Procurement: Brad Johnson Says “Get Used To It”
Client Search News – October 15, 2003
This CLIENT SEARCH NEWS is for individuals registered @ agencyfinder.com. Forward to those in your company or others elsewhere involved in the advertising or public relations agency selection or review process.
CONTENTS:
1. Procurement: Brad Johnson Says “Get Used To It”
2. Does Anyone Notice When They Leave?
3. Clients Still Sit in Judgment
PROCUREMENT: BRAD JOHNSON SAYS “GET USED TO IT.”
In case you missed it, make a point to read Bradley Johnson’s piece entitled “Procurement: Get used to it” starting on C1 in the Sept. 29th edition of AdAge Magazine. Brad attended the AAAA New Business Summit back in June and heard some early stirrings suggesting client-side Procurement (aka purchasing, sourcing, etc.) was looking hard and strong at client/agency relationships.
Brad does a nice job arguing the positives and compliments what we introduced in our Special Executive Report of July 7th. You may want to review that as well at:
www.agencyfinder.com/Special-Executive-Report.pdf
When there’s money on the table, Procurement will be there!
DOES ANYONE NOTICE WHEN THEY LEAVE?
The other day a client asked if anyone keeps track or attempts to count the number of agencies that go out of business. If our experience is any benchmark, other than the bigger shops that get industry press, I’d say no. Most communication is instant and via the Internet these days, so when someone leaves or a shop shuts down, many e-mails simply go off into space. I’m surprised how many web sites are still “up and running”, yet phone and fax are disconnected, and “411 information” has no listing whatsoever. Best attempt at measurement might be to run “pre” and “post” counts using ADWEEK or Redbook directories.
This year (2003), when so much has been said about a recovering economy, we’ve seen mergers and closings at a rate we’ve not seen since we began. Specialists who make it their business to gauge the “mood” of businesses also speculate that prevailing attitudes, behaviors and account payable delinquencies suggest many agean Antonio to Dallas last week, I saw first-hand that Austin is no longer a sleepy Texas town.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE – IS IT OBVIOUS TO THE PROSPECT?
I had a great visit to Targetbase, one of our registered agencies in Dallas, TX. For those who might not know, Targetbase is an Omnicom shop specializing in database marketing. What they do, they do well. But they, like so many firms today, are one of those best-kept secrets that clients don’t always know they need, so they aren’t initially looking for them. To address that, they wisely combine a formal outreach and relationship development model with our inbound service.
Their example does raise the question though – if an agency or pr firm is offering a proprietary service or something not readily apparent to the casual observer, how do they get the attention they need and deserve? After managing almost 7,000 client searches, we’re in a position to observe that most clients do not articulate their needs as well as agencies articulate their capabilities.
CONFESSIONS OF AN AGENCY; CLIENTS ASK US WHY?
Registered agencies pay an annual fee to be in our database. Clients always search for free, and know that the agency sponsorships makes that possible. Our fees are published on the website for all to see. Once in a blue moon, one of our “client” clients will tell us an invited agency spoke with them about their fees. They ask us why an agency would do that? They know each agency is facing certain “investment” decisions to pitch their business. They know there are man-hours, travel, food and lodging, presentation expenses, and they also know there are situations where the agency will hire a consultant to help win the business.
So they ask us – why would an agency choose to single out your rather inconsequential fee, as if to ask that we guarantee their selection to justify that small investment? Other than to confuse the client and appear extremely cheap, I don’t know, do you?
Sincerely,
Charles G. Meyst, Chairman/CEO
Business Partnering International, Ltd.
Vantage Place, 4327 Cox Road
Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 USA
