2012 was a good year for Swanson Russell. The agency turned 50 and for the first time surpassed $100 million in capitalized billings.

Capitalized billings are an industry standard used by agencies as a uniform means of comparing agencies that offer a variety of services. “In our industry, becoming a $100 million agency is a significant milestone,” said Dave Hansen, partner and chief executive officer of Swanson Russell. “It has been a stated goal of ours and we are very excited to announce this achievement. One hundred million is certainly a milestone that elevates our status on a national level.”

I sat down for a conversation with Dave during Commodity Classic to learn more about what is working for the agency. He has been with Swanson Russell for twenty three of their fifty years. There are four key areas of focus for the agency, Agriculture; Turf/Ornamental; Hunting/Fishing and Health Care. He says making employees number one is very important and this has helped the agency retain great team members longer than most. The digital world has transformed many of the inside job definitions of agency employees and he says they’ve been seeing a significant increase in the use of digital media. Dave says they are trying to create more internal collaboration which has been accomplished in part by re-designing their offices to have much more “wide open space” so it’s easier for collaboration to take place.

Learn more about Swanson Russell at 50 years in this week’s ZimmCast: Swanson Russell Turns 50

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