Top 10 INBOUND 2018 Day 1 Thoughts & Takeaways:
Day 1 at INBOUND 2018 was a whirlwind of information.
The day started with a long traffic filled drive into Boston, but I managed to find my way, get a parking spot and not miss any of my sessions for the day. Much of what I attended on Day 1 all revolved around how we can better run our agency. I got to hear a lot of stories and and strategies based on real world experiences. With us soon heading into year ten this hit much closer to home than I ever thought they would. A great way to kick off this conference, and I am excited to see what day two brings.
Here are my top 10 takeaways from day one, enjoy!
- Specialize. Don’t try to do everything for everybody.
- Be selective. Be picky about who we do work for.
- Maximize what we specialize in. Within our vertical specialities, figure out how we can better explore them horizontally from an offerings standpoint and then focus on shouting about those.
- Put the agency first. Prioritize showcasing data and information that support what we are all about.
- Be more introspective. When we get asked (what we feel may be) silly questions questions we need to internalize that as us needing to do a better job managing expectations with what the clients should be getting from us.
- Listen more. Institute a quick monthly survey about how staff are feeling about what they are doing and how things are going.
- Thinking about how to build a profitable culture. Give everyone prospective on where things are going $$ wise and how they personally impact those figures.
- Challenge the team to forecast what their revenue looks like for each month Interesting thought process to have the people at the business really understand where the money goes and how the company is doing.
- Interesting Bonus Plan ideas to consider. Multilevel plan, all based on percentages, paid out in percentages over time to better manage cash flow. Always plays against the profitability of the business so everyone knows what direction they are pulling and what they will get for the hard work of the team.
- Mini Games for time tracking and budget stuff. Idea for making the mundane stuff like time tracking more fun by providing people goals to strive for as a unit to get rewards like paid lunches, drinks, etc. An interesting way to possibly improve quality and motivation to do a better job with these tasks.
