PPP Round 2: More Than Just Payroll
Blog

Portland, OR, February 17, 2021 —By now, you’ve likely heard about the SBA’s second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) being open to businesses…but did you know that this second...
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Adweek Webinar: From Defense to Offense
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Portland, OR, June 18, 2020 — Vanessa has been invited to speak at an Adweek event, co-hosted by Deltek, to share her experiences helping Agency leadership through the most difficult...
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Part 3: COVID-19 – Managing Your Agency in Crisis
Blog

Portland, OR, May 14, 2020 — In the third and final part of the COVID-19 series, Vanessa focuses specifically on agencies that enjoyed a solid financial position prior to COVID-19. ...
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Part 2: COVID-19 – Managing Your Agency in Crisis
Blog

Portland, OR, March 27, 2020 — In the second part of this series, Vanessa takes a deep dive into how COVID-19 is impacting our industry and wreaking havoc in the...
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Part 1: COVID-19 – Managing Your Agency in Crisis
Blog

Portland, OR, March 19, 2020 — In this series, Vanessa takes a deep dive into how COVID-19 is impacting our industry and wreaking havoc in the global economy.  She contends...
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The Real Reason Why PM & PMO’s Fail in Agencies
Blog

Portland, OR, February 4, 2020 — For the last decade, my team and I have helped over a hundred agencies and in-house, through complex organizational change, deploy integrated agency management...
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Part 3: Preparing Your Agency for a 2020 Recession
Blog

Portland, OR, January 6, 2020 — In Part 3 of “Preparing your Agency for a 2020 Recession” Vanessa Vollum explores what Agency leadership should be focusing on as the current...
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AgencyStory® – BI Solution for Agency Leadership
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Portland, OR, October 18, 2019 — Introducing AgencyStory® a patent pending business intelligence solution designed specifically for the marketing services industry. Developed by Creative Performance Inc. (CPI), a leading consultancy...
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Global Recession Coming Sooner Than Thought
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Portland, OR, August 15, 2019 – On Tuesday, equity markets across the globe jumped at the news that the Trump administration would delay some of the new tariffs on China...
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Predicting the next U.S. recession
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Portland, OR, August 13, 2019 — A protracted trade war between China and the United States, the world’s largest economies, and a deteriorating global growth outlook has left investors apprehensive...
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82% of CFOs believe a recession will start in 2020
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Portland, OR, August 7, 2019 — Eighty-two percent of chief financial officers polled believe a recession will have started by the end 2020, and nearly 49 percent think the downturn...
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Majority of Economists Think Recession by 2020
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Portland, OR, August 1, 2019 — According to the National Association of Business Economics latest survey of 53 professional economic forecasters, the consensus is that the economy will continue to...
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Part 2: Preparing Your Agency for a 2020 Recession
Blog

Portland, OR, July 24, 2019 — In Part 2 of “Preparing your Agency for a 2020 Recession” Vanessa Vollum explores what Agency leadership should be focusing on as the current...
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Part 1: Preparing Your Agency for a 2020 Recession
Blog

Portland, OR, July 15, 2019 — Vanessa Vollum, discusses why 70% of US economist (and CFO’s) believe there will likely be a recession by end of 2020… and how agency...
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Why Marketing Operations Consulting?
Blog

Portland, OR, July 15, 2019 — Hi, I’m Vanessa Vollum, a Marketing Operations Consultant for the marketing services industry (Agency and In-house). Over the last decade I have helped over...
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Transitioning from Workamajig® Classic to Platinum
Blog

Portland, OR, December 4, 2017 — Workamajig® has been making great strides in getting their new, HTML5-based Platinum version up and running for Time Entry, Project Management, Expense Reports, Purchase...
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Data Driven Decision Making in the Creative Firm
Blog

Portland, OR, November 1, 2017 — For the last decade, we have been helping creative agencies who are struggling to balance their Creative and Culture with the demands of Profitability. And while integrated platforms like...
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From Chaos…to Creativity
Blog

Portland, OR, March 3, 2016 — Over the last six years, CPI has helped over a hundred agencies through the rigors of identifying, training, deploying or redeploying their integrated systems....
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747,300 Reasons for Better Timekeeping
Blog

Portland, OR, August 4, 2011 — I’ve had the fortune of consulting with many marketing agencies across the country, ranging in size from 10-100 employees, at various rates of growth...
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Don’t be hit by the Scope “ROPE-A-DOPE”
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Portland, OR, July 8, 2011 — I was talking with one of our clients the other day and she was expressing frustration about how a new project is already set to...
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Tips for Financial End of Year Wrap Up
Blog

Portland, OR, January 27, 2011 — Happy New Year from Creative Performance! Now that 2010 is behind us, there are several things agencies need to remember to do to close...
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What is Marketing Agency Slippage?
Blog

Portland, OR, December 2, 2010 — Agency slippage is the amount in dollars of billable work each year that you are not billing your customers. Imagine if you could just...
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Direct/Billable Labor on Income Statement…
Blog

Portland, OR, November 3, 2010 — Where do you put your direct labor on your income statement? I have been asked this question multiple times and while it doesn’t matter...
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Need More Agency Profit?
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Portland, OR, October 28, 2010 — Have you realized your operating profit, or net income just isn’t where it needs to be? According to David Baker, you should be shooting...
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Agency Client Concentration
Blog

Portland, OR, October 21, 2010 — Had a great day at David Baker’s Financial Seminar in San Francisco today. He talked heavily about the dangers of having a client concentration...
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Welcome to CPI’s Blog!
Blog

Portland, OR, October 1, 2010 — The goal of this blog is to discuss all the different ways to help make your Agency become more efficient and profitable, without taking...
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