I pitched a prospective client a couple weeks ago and the responses of one of the guys in the room clearly shows how poor of a job so many other local (and likely national as well) ad agencies have done with their clients. I was pushing the importance of a strategic, laser-pointed media buying plan and was cut off a couple of times by this gentleman. He said, 'I may be over-simplifying this, but it sounds like we'd just be hiring some media buying firm...and our media buying is fine'.
First off, I'm sure he doesn't really know whether or not it is fine as he's a corporate rep to the manufacturer for the dealerships. He is not likely privy to all of what is being spent. My response to him? Unfazed by his obvious over-simplification was, 'Yes, you're dramatically over-simplifying it'. (Not likely what he was expecting) I told him that when we recently won a new account, Ferrari/Maserati/Aston Martin of Atlanta, that under the previous agency's watch over $108,000 per year for at least the last three years (yes, over $324,000 in 3 years) had been spent in the Atlanta Journal Constitution for only 4 little lines of text - not even an ad. When I asked the client how many sales they could attribute to that part of their marketing, the response was 'none'. Yet, I'm sure this suit from corporate knows exactly how effective (or ineffective) the local dealership has been with their media buying strategies. (please pick up on the sarcasm there)
I hadn't yet gotten to the part of the meeting where I was going to discuss the creative ideas we have for them as I could tell that these guys had been sold some lousy bill of goods by previous experience with other agencies. By the way, when I did get to and through the creative ideas we'd come up with, I told them it was not that one (buying v. creative) is more important than the other. They're both VITAL elements to successful marketing. In short, if the creative is killer, but the target consumer doesn't get hit with the ad, you failed. If your creative is weak, but the media buy was killer, you still failed with weak creative. Both are equally important components.
The other odd part of the meeting was this. Mayday Media was one of four agencies invited to 'pitch' the client on why we should be their agency. But - the meeting opened with the corporate rep showing me a power point presentation that showed some of the numbers of the local dealerships, brand figures in the marketplace, national numbers that this particular brand represents for the company at large, etc. Then, after it was finished, I was briefed by GMs on their needs and then it was my turn.
That doesn't even sort of seem right. Any agency worth their salt would have already done their homework and SHOULD know most of that info already - especially if this was to be a 'pitch' meeting for us. My point with this is that the proper approach of this process has gotten badly off track and the clients don't realize it. Mostly because there are too many agencies that are lazy and have gotten away with a smoke and mirror approach to winning clients.
So, here's the lesson - good for use by clients and agencies, though most of the latter won't ever take heed...
Step 1 - take phone calls from ad agency reps, some of them actually care about getting you results.
Step 2 - when you are on the phone with that agency rep, sit back and listen to what they're telling you. Are they talking about how great they are or are they asking questions about your business?
If they're asking a lot of questions, PLEASE, don't give them a bad time about it and say things like, 'I'm not really comfortable sharing that information', as they're asking these things to try to get their head inside your organization so they can HELP you.
Step 3 - Schedule a first call with the agency rep. Make sure they're asking more questions about what makes your business tick. They should be taking a lot of notes (and still not talking much about their firm). This approach is called a High Trust Interview (see www.hightrustselling.com and the book written by Todd Duncan). Also, when the agency rep asks you what your monthly budget is - - - give them the number. You may not have it 'budgeted', but tell them what you're spending. All that information is good for is gauging how much the agency will earn for doing it's job and for guiding what media buy strategies the agency will suggest. Otherwise, if you (the client) don't share that, it's kind of like asking us to throw plastic darts at water balloons while blindfolded - yet you expect us to hit the target with great success. To paraphrase Jerry Maguire - Help us help you. Also, please don't ask irrelevant questions like, 'Do you, or have you worked with any other car dealserships (or jewelry stores, etc.)?' The answer doesn't matter. Good marketing is good marketing regardless of what industry it's being done for.
Step 4 - If the proposal the agency comes back with makes sense for your organization - hire the firm. Don't wait. They're obviously interested in helping you get on track for success. Don't hurt your operation by delaying a wise decision.
If you're with an organization that is looking for a new agency and you'd like an in depth version of this, give me a call (678.478.9886). I'll personally expand on this process and make sure we both get all the information we need to make sure you're set up for success!
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