Dear Prospective Clients,
We would really love to do highly effective work for you that achieves results, makes you and your organization lots of money, and advances your career. Sometimes, however, the way you approach an agency review makes it hard. From experience, we’ve learned that how you handle the review often foreshadows the way you conduct your half of the relationship.
Here are ten “red flags” we notice during the review process that tend to give us pause, along with our recommendations on how to get the best from your review:
1. Comparing apples to oranges to pomegranates. Reviewing a large ad agency, a mid-size PR firm, and a small web development firm indicates you are not sure what you are looking for. Figure out what you need, talk to a few firms casually, and determine the capabilities and size of firm that is right for you before sending invitations to pitch.
2. Reviewing a cast of thousands. Do your homework and narrow your choices to three or four, before starting the review. Please don’t waste everyone’s time, including your own.
3. Setting too short of a timetable for a thoughtful response. Presumably you’ve got business challenges. It’s worth taking the time to research and strategize an approach in order to get it right. Asking for solutions overnight suggests what we might expect if we win your business.
4. Making a hiring decision by committee. Shouldn’t have to explain this one.
5. Not providing access to the real decision maker(s). Our pitch will be more on target (and you’ll look smarter for inviting us) if you let us pick the brain of the ultimate decision maker early in the process. Plus, it saves time. If the decision maker doesn’t want to take the time, it sends a signal about the (lack of) importance of the review.
6. Asking us to jump through irrelevant hoops. The opportunity is important to us, but the process itself is a huge pain. Probably for you too. What we’re excited to spend time on is getting to know you and figuring out how we might help you with your challenges.
7. Not sharing research. We need background info in order to share our best thinking with you. if you have concerns, we’ll happily sign a confidentiality agreement.
8. Not sharing your budget. Understanding your budget constraints helps us make smarter, more strategic recommendations.
9. Asking for spec work. Frankly, until we know more about your organization, we’re just guessing. And our paying clients aren’t all that keen about us giving away our thinking for free. Instead, let’s spend time getting to know each other. After a robust conversation, we would be happy to share our ideas on how we’d approach your business.
10. Not hiring. Please don’t put us and other firms through a review unless you’re serious about actually choosing one of us.
I know there are more red flags. Can you add to the list? Or perhaps you have some from the client’s perspective?
“We don’t need a writer. I can write it.”
“We don’t need a strategy. It’s all up here [points to head].”
“We don’t need a photographer. My kid has a camera.”
“We don’t know what our budget is. Why don’t you tell us what it costs to do it right?”
“Please don’t use the colors of my high school team.” (Actually heard that once.)
David Ogilvy once told about the new business prospect who invited a series of advertising agencies to offer back-to-back presentations.
As David waited his turn in the waiting room, the door opened and a shaken adman exited. David walked in.
“Here’s how this works,” said the prospective client, pointing to a bell on the table. “You talk for 15 minutes, then I will ring this bell and your time is up. When the bell rings, you leave and the next one comes in. Start!”
David said only this: “Ring the bell.”
And he left.
I had the bell-ringing experience once also, Artie. I’m not as smart as David.
You forgot, “We don’t need to hire actors for that commercial, I’ll star in it… afterall, I own the business…people want to see MY face.” (wrong!)
I’d also add: Doubting all of our logic.
During a pitch I’ve been asked, “do we really need to do that?” Obviously we think so or we wouldn’t have included it. We understand that you know your business, but since we work with a broad range of clients we have a good perspective on what works for different goals. We can justify our recommendations and are happy to do so, but not if you are treating us like we don’t know what we are doing. It says a lot about the personality of your company.
Kirk I really enjoyed this post, and thanks for not ringing the bell on me the other morning! Coming from the media analysis and metrics end of things, my favorite has been:
“We don’t need to run an audit of our image, we had a meeting about it, we know our image.”
or thinking:
“We’re already spending too much money on this campaign to spend 3-5% to monitor how successful it is.”