Saying NO:

For a Libra, saying no is not easy. I like to have balance and harmony, make people happy. So saying no is often an exercise of will power for me, but it’s essential for keeping sanity. It’s taken me many years, but saying no for the right reasons has helped to protect myself, Portent, my internal teams and clients. Sometimes it’s saying, “No, we can’t do that” but I always try to say “We can’t complete that by the time your are asking for, but we can by x date”.

When clients ask for things that don’t make sense in marketing or within their strategy, I work with the team to come up with an alternative solution to present to the client. Saying “While we can’t do the specific thing you asked, we can do this other option that is well-aligned with your strategy and should work well”.

Being Nosy:

Around the office I’ve been labeled as “Portent Dictionary” or “All-Knowing Portent Goddess”. How did I get those titles? Because I like to know as much as possible about what’s going on. I have been through MANY different types of projects in my 10+ years here and I like to know the process, the steps required, and I ask a lot of questions. I like to get my hands dirty in projects and do things like add in content, or know how to update pages so I can train clients. This means I’ve learned about the different CMS systems we’ve used, the email newsletter programs clients use and I know just enough HTML to be dangerous (often asking my Front End Developers for help when I muck something up).

Talking on the Telephone:

What? What is that? I know, in this very digital era, sometimes it is hard to pick up the phone and call someone. Not only do people rely on email and texting, but its amazing how many people shy away from the phone when it rings, as if someone is going to come through the phone and grab them. But I find it really helps clear the air and is usually an easy way to get clarity on big questions.

If a client goes silent for a few days, we exchange emails a few times around one question, I have multiple team members in various locations, or its been a few weeks since talking to a client, sometimes just the tone of their voice can clear things up if there is tension. We are so inundated with email, texts, digital noise that a phone call can be comforting.

Being a Tattletale:

No one likes a tattletale, but sometimes its essential to clear the air, get things done and find solutions. I’m not saying I sit there in meetings and then go to people’s bosses and say “So and so isn’t doing something”. I’m talking about when you have issues on a project, you then address them with those people and their boss or another member of the team and we brainstorm on the issue, work on a solution and come away a more cohesive team.

These are just a few examples of behaviors usually thought of to be bad, that are useful tools when working with projects, teams and clients. Do you have any that you’d like to share?

The post Bad Behaviors That Make Me a Better Project Manager appeared first on Portent.

One thing is clear: I am not the same person as I was 10 years ago and Portent has changed a lot too. Here’s a look at who we were and what we’ve become.

Fostering relationships

One of my first calls that I took was a legacy client from the east coast. Something about his demeanor and how he said “I need to talk to Ian NOW” made me cry. I wasn’t used to those types of calls. Now when that SAME client calls, I know he is a super nice guy who has an east coast edge. I know what to expect when I see his number come up on caller ID.

What happened? I grew as a person. I built a relationship with the client. We have caller ID. We’ve done great work for that client for MANY YEARS.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am good at building relationships. And over the course of the last 10 years at Portent, I’ve done that with co-workers and many many clients and vendors.

Raising the bar

When we moved Portent to a new building, literally 2 blocks away, we had to hire a moving truck and coordinate the 18 employees we had at the time. During one of the last visits to the new office before we moved, I remember Ian saying he would take one of the smaller offices. I told him he was crazy! The President should have the corner office with the windows. He accepted this.

Along the way we’ve learned that we had to think like we were big stuff to raise the bar of our internal expectations and those of our clients. If we didn’t think bigger than we were, we were never going to grow. So first step was to get the President out of his “building it in the garage” mentality. We needed to believe in ourselves and our clients. The more often we do that and think of ourselves being amazing, the more amazing work we did and the more amazing we became.

Before it was cool

My husband and I are early adopters of lifestyle things. We were really early customers of Netflix, we were in love with Kozmo.com, we got the first edition iPhones, etc. And because of Portent I’ve become an early adopter of professional things like social media and new web ideas. When I first told my husband I’d signed up for a Facebook account, all I got was a blank stare, like “What is the purpose?” Now he is a much more active user than I am.

Some examples of how Portent has stayed ahead of the curve:

• Less code = better: Even way back in 2004, Ian was sharing with the whole company that less HTML code is better for SEO. When search engines now talk about load times and the benefits of clean and easy code, we nod in agreement.
• CMS what? Early on, the Portent team had to teach and train clients how to effectively update their sites and most of the time no one knew what a CMS was. It was completely foreign to me as well. But after dozens of different ones, I’ve become pretty knowledgeable and can train clients on them. We have favorites (WordPress) and a slew of least favorites I won’t name here and we’re always excited about learning the next new CMS.
• High quality content: Anyone who has been a reader of this blog for even a short time will know this message, “High quality content is king.” Ian’s been preaching that line since he started to blog. Since I’ve been at Portent, we’ve educated clients about the value of content and now the search engines are singing the same tune.

Thought leaders

We have some pretty smart folks here at Portent. I’ve learned so much from my fellow teammates and hope they’ve learned a few things from me as well. Late in 2004, Ian launched Portent U (Portent University). These are training/teaching sessions Ian started to impart his knowledge on us. Nowadays everyone on the team shares their unique expertise with the company.

Not only do we share knowledge internally but externally as well. Over the years we continue to participate in conferences and trainings with clients. This is one of the key things I think makes Portent stand out. We share with both the industry and our clients. We don’t just want our clients to make more money or get more leads, but we want to help them understand the basis of what we’re doing for them.

Title-smitle

Portent Org Chart circa 2005

I started at Portent as “Business Coordinator,” became a Project Manager, Account Manager, Traffic Coordinator, Senior Traffic Controller, Account Manager, Account Strategist and now Senior Project Manager. Through all of these titles, through all the years, what hasn’t changed is my focus on getting things done, getting things for folks who need to get stuff done, and helping out as much as I can.

Winding down

Time flies when you’re having fun. It’s still amazing to me that 10 years have gone by. It wasn’t all trainings and building websites, we did (and still do) have a good amount of fun around here.

Quake, Penny Poker, Foursquare (the game not the app): These were things we did as a small office at the end of a Friday or project completion to celebrate. Foursquare was played to enjoy the sunshine and get outside. I still find pennies in my drawer from the days we would gather around a small table and play poker with penny bets.

Cold-Stones Throw Away: We once had a couple of employees take an afternoon stroll to Cold Stone by our Tukwila Office. What they didn’t realize when they started was that it was 2.4 miles away. Once there and realizing the frozen cake they procured was going to melt on the way back they dialed the office to have someone pick them up. I drove to get them and laughed the whole time until they were in my car.

It’s impossible to tell how much Portent and I will change in the next ten years, but I look forward to sharing a lot of good times with co-workers and clients along the way. Though I may be considered “old hat” I love the fact that I’m known as the Portent Dictionary or that people come to me and ask me questions. I’ve been told that if I don’t know about it, it likely doesn’t exist. I like being the know-it-all.

The post My Ten Years: A Look Back at the History of Portent appeared first on Portent.

Over the years, however, I’ve developed some project management skills that have come in very handy with the little one.  Below are five of the biggest.

1. Write it down, somewhere

Parental brain exists. Whether it is due to lack of sleep or too many to-dos, you can’t remember everything. So write it down.

I use Evernote for my client agendas, recaps, and things I need to remember. I also create shopping lists, make journals for what I want my daughter to learn someday, plan parties that may or may not happen, and generally ramble.

2. Plan in extra time

Ever since a long-term client told me how much she appreciated me being early to meetings, I’ve made it one of the things I just do. If I am late, or even on time, I feel terrible. And so far, there have been only a handful of times with my newborn that I’ve been late. I actually remember more times where I’ve been early, with husband and daughter in tow, and have arrived before my friends/family with no kids! How do I do this?

Well, at work, I give myself 15 minutes before a scheduled call to prep docs, load the screen share, and dial in. I find if I have less than 15 minutes, I feel rushed and often have technical issues. At home, I plan an hour before things to start the process of getting going. Sometimes, we wait around twiddling our thumbs (or the baby chews on mine).

3. It takes a village

Raising a child for the first time is like walking in a forest with no lights. Unless you have a guide, you will trip over a lot of roots. Baby group classes have stopped me from thinking that “no one has ever experienced this” (that and random 2 a.m. searches for “my baby does ­­­­________”).

Running successful Internet marketing projects also takes a lot of super-smart people. Fortunately, we have that at Portent, and getting different departments to weigh in on things (even when they aren’t part of the project) can help bring better ideas.

4. Build relationships

I’m surprised by how many of my clients are interested in baby updates on our regular calls. Almost every one includes a “how’s the baby?” But when you build great relationships with clients, they do care – and the work we do together improves. Here at Portent, I feel like we do a pretty good job of that. We genuinely like our clients.

5. Get creative

Sometimes you just have to have fun. Being too focused on a specific contract or to-do list can stifle creativity. You may need a break from your ordinary routine to move a campaign further.

With my daughter (and any baby really) I always find it amazing just how silly adults can be. We make up songs, make funny faces and noises, and generally do ridiculous things just to make those little faces light up!

These are just a few of the things that have helped me as I have taken on this new role of parent. If you are a parent, what are some things that you’ve learned in your work life that have helped in your parent life? I’d love to hear and learn from you, so please share in the comments.

The post 5 Project Management Tips from Portent’s Newest Mom appeared first on Portent.

As such, I find myself in all manner of situations, solving all manner of problems.  Below is a sampling of some of the hats I wear on any given day.

I’m a Relationship Consultant.

I develop relationships with internal and external team members. I get to know what they like, who they are and how to communicate with them. I listen to their desires, ideas and suggestions, converting their wants into actualities.

I’m a Researcher.

Any good client-agency relationship depends on knowing a client’s products, services and customers. Extensive research allows me to help our clients grow their businesses, reach their goals and get to the next level. I ask myself: “Why did traffic go up on this day?” “What caused the spike in conversions?” “Why are visitors spending less than 1 minute on the page?” It is important to anticipate these client questions and prepare answers before they actually ask.

I’m a Teacher.

After gathering research, I explain to the client how we can help.  At Portent, we pride ourselves on articulating our strategies and processes to the client, inviting them to understand every step of what we do.  Educating clients about the reasoning behind the things we are doing helps everyone make better decisions. I’m also a teacher/educator to the internal team, connecting them to the client and giving them better tools to achieve client objectives.

I’m a Task Manager.

By breaking elements of a project into manageable chunks, we deliver high quality work in an efficient and timely manner.  I ensure things don’t slip through the cracks via tracking and regular catch-up meetings with team members. This part of the job is less about “do this task” than focusing our resources to accomplish client goals. Our teams work on a lot of projects, so managing company time and tasks is essential.

I’m an Interpreter.

SEO, PPC, Link Authority, keyword rich text links, non-branded vs organic visits, klout, hashtags, bit.ly, content strategy, and many more. These are in my vocabulary every day. If you aren’t in Internet Marketing, you may not know what these terms are. I have to know. I teach and share these terms with clients.

I’m a Crisis Consultant.

Crisis is defined in Wikipedia as: any event that is, or expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society. It can mean different things to different clients. Be it an all-hands-on-deck, four-alarm fire, or merely an inconvenient bump in the road, my role is to assess the crisis and adjust appropriately.

This “hat” list is hardly exhaustive. It seems that every day brings new challenges – the good kind, and the not-so-good.  But being an Account Strategist is never boring and the payoff of seeing a client grow makes it more than worthwhile.

The post Hat Trick: How Account Strategists Do It All appeared first on Portent.