Four ways to improve your commercial acumen.

If you are an AD or SAD and looking to move up to a GAD you will need to demonstrate that you are ‘commercially minded’. Understanding what that means to your agency/business is key in the first place. It varies enormously between agencies so I can only present what my idea is of being ‘commercial minded’:

• Knowing what you do and don't do for your client, know who does what you don't do for your client

• Being skilled in negotiation enough that allows you not to under sell your services or even worse, give them away for free. Being skilled in selling services is not easy and is a skill that takes time

• Understanding the commercial framework and contractual agreement between your agency and client, what that allows you to do and not. What rights it allows your clients, what obligations it sets upon your agency. (When was the last time you read the SLA/contract?)

• Maximising your revenue streams within the contractual parameters that have been agreed between agency and client

If you are unsure about any of the above or indeed any area in finance, take the initiative and set up a meeting/training session/chat with your finance team. I ran training sessions at my last agency with my FD; if you believe it would be beneficial to you and your colleagues, perhaps suggest the same at your agency.

PART TWO of this blog will be a deep dive in to how you go about maximising revenue streams.