If you’re looking at your agency’s finances and trying to figure out why costs are so high, a hidden culprit may be over-servicing your clients. In an effort to keep precious clients happy, your agency may be providing additional resource hours beyond the initial scope of work. How can scope creep impact your agency, and how can you work to prevent it?
The Hidden Costs of Scope Creep
While over-servicing on projects can cost your agency money, it also has other hidden risks. Extra work can lead to delayed deliverables, and unforeseen hours can result in team burnout. To try and meet original deadlines, you might find your agency rushing to push out work with reduced quality. These elements can slowly impact relationships with your clients, morale, and productivity, making it more challenging to bring in new projects if your agency’s reputation suffers.
Improving Your Agency Operations
With a few simple steps, you can work to improve your agency’s overall operations and prevent over-servicing from becoming a problem in the first place. The foundation of any good client relationship is good communication. Start with a strong service level agreement and match your project scope with a realistic estimate. Along the way, continue to manage expectations and stick to deadlines. But be sure also to have a plan to address any changes that come up during the project. Most importantly, consider implementing an agency project management system like Deltek WorkBook to help you gain better visibility into your projects and resources.
Guide to Reduce Over-Servicing at Your Agency
Is scope creep weighing down your agency’s finances? Download our guide, 4 Ways to Avoid the Pitfalls of Over-Servicing, to learn how to increase your agency’s profit margins with more accurate scoping and job delivery. Learn the actionable steps to keep your projects on track and your clients happy. Get your free copy today!
