker who brings a fresh perspective and gives us plenty of food for thought.