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Getting Started

What is Best Practices?

First conducted in 1993 and updated annually to reflect new challenges and pressures facing the industry, the Best Practices survey is conducted by Reagan Consulting and the Big "I" as a joint initiative and analyzes the performance of the nation's leading agencies to uncover the methods, procedures, techniques, strategies, and business practices they use to achieve superior results. The Best Practices Study also establishes benchmarks against which agency performance can be measured and offers guidelines on how to use the study as a tool to help improve operations and maximize potential. The tools are a great resource for agency managers or principals who are interested in reviewing their operations to enhance agency performance and profitability.

The heart of Best Practices is the annual report and other tools and resources are available under the umbrella all working towards the goal of an efficient and more profitable agency.

How to Get Started (High Level)

A comprehensive review is a necessary first step.
Review and benchmark to determine which practices hold the greatest potential for significantly improving your agency’s performance.
Utilize the proper tool or tools for the specific practice or performance gaps to get the process started for your organization, moving from one priority to the next.
After a period of time pursuing steady progress, you will eventually find all of the top practices are taking hold in your agency and you can then focus less on radical change and more on ongoing, continuous improvement.
Don't try and implement all at once.
The Best Practices Study can seem overwhelming at first, but drill down to your agency revenue category size to start. Review the areas of focus, pick one or two metrics to measure and then manage. You may find you are doing well in one area, but need work on another. By measuring your agency you can create your agency performance dashboard.

Ten Practices Shared By Best Practices Agencies

Best Practices Agencies

Control What They Can Control
Focus on Client Services
View Employees as The Most Valuable Asset
Have a Clear Management Vision
Beleive in a Participative, Focused Management Style
Synergistic Win/Win Supplier Relationships
Growth Through Total Account Development
Develop and Implement Efficient Processes And Systems
Know a Constantly Improving Environment is key
Have Fun!

There are variations in every agency and unique ideas and techniques abound. How else would innovation and new ideas take place? However, if you decide that your goal is to one day know your agency does a perfect ten out of the ten below, you'll be well on your way.

Tools To Help

Best Practices Study. Use the most current report to find the benchmarks in your specific revenue category. Identify now and plan for growth.
Best Practices Webinars. The Best Practices Study provides explanations of many terms used within the report. The free Best Practices webinar series takes many of the terms and formulas and breaks them down in 15-minute education sessions to help bring the concepts to life.

Agency Comparison Workbook. Compare your year-end results to Best Practices Agencies and calcuate performance gaps. (High level)
Interactive Agency Self-Diagnostic Tool an Excel based file that walks you through a more detailed checklist of agency activity. View a table of contents snapshot here.

How can an agency use Best Practices internally?

Process Improvement Cycle