Avoid These 3 Mistakes In Your Creative Agency Estimates

Estimates are like a blueprint for building a house. Creating an accurate estimate helps you plan how long it will take to build, and to have a full understanding of what the finished project will look like. Here are 3 mistakes that could end up hurting the profitability of your projects in the long run.

1. Jumping The Gun

We know how important it is to get your estimates out the door quickly. You want to demonstrate how your creative agency is hyper-responsive and win that job! But moving with too much urgency can cost your business money. Estimates that are created hastily — without proper knowledge and information, or enough thought given to the scope of work — can result in underestimating or overestimating.

When you underestimate, either you lose money, or you end up having to ask the client for more (therefore admitting you didn’t estimate accurately). When you overestimate, you run the risk of not offering a bid that’s competitive in the marketplace.

Instead of trying to create your estimates quickly and ending up with inaccuracies, save that time by using agency project management software to improve your agency’s productivity.

2. Not Enough Detail

Do you want your agency’s estimates to stop getting rejected? The first step is understanding why they’re getting rejected, and it could simply be because you don’t provide enough detail in your estimate. If this is the case, there’s a good chance your creative agency and your client won’t be on the same page in terms of defining the project. The second problem with not providing enough details is that the client may not be convinced your company is the right one for the job.

3. Guesstimating

It may be a word in the dictionary, but it’s definitely not a best practice. Estimating is tough because it’s hard work, and it’s typically piled on to all the other work you have to do in a day. One solution for freeing up some of your time is to look into agency project management software that streamlines your agency processes. It can be tempting to guess on unknowns — like specific employee rates and capabilities and knowing which staff is available to work on a project. But these shortcuts can lead to inaccurate estimating on budgets and schedules. Function Point provides agency project management software designed with creative agencies in mind. To learn more about how Function Point can make your creative agency more productive and profitable, reach out to us for a personalized demo with one of our experts and see for yourself.

Marissa Ho

Brand & Product Coordinator

Marissa was raised on a steady diet of mountain and ocean activities. She’s a product marketer by day, reader by night, and human being by day and night.