In challenging economic conditions, maintaining healthy project margins, team morale, and quality work can create challenges for many agencies. How can you do it all? And how do they affect each other? 

We sat down with digital agency, Creed Interactive, to chat about the four approaches they took to navigate these challenges and boost project margins with their current team.

Create Added Value for Clients as Their Strategic Partner

When the pipeline slows down, it’s easy to feel a bit of panic—don’t worry, you’re not alone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Creed’s team decided to differentiate themselves by strengthening their consultative approach to client work. By positioning themselves as strategic partners, they created more meaningful partnerships that delivered value long after a project wrapped up.

As economic uncertainty raised, Creed recognized that their clients were facing tighter budgets and increased pressure to show return on investment. In response, Creed began offering smaller, lower-barrier projects to attract new clients and demonstrate their strategic expertise In their initial discovery sessions. Over time, these small projects built a solid foundation of trust, which led to larger and more profitable project margins as clients saw the long-term benefits of their partnerships.

Allocate Your Team Members Based on Their Skill Sets

To consistently deliver quality work while maintaining healthy project margins, Creed took the initiative to understand which projects would set their teams up for success, as well as bring profitable margins for the business. They aimed to match team members with projects that aligned with their skill sets and would enable them to deliver their best work, ultimately driving up both efficiency and profitability.

Using a resource management platform like Parallax, Creed was able to assign team members to projects where they could make the most significant impact. By forming specialized, dedicated teams allowed them to maximize each team member’s unique strengths, whether that meant pairing developers with specific technologies or aligning designers with particular industries. This led to higher-quality project outcomes and healthier project margins by ensuring that resources were used effectively.

Focus on the People, and Your Margins Will Thank You

As a people-first agency, Creed has always prioritized employee well-being, knowing that happy and engaged team members are more productive and creative. In the hectic agency environment, it’s easy to assume that a 40-hour workweek is the norm. However, Creed found that scheduling time for collaboration, admin tasks, and professional development led to better project outcomes and higher margins in the long run.

To combat burnout and support meaningful work, Creed adjusted their utilization baseline to 32 billable hours a week, intentionally leaving time for deep work, training, and collaboration. This shift not only allowed employees to grow professionally and within their roles but also encouraged them to find ways to be more efficient in their teams. By building in time for non-billable activities, Creed empowered their team members to continuously improve and produce quality work, ultimately benefiting the agency’s bottom line.

Understanding Your Project Health: Creed’s Secret Weapon 

Pinpointing where to start when looking to increase project margins isn’t so black and white. Creed was able to utilize insights from Parallax to monitor key metrics that helped guide them to make strategic decisions around reaching their goals. 

Want to learn more on how Creed did it? Book a demo to see more of Parallax.