You might think of your agency as tech-forward, but your team could have way more software subscriptions than they need to successfully serve clients — and it could be cutting into your profits.
According to a 2022 report by Vendr, the average company with 50 employees uses 40 SaaS applications. If this number seems high, consider just some of the categories of applications you may already use: internal messaging, file management, sales management, client portal, social media scheduling, video editing and email automation. This list is far from complete!
For most businesses, including agency professionals, it’s time to consolidate.
If you have a suspicion you’re in the too-much-tech boat, it might seem like looking for more software is the last thing you’d want to do right now. However, smart consolidation can require finding a multifaceted platform that replaces several others and reduces inefficiencies.
Where to start?
Along with reviewing must-have agency management tools in a few key categories such as project management, email marketing and customer relationship management, you should research what’s available to marry those functions. We’re here to help.
Let’s look at:
While quality client work is certainly dependent upon solid project management practices, we recommend looking for more than just a project management platform. Your relationships with clients begin from the first moment they interact with your business as a marketing lead and, ideally, don’t end until you’ve been through years of recurring contracts.
To make this happen, you need cloud-based software with more robust features than most project management tools have. From sales opportunity tracking and pipeline visualization to client request intake, workflow management — preferably with custom automations — is a must for a busy agency.
Robust software that’s versatile enough to address your specific industry challenges but not too inflexible to do what you need can help you adjust your pricing and, ultimately, drive profitability.
Below is a list of nine popular agency management tools and their key features.
Accelo is a cloud-based client work management platform designed to help professional services firms, including agencies of all sizes, manage client relationships from prospecting and payment through projects and even retainers. The platform provides customizable solutions to expand visibility, improve collaboration and increase profits.
Accelo's retainers dashboard highlights each retainer's remaining budget, payment structure and linked projects and tickets
Start a free trial or schedule a demo to see how Accelo could be the agency management software you’ve been searching for.
AgencyAnalytics is a reporting platform built to help marketing agencies complete client reporting automatically. Its 70+ integrations and customizable widgets help agency owners pull clients’ key data into white-labeled dashboards.
Deltek WorkBook is an agency management solution built to maximize internal efficiency and make collaboration simple. It combines project and task management, resource allocation tools, business analytics, cost management and financial reporting and a CRM.
HubSpot is a multipurpose inbound marketing platform. Its Marketing Hub helps agencies publish and store content, send emails, manage client data, track campaign performance and more. The company also offers industry-recognized training and events for agency professionals.
monday.com is a cloud-based work management platform featuring a variety of apps and integrations. It’s used in 200+ industries, including marketing, retail, finance and tech. Creative agency teams can collaborate in monday.com’s Work OS and its four core apps to manage projects and workflows, follow up with sales leads and more.
Want more details? Read how monday.com compares to Accelo.
Nimble is a CRM that merges details about business contacts from multiple platforms into one enriched database. Interactions with potential customers and internal actions are tied to a contact record, lending visibility to the entire team.
Notion is a workspace software built to house notes, documents, design files, publishing calendars and more. It’s a live and centralized source of information about every project and internal process your agency team needs.
Productive is an agency operations platform that helps consolidate data about resources and profitability. It can help agency managers keep track of upcoming and existing projects with timelines and budgets, and it connects billable time logs to client billing.
Workamajig is a project management software for agencies and creative teams. It features a variety of financial reports that tie time logs and team capacity to projects and tasks, making it a good option for agencies looking to focus on maximizing the profit potential of billable time.
Wrike is a creative project management software platform built for a variety of industries and teams. Agencies use Wrike’s task management, approval process and custom work items to organize and prioritize fast-paced work.
A software with the capacity to change how your team works will inevitably affect the way they interact with clients, for better or worse. In a client-based industry, those relationships are crucial to the long-term success of your business.
Not only should you consider whether the platform you select will make it easier for clients to interact with you directly — via a client portal, perhaps — but you might want to reflect on:
Preparing your team for new software should be a thoughtful process, so you’ll ideally consider what your agency needs long before diving into implementation. Accelo’s Customer Success team has helped professional services businesses adopt our platform for over a decade.
Here’s the process they recommend:
READ MORE ABOUT THE STEPS: Getting Your Team Ready for New Software
Both client benefits and the implementation process can be much simpler when you use a platform built with your type of business in mind. Among other professional services businesses, Accelo equips agencies like yours with the tools they need to save significant time and minimize redundant work so they can serve clients even more fully.
