The typical agency switches project management tools every 17 months. Crazy, right? 🤯
They're constantly looking at ClickUp, Teamwork, Asana, Monday, and Notion and waiting for someone to finally build the perfect tool.
And if you're anything like the typical agency, you're pouring hours each month into trying to optimize your current setup.
The constant trial and error commonly frustrates teams and leaves them hungry for a better way — a proven solution for agency project management.
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In our work with thousands of agencies we've learned that you can NEVER streamline operations and get PM to work for your team, until you figure out how to design your system to produce powerful insights while simplifying the entire experience for your team.
You need leverage; maximum insights from minimal input.
But how do you accomplish this?
We're glad you asked!
This page will teach you what you need to do to create a "Simple, But Powerful" system - turning project management into a competitive advantage for your agency.
First, let's dispel the myth that all you need is a new PM tool. The reality is that the agencies who have mastered project management have mastered the 3 key areas:
When it's done right, it's a thing of beauty and creates a virtuous flywheel that leads to:
So how do you design the best project management solution for your agency?
Let's talk about building your Agency Operator Blueprint.
Fixing your agency operations does not start with software trials or or furiously jotting down process checklists.
It requires deeper work with your team to identify the real needs of all the roles in your organization.
The finished solution and implementation plan must cover all 3 of the key areas (tools, processes, and habits).
Your Blueprint will account for:
If you'd like to see what a great Agency Operator Blueprint looks like, book a call here.
Easier yet, work with us to build your Blueprint.👇
When you've completed the Blueprint process you'll have:
Implementation is the next step after you've completed the Blueprint. This is where your Blueprint comes to life inside your project management tool and your team begins to experience the wins.
Working with ZenPilot to implement your Blueprint is the fastest path to deploying the updated structure and changing your team habits.
Having led over 3,000 agencies on this journey has made us masters of this process.
#agencylife leaves no down time. We'll help you to roll out your implementation with a smart step-by-step process that allows your team to get to work fast inside a proven structure without any guesswork or wasted time in research-mode.
Your Client Coach with work with you during each step of the process so you know where the project stands and what information is needed from your team.
At this point you'll have a fully-configured system within the first three weeks of your implementation. This will allow your team to get to work quickly inside your new structure.
After your system is built with the proper, structure we shift our focus to your team habits.
Your Client Coach will work with you to get each member of your team set up on the right training track to maximize their success. We break this down into the following roles:
Each role will move through the material and certification that will allow them to do their part to keep the system running. There will be a mix of training tracks, homework assignment, instructor reviews, and live feedback sessions.
Your Client Coach will use your Agency Operator Scorecard to prioritize the training paths necessary to maximize your reporting visibility while creating an easy-to-use experience for the end users on the team.
The amount of time it takes a team to complete the change management portion of the implementation varies from team to team. We recommend agencies plan to spend 12 months working on building processes, training new habits, monitoring reports, and optimizing their systems.
Thanks to ZenPilot, the company has increased their overall productivity by 400% and revenue acquisition by 25%.
The team strictly adheres to timelines and the budget, but internal stakeholders are particularly impressed with their knowledge and workforce methodology.
The Blueprint process typically takes 1-2 weeks depending on the availability of your team.
Not exactly! We also work with in-house marketing teams (who often see themselves as an "internal agency")—one example is the marketing crew at LegalZoom.
And we work with businesses who do client work that may not necessarily see themselves as agencies, such as accounting firms.
While it's true that our expertise runs deepest in the agency space (and we have a library of 200+ plug-and-play process templates for that specific context), we have lots of advice and specific frameworks to share for any business that wants to put an end to chaotic project management and stop hopping from one PM tool to the next.
That depends on your goals and your plan, but it's not uncommon for us to see up to 300% increase in efficiency for our agency clients. We've helped agencies double productivity, grow profits by $1.2 million in year 1, triple headcount seamlessly, increase client LTV and improve client retention.
But those are just examples of previous client results. Working with us will allow you to reliably measure + improve a variety of agency metrics.
Our main tool for measuring success is called the Agency Operator Scorecard. The Scorecard gives you a clear view of key data about your agency (target vs actual), such as utilization, earnings/FTE, net margin, PM technology costs, and more.
The Scorecard will show you how much money you're leaving on the table by letting underutilization and inefficiencies persist in your organization. Working with us will allow you to get that money back.
To see an example of the Agency Operator Scorecard, book a call with us.
Yes. We're so confident that you'll love the Blueprint process and results, that we put our money where our mouth is.
We'll fully refund your investment if we reach the end of the blueprint and you're not bought into the solution we've designed to get your clarity.
Thanks to ZenPilot, the company has increased their overall productivity by 400% and revenue acquisition by 25%.
The team strictly adheres to timelines and the budget, but internal stakeholders are particularly impressed with their knowledge and workforce methodology.
