Is it common to not have a process workflow for services your agency sells? For example, we’ve sold geofencing, strategy, and website build services without any documentation on how they should be executed so I had to start from scratch and figure out what happens, who is involved, when, and estimate how long it will take. I like project mgmt but I’m getting burned out from having to determine processes and feel like we should have something in place before we sell it. Is this common?

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Be the one to put it all together. Great fuel for a promotion or raise discussion.

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This is exactly why I will never work at a small, independent agency again. The lack of process and fly by the seat of your pants work was awful. Not saying all small shops are this way but I think a lot are.

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I think it’s pretty odd to sell a service you don’t have a process for.

I guess it’s good experience and a resume builder for you personally to be able to say you’ve done those things, but it feels like your agency’s Operations / Capabilities leads should definitely have developed internal structure and processes to support those offerings.

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In my experience there have been projects within a scope that I’ve had to figure out processes for as an account team member, like developing an instagram page for a pharma client whose only had one brand ever do that before. But for instance, we have a social engagement strategist who understands what goes into that kind of work that I could lean on.

For projects that you described: website, geofencing etc, those feel like larger agency capabilities that you would need to have standardized processes for in order to be able to deliver a consistent product across brands and clients. Each time they’re executed, they will of course vary based on client needs, but in most agencies I’ve worked with there are general guardrails to work within.

I would talk to my manager about it (if you haven’t already), because consistently having to figure things out like that on our own can be really overwhelming.

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Hey anon soul, I am in the same exact boat!! This is the part where I struggle the most because you're expected to get project tasks done in set time and time required to weed out optimal process for each type of diff project is not at all factored. Not to mention, misc tasks that come out of daily meetings which keeps getting piled on your list! It's crazy! Have asked my leadership to provide some PM training for projects agency typically takes and apparently I am supposed to find a mentor to learn from which is whole another shenanigan.

To answer your question, it definitely seems common in startup agencies for sure!

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Yes, yes, yes! It’s maddening!

I've had a very similar experience at my agency! If a client wants to move forward with an offering I haven't executed for another client already, I'm at a disadvantage. If you can't rely on your Ops or PM team to roll out perfect launch instructions (it's never ready in time in my experience!), the next best option is to ask around for another team or client that has used the offering and ask that Account Manager to walk you through their process.

At best, you can create your own guide and provide that internally! But you're not alone in this at all!

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THANK YOU!

Sounds like a white-label offering if there’s truly no process internally for it. So maybe investigate the outside vendors you already work with who may offer these services to better understand their approach to merge with your own.

Otherwise, it’s probably something the client asked about that someone blindly said ‘yes’ to. 🤷‍♂️

smart

Thank you!! Yes, this is how we sell almost everything. 😆😩

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Does anyone know of a good company that has this figured out?

THIS IS MY LIFE AS WELL!!!! 😭

Some great responses in this thread! I have actually tried to be the one to speak up and create standardized processes but the dynamics at our agency is making it hard to implement so if you do take it in yourself to fix it make sure you plan for change management too and ask for a raise!

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