• "We'll get over hoping that the good old days will come back." No more hand-wringing, this CEO said. "It's high time I changed the things I can, especially inside." Every agency leader knows what has to be fixed, removed, or stopped; it's usually just a matter of pulling the trigger.
  
  Try this: what one thing in your control - if you took a
  deep breath and just did it - would have the most positive impact?

• "Our word for the year is going to be Value. We're going to educate our clients we're a value. And I'm not talking price." Absent specific differentiation, agency services too easily become commodities and suddenly you're competing with everybody who has a Mac on their kitchen table. Strong agencies constantly re-tell their value story and understand that their intangible services require ongoing buyer reinforcement. For a classic and still timely discussion of marketing intangibles like agency services, get a copy of Marketing Intangible Products and Product Intangibles by Ted Levitt, available as a reprint on the Harvard Business Review website. Every creative and AE should read it.

• "This year I swear we're finally going to improve our people. I can't afford to believe that I can't afford training." People keep clients happy, not just ads that look nice. If you don't keep enhancing staff (and your own) skills, you're stuck in status quo. Truth is, most competitive shoot-outs are lost because an agency's people don't have enough horsepower. So improve your product by improving your people and you'll improve your business. There are lots of training resources out there (including us).

• "It's time we make technology work right at our place." There's only one reason to write a check for more tech whiz-whaz: it will help free you to do more things faster and better. Resolve never to buy anything with a chip or LED unless you're guaranteed it will pay off in more billable time, better communication and faster turnaround. Agencies can multiply individual effectiveness and save dough with things like PC teleconferencing and wireless email. A personal aside: I use a combo cell phone-Palm Pilot- wireless email Treo 300 and love it because it saves me time, money, and space.

• "We learned the hard way that we've got to listen to our clients better. They leave because we're not really hearing their expectations. I see red when account people claim they know what the client wants." It's pretty simple, really - tailor your services, products, and structure to known client expectations and you'll keep them. Install an objective account performance review program and you'll avoid myopia.

• "We're going to outlaw PowerPoint. It's a crutch for deep thought plus it's cliché. Please don't read slides to me! If you can't explain it without those damn cue cards you're not much of a communicator. Look me in the eye and convince me!" Not much we can add to that.

• "I'm going to be a lot tougher." This CEO told us that soon he's finally going to release two non-performing senior people whose combined packages exceed $300K, "...and I should have had the guts to do this years ago - it would have been easier." How about 'courage' as a motto for '03?

• "For us, this will be the year we finally act like professionals. Meetings will start on time, inside due dates will be met or there'll be real consequences, and we're going to standardize and live by procedures so we stop the chaos." Yup, your infrastructure is one of the few things you have no excuse for not running right.

And to all our clients and associates, only the best to you in 2003.