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Why You Should Look for an Agency with a PM Team
Agencies sell people as much as they sell concepts. As a client, you only see and hear some of those people—your account team, creatives and strategists. You can think of them as the agency’s interface.
Behind the scenes, there’s a slew of other people making sure the rest of the machine that is the agency works in harmony. The people that keep the agency humming by running the right things through the right pipes at the right time and speed are project managers or PMs. They are your secret to getting your work done on time and on budget without gumming up the system.
Even if you don’t ever interact with them as a client, you should make sure your agency has a PM team in place. Here’s why.
Organization and alignment
Some see “process” as a dirty word, but process is meant to streamline tasks and organize people. Yes, the creative process can be messy, but an agency needs order to deliver an ever-increasing number of deliverables efficiently while keeping the lights on.
An agency’s PM team helps establish swim lanes for different roles. When an agency has a PM team, everyone benefits internally and externally:
- Account people can focus more on deepening client relationships and understanding their client’s business.
- Creatives only need to worry about solving client’s problems rather than trying to juggle too many projects at once or turn work around too fast.
- Clients get exceptional work done on time and on budget and are confident that their future projects will be completed in the same way.
A well-oiled machine makes agency work more fun because people get to focus on what they do best rather than try to manage things outside their area of expertise.
Budget and timeline oversight
As a client, you want your work done as quickly and cost effectively as possible. PMs are your best ally in this goal. They explain what is feasible rather than over-promise and under-deliver. A PM won’t promise anything the agency can’t deliver.
Once you communicate your goals, expectations and budgets, the PM team will assess what the agency can reasonably deliver within those parameters. That’s good for you overall because you’ll be less likely to find yourself in a pickle you can’t get out of down the line. PMs ensure your project is well-run by being accountable to you, your timelines and budgets.
If you ever need something on a different timeline or budget than what a PM proposes, that’s when the negotiation should begin—ideally before any work begins so we can adjust accordingly. After all, we’re all on the same team and want to do right by the work.
Collaboration and communication
PMs help various agency teams—account, digital, print, creative, resourcing, studio, leadership—work together as a cohesive unit.
- Status updates help everyone stay on the same page and know when work will get passed from one team member to another so nothing gets dropped or forgotten. This also prevents those at the end of the project, like production, from getting unfairly squeezed for time.
- PMs keep tabs on hours, which helps the agency stay on budget for your project.
PMs must be personable and able to communicate in any situation, even difficult ones. PMs aren’t meant to babysit people or projects but rather to keep them on track, within timelines and on budget.
To do that, PMs communicate early and often. PMs even communicate after work is done to find out what worked well and what needs to adjust for the next time. It’s an iterative process and one we strive to constantly improve.
Born for business
At Heinrich, we create work that gets results for our clients. Our PM team is integral in that effort. We know how each deliverable gets made and what it takes to make it. The hours it takes a copywriter to land on the perfect brand name or the time it takes to develop the right co-branding effort.
We know how to plan and budget for your top priorities. Contact us to see what we can do for you.