It's time to get people excited about what they do. And one way to energize organizations is to focus on a department that is often overlooked: Creative services. Various prevailing mantras in local media organizaitons that I've heard recently include “we are going to sell every impression;” “we are going to sell audiences not products;" “we will sell share of customer,” and the truly scintillating “we are now in the customer distribution business.” Today the "agency model" has been adopted as the leading conceptual model by most local media companies. But somehow creative services are seldom mentioned. The "agency model" seems more like a catch-all phrase to cover an ever-growing list of digital products and services. But an inherent contradiction re-emerges when the sales representatives hit the street. To managers, sales representatives don't ask deep enough questions and are still pushing products. To sales reps the agency model flunks the "show me the money" test. Focusing on creative services breaths life into the agency model. more