What separates highly profitable agencies from those that constantly feel stretched?
For many agency founders, the answer isn’t simply winning more clients or asking people to work harder. It’s building better operational systems, improving resource planning, understanding the numbers behind the business and making more informed commercial decisions.
In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper sits down with Ryan McNamara, Global Operations Director at Rise at Seven, to explore how the agency transformed its utilisation from around 50% to 80% over a two-year period—and, more importantly, what other agencies can learn from that journey.
Ryan has spent his career building and improving operational systems across creative and digital agencies. Having founded his own business before moving into senior operations leadership, he understands both the entrepreneurial and operational challenges that agencies face as they grow.
Rather than discussing theory, Ryan shares the practical lessons learned from implementing operational change inside one of the UK’s best-known agencies.
Together, Adam and Ryan explore why agency profitability is often driven by operational excellence rather than cost-cutting, why better resource planning creates better client outcomes, and why finance, operations and client services need to work together if agencies are to scale successfully.
One of the biggest themes throughout the conversation is changing how agencies think about utilisation.
Too often, utilisation is viewed purely as a finance metric or something used to monitor employee performance.
Ryan explains why that’s the wrong approach.
Instead, utilisation should be viewed as an operational planning tool that helps agencies:
- Deliver better work for clients
- Improve project profitability
- Make more informed hiring decisions
- Build stronger commercial awareness
- Increase operational efficiency
- Support sustainable agency growth
Rather than creating pressure, accurate operational data should help leaders make better decisions and give teams the support they need to succeed.
In this episode we discuss:
- How Rise at Seven increased agency utilisation from approximately 50% to 80%
- Why improving utilisation takes time, consistency and leadership rather than quick fixes
- Why so many agencies struggle with utilisation, timesheets and operational discipline
- Why scheduling matters more than timesheets
- The difference between measuring historical performance and planning future capacity
- How resource planning improves both agency profitability and client experience
- Using utilisation data to support pricing decisions and improve project profitability
- Understanding when work is under-scoped and when projects need to be repriced
- Why timesheets should never be used to “police” employees
- Creating a culture where operational information helps people rather than punishes them
- How accurate data improves training, coaching and professional development
- Using operational data to support recruitment and hiring decisions
- Why utilisation acts as an early warning system for future capacity challenges
- The relationship between capacity planning, resource allocation and commercial performance
- Bringing together finance, client services and operations to improve decision-making
- Why operational leadership is ultimately about people, not process
- How agency founders can introduce better planning without creating unnecessary bureaucracy
- Why processes should support outcomes rather than dictate behaviour
- The importance of understanding your financial numbers before adding operational complexity
- Ryan’s recommended business books on operations, leadership and continuous improvement
One insight that particularly stood out was Ryan’s observation that:
“Timesheets tell you what has happened. Scheduling tells you what happens next.”
It’s a deceptively simple idea, but one that completely changes how agencies should think about planning.
Timesheets provide valuable historical data, but scheduling allows agencies to proactively manage future workload, resource allocation, project delivery and profitability.
Throughout the conversation, Ryan explains how better scheduling allows agencies to identify future bottlenecks, improve client delivery, make smarter hiring decisions and ultimately build a healthier business.
The discussion also explores how operational data supports commercial conversations.
Instead of relying on gut feel, agencies can use accurate information to understand:
- Whether projects are profitable
- Where teams need additional support
- Which departments require investment
- When additional hiring is justified
- Where clients may need to be re-scoped or repriced
- How to balance client delivery with long-term sustainable growth
These are exactly the kinds of conversations that founders, operations leaders and finance professionals need to be having if they want to build resilient businesses.
Whether you’re running a creative agency, digital agency, marketing agency or another professional services business, the principles Ryan shares are highly transferable.
If you’re responsible for agency operations, resource planning, financial management, commercial performance, project profitability, capacity planning or business growth, this episode is packed with practical advice you can implement immediately.
About The Fractional CFO Show
The Fractional CFO Show is hosted by Adam Cooper, Founder of ACC Finance Solutions, where each episode explores the financial, operational and leadership challenges facing founders, CEOs and senior operators.
Rather than focusing purely on finance, the show looks at the commercial decisions that help businesses become more profitable, scalable and resilient.
Guests share practical experiences, honest lessons and actionable advice for business owners looking to improve performance and build stronger organisations.
If you enjoy this episode, please consider following the show on your favourite podcast platform and leaving a rating or review—it really helps more founders discover the podcast.
Connect with Ryan McNamara on LinkedIn to follow his insights on agency operations, leadership and operational excellence.
For more episodes and resources, visit ACC Finance Solutions.
