The account in review was an economic development council; in other words a government driven, business supported, lots of chiefs with no leadership monster account with procurement driving the process to boot. To make matters worse, they were the last agency going in, the smallest, and considered by everyone to be the long shot. As in not a chance in hell of winning. Out of desperation the agency president called us… frankly he needed a win and didn’t know what else to do.

After three days of working with us they went in with something completely different then what they were originally thinking. They zigged when everyone else zagged. Based on findings from our proprietary brand research protocol, our little agency went in with the bold statement that the problem wasn’t marketing, the problem was branding – and until they got the branding figured out the council shouldn’t waste any time on marketing. With sweeping recommendations to the leadership to rename the council, change key identity brand elements, adopt a new advertising theme, and switch to a totally different PR strategy. In the end all recommendations were adopted without any changes even though the process was highly charged with put-us-first agendas.

We call this a win.

The agency called it the most incredible experience in their history.

So when are you going to call?

How We Can Help

Our advice to agencies generally covers the following items. If you need help in any one area or several, give us a call. Sometimes we can do it by phone. Other times we need to be on-site at your agency. Let’s discuss it first before you start making decisions that could harm your chances of winning.

Some FAQs on Pitch Training

1. Question: What type of pitch training does Sanders Consulting Group offer?

Sanders: We have a day-long program that helps agencies design successful presentations. It’s called Presenting To Win and one of our senior consultants comes to the agency to present it. The focus is on helping the total agency win, not just help one or two people at the agency present better. Over time our clients have overwhelmingly preferred this approach.

2. Question: What’s covered in training?

Sanders: We start with an evaluation of the agency’s recent pitch successes and failures. We try to determine where the problems are. Is it a lack of knowledge or skills or procedures or techniques? Then we show the agency the proper way to design a successful presentation and encourage the agency to adopt these procedures. When they do, the wins really go up.

3. Question: Do you get into pitch structure, the so-called organization of the pitch?

Sanders: Yes. In fact you touched on one of the most important parts to winning and a part of custom pitches that’s rarely understood. In the training we show the agency how to set up the “chunks” of the presentation, meaning its structure. This should be done promptly, even on the day the decision is made to compete. That seems impossible to those agencies that rush to put on pitches without a clear pattern of presenting but this way of organizing the chunks in the very beginning is much better and increases the wins.

4. Question: What else goes into the pitch structure?

Sanders: We first show the agency how to divide the time given by the prospect into sections, usually three or four including questions at the end. Then we focus our effort on winning in the first section, usually the first 45-55 minutes. We show the agency how to end the first section strong. And then how to break for a change of pace in sections two and three. We treat the pitch as a series of one-act plays with each one building on a strong first act. And each act must really end strong. We like our agencies to get a lot of applause during the presentations.

5. Question: What about casting?

Sanders: This is another important part covered in the training. We cast to win, not cast to show. We focus on larger numbers of presenters than most agencies typically use. We create an event. Most of the time, when the agency adopts this process, we will cast young people from the agency who have never been in a presentation before. The effect is electric. They give the best presentations because we work with them to present well.

6. Question: What else is included?

Sanders: Chemistry is a big issue that needs to be understood by the agency. The tactics of the presentation are set by the personalities of the people in the room. That too sounds impossible in today’s search-consultant-directed reviews, but we show you how to structure the presentation to achieve great chemistry. And time and again that’s the most important factor but it’s never discussed. But chemistry usually determines the final winner.

7. Question: Anything else?

Sanders: There’s a lot more, but one element that surprises agencies is how to take control of the presentation room. We show the different layouts you’ll face and how to modify each one to match the agency’s own style of presenting.

8. Question: What’s been the reaction to the training?

Sanders: It’s been stunned silence at first. A number of senior executives from major agency holding companies have become incensed that no one has handed them this information before. Truthfully they are embarrassed. Here they are way up in their careers and no one has shared with them how to win at these pitches until they walk into our training. There is a lot of insight. A lot of light bulbs go off. It’s very powerful stuff.

9. Question: You cover all this in one day?

Sanders: There’s no standing around. We work off a 100-page manual and that speeds things up a lot. But don’t think it’s all us talking to the agency. The learning session has lots of give and take because we want the agency to win. And each agency has unique needs and style that must be addressed.

10. Question: Is the Presenting to Win training the only way you help agencies with pitches?

Sanders: No. Most of our pitch work is more consulting and not training, meaning our time is focused on helping an agency win a specific account. But it’s much easier when the agency has taken a day to go through the training to learn how to do it from top to bottom as the Presenting to Win course shows.

11. Question: What should an agency do if they feel they need help and can’t decide?

Sanders: Call us. We’re easy to talk to.

12. Question: How does an agency know this will work?

Sanders: Last year we consulted on pitches that we helped agencies win nearly $600 million. Some were as small as $175,000. Others were nearly 100 times that. All were very important to the agencies that won. During one stretch we had 26 straight wins in a row. We can help you win.

“We’re a locally-owned, full-service, fully-integrated, media-neutral, discipline -agnostic advertising agency, and our creative is world-class.”

For those of you who have worked with us in the past you know we like to hammer the idea that you need a strong agency brand to compete in today’s market.

A Clear Agency Brand Provides Focus for New Business

The Characteristics That Cause the Jump From Good to Great

1. Level 5 Leadership

• Think Lincoln, not Patton
• Quiet, reflective, curious, compassionate, tough management style (Headline Logo)

2. Right People on the Bus

• People are not your agency’s most important asset. The right people are the most important asset in the agency
• Job #1: get the right people

3. Confront the Brutal Facts About Your Business/Industry

• Advertising is now viewed as a commodity
• Too many agencies still around, even after the biggest shakeout in history
• Most agencies now treated as vendors
• Clients see few differences in agencies
• Client confidence in advertising is declining
• Clients view marketing as tactical and that means advertising is viewed as very tactical
• Marketing communications often delegated down to lower-level staffers
• Strategic high ground is now owned by consultants who have the ear of the corporate CEO
• Consulting is a bigger business than all marketing communications
• Consulting is growing much faster than marketing communications
• These trends wouldn’t change or improve for our industry in foreseeable future

4. Adopt a Culture of Discipline

• Manage to standards
• Drive out complexity with better management
• Understand that discipline brings efficiency
• Know that agency structure has biggest impact on agency efficiency
• Focus on productivity and seek a 25% improvement in productivity which doubles margins

5. Use Carefully Selected Technology to Accelerate Performance

• Avoid the bleeding edge
• Embrace the advantages of the technology you select

6. Adopt the Fly Wheel as Your Model for Growth

• Series of small steps gets the fly wheel turning
• Use each win to increase performance
• Increased performance speeds up wins

A strong brand stands out, and in this complex hypermarket we operate in that’s vital for survival.

Using Good To Great to Brand Your Marketing Firm

Stephen Greensted: Marketing Consultant

Stephen Greensted is a consultant in the UK with a long history of client service and new business under his belt. On his website he states that if you need help with your marketing, advertising, winning pitches, customer satisfaction surveys plus failed pitch research, and, specifically, digital marketing, you should talk to him. I can’t speak to all of his expertise, but when it comes to understanding pitches, or failed pitches, based on this post I would agree! In fact, I would encourage you to head over and read his entire blog.

Over the years I’ve seen many failed pitches, and heard about many more, but I had never seen a list like this one. Stephen lists some of the best, funniest and painful pitch events out there. I wish I could sit down over a few drinks and hear the background on some of them. So in all it’s wonderful glory, his list of how to lose a pitch.

How To Lose A Pitch:

• Didn’t read the brief
• Read only the first page of the brief
• Read the brief, thought it was rubbish, so ignored it
• Didn’t rehearse
• Went absurdly over time
• Had people presenting who were not going to be working on the business if appointed
• Had people chewing gum
• Had not kept in touch with the potential client during the pitch process
• Knew nothing about the potential client’s business, and had made no attempt to learn
• Made comments about the client’s business concerning things about which they neither knew nor had een asked to give an opinion
• Rubbished the brief in the pitch
• Had mysterious people in the pitch with no defined role and took no part in proceedings, and whom the client was meeting for the first time
• Rubbished the opposition, the other pitching agencies
• Offered a veiled bribe
• Introduced their Chairman who then fell asleep during the pitch, woke up, and then referred for the rest of the pitch to the potential client as Findus. It was Ross.
• Punted up a board director who, I think, spoke in English, but whose Indian accent was so strong that the managing director had to translate for him
• Used a girl, chewing gum, in a mini-skirt, fishnets and high heels to present to six clients, all of whom were 40+ women
• Threatened the client during the pitch concerning possible abuse of copyright and intellectual property
• Went to the right office but was thirty minutes late
• Arrived on time, but went to the wrong office
• Arrived on time but had a managing director who had an enormous black eye owing to a punch-up in a pub the previous night
• Had an agency MD who “fell out of a tree” the previous weekend, and didn’t turn up
• All the concept boards were thrown away after the pitch, the account manager (me) forgetting it was a two stage process (Eastern Electricity Board)
• In the days of 35mm slides and Kodak Carousel projectors, dropped the slides – all 120 of them. They were un-numbered and impossible to put back in their correct order in the time available. It was like Dunkirk without the boats
• Wrote rude things about the clients on a notepad, and then left the notepad behind, which one of the clients picked up and read with interest. “Dickhead” was the key word (Old Saatchi and Saatchi)
• Won the business but then had to resign it almost immediately when P&G complained to our head office in New York (IPG)
• The agency team argued amongst themselves
• The agency failed to tell the client that half the team didn’t actually work for the agency
• The agency was too big and too intimidating. (The bastards. Why were we on the pitch if that was the problem?)
• Another agency in the network (Italy) pitched before us and made a complete mess. They had neither told us what they were doing, neither had they asked for help. The clients didn’t turn up for our presentation

As Stephen states, we all have horror stories. Please share yours with us! Think of them as lessons learned. I could add to his list with stories like showing up without the presentation file, no backup file, and no hope; or perhaps the time the pitch team ignored my advice to fly into the city the night before thinking they could all catch the early morning flight and show up with plenty of time, only they didn’t. But I will leave you with one very painful lesson…

New Business Lesson: Stick to the Strategy

I was helping an agency overseas where the competition was really tough. The agency was invited into a highly-competitive shoot out with the best agencies in the country. We decided to win on strategy, not creative. We then tantalized the prospect with our strategic development process using Benefit Testing™, a key resource we move into agencies that don’t have a strong strategic process. We did this on the pre-presentation tour where we demonstrated how Benefit Testing™ worked. He was hooked. But at the last minute the creative director came up with a flash of inspiration built around a new line that was so perfect. There was only one problem, however: The new line was off strategy. The creative director convinced the agency owner to change everything at the last minute to the new line. The prospect, Body Copy™ to the core, spotted the mismatch, and in the midst of the presentation, stopped everything and demanded an answer. The agency had none. Later we found out our agency had won the account with the Benefit Testing™ process and all it needed to do was show up at the presentation and not make a mistake. That didn’t happen and the largest account in the country went to another agency. That one hurt.

Rethink Presentations

Be proactive! The alternative is to sit and wait passively by the phone. And wait. And wait…

Recently I was working with a great agency, around 15 people and some outstanding work. They were well known in their market, but had been defined in that market as a “certain type” of marketing firm. While there were many pitch opportunities in the area it seemed they were almost never called.

Why?

Over the past few years by not defining their brand they had allowed the market to brand them. And as their capabilities had grown, improved, they failed to communicate that with prospects. Even worst, the market perception was out-of-date and just plain wrong.

So here are 5 easy steps to help your brand stand out in the market:

1. Agency Focus: In this cluttered market place only an expert has any chance of standing out. Business leaders don’t have time to educate someone on their unique situation. An expert understands their product, their service, and knows how it can benefit customers. OR an expert knows their customer better then anyone. OR an expert has a unique view of the marketing landscape. Find something to be your area of expertise. Just being a “full service highly creative marketing firm that offers outstanding service” isn’t enough any more!

2. Make New Friends: We all now that people do business with people whom they like and trust. Choose to make a new friend over just creating a new business transaction. This will pay off in the long run.

3. Effectively Communicate: Establish yourself with your target market by creating a dialog on things that you have in common. You must be able to establish a relationship. With lots of people.

4. Find Opportunities To Speak: Become a speaker to your target market, and educate people on both the changes hitting their market as well as the challenges they face. Provide Solutions.

5. Use a Spark: Hire an Account Executive who is responsible for building agency awareness and creating large numbers of relationships with key prospects. This is the fastest way to build agency your agency brand with prospects. And that means more calls asking you to swing by for a visit. More new business.

There you go… 5 easy-to-forget strategies that can help you establish and maintain your brand in the mind of your ideal prospect. And just think, once they’ve heard of you, perhaps know you, and think you have some smart solutions then they will call you.

Next Steps

Agency leadership needs to build a long-term vision for success and gain commitment from staff to that vision. Any planning needs to ensure that agency teamwork, which is essential to making the vision successful, comes forth. Sanders Consulting Group, the recognized experts in agency growth, has proven techniques and strategies to transform your agency. Give us a call and let us show you how.

Photo by ~xEmDeex

Clients have demonstrated that they are willing and even anxious to pay for smart people who are able to deliver a strategic impact on their business. More and more it’s about strategy. Brand strategy. Marketing strategy. Business strategy. Not award winning creative. Or better PR. Or great direct mail. It’s all that, and more. Firms that learn how to deliver a steady stream of Business Building Ideas will win. Win more new business, more organic growth, more client loyalty. We call these BBIs (Business Building Ideas).

How best to keep a steady stream of BBIs flowing at your firm?

You have to unplug ideas, let them roam free, and then put in the hours to bring them to life.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Create a Culture of Invention.

• Business Building Ideas are not created in a confrontational environment.
• The agency needs a culture that supports innovative thinking.

Speed Up.

• Most processes and procedures are too slow for clients who demand great work fast.
• Agencies need to restructure the way ideas are handled from top to bottom.

Think Strategic. Act Tactical.

• Too many agencies think tactical and act tactical.
• Think strategically and act tactically: Maintain focus on client objectives while continuously searching for alternative BBIs.

Push Back More.

• Too many firms forget that their agency’s value to clients increases when agencies show proper discipline.
• This means agencies need to know when to push back with a client and how to push back. Saying “no” can clear a lot of air.

Shift to “Creative” Thinking.

• Be the outsider: Always creatively think about the client’s business.
• Stop talking about ads, PR, direct, etc,
• Focus on strategies that drive client business forward.
• Transform the agency from a marketing communication vendor to a trusted advisor.

We recommend you maintain a steady stream of ideas to your clients; that means one good idea per month. Remember, it’s not important if the client buys into all the ideas. It’s that you are thinking about their business. All the time. Strategically.

Shift Into High Gear

Agency management needs its account teams to operate more efficiently in order to protect agency profitability. But most account teams are already struggling with the current account load, so the idea of working harder isn’t a realistic answer.

The solution for agencies is to train their account teams in new skills, showing them how to work smarter, not harder. And High Gear, a high-impact, one-day on-site learning experience for account management, is the best way to do that.

High Gear shows account management professionals how to manage the client relationship better using personality profiling. Once the client’s personality and personal working style are identified, High Gear can show your team how to plan better, present better and negotiate better. This approach makes the client/agency relationship stronger and more profitable for your agency.

Also included in the program is an important skill-building session on how to manage the financial end of the relationship. Another component of High Gear is a special session on the importance of developing long-running programs as a way to improve both client retention and operating efficiency.

High Gear concludes by sharing skills that top-tier strategy consulting firms teach their new MBAs: the social Do’s and Don’ts of dealing with clients away from the office.

For more information on how High Gear can help your agency work smarter, not harder, contact Sanders Consulting Group.

When creating a winning presentation remember that it needs to be a show, each phase surprising the audience.

There are a few simple presentation rules that are often forgotten when it comes to giving winning presentations, whether it’s for new business, for your team, or for a conference or school.

Here are six key reminders when getting ready for your next presentation:

1. Know Your Audience

• Find out who they are and what kind of perspective they want.
• Remember the rules of Personality Profiling. For example, Headline’s want the big-picture overview; a Bodycopy will want the process and all the detail.
• Spend 1/3 of the preparation time getting the content right, 1/3 getting the style and format right, and 1/3 studying and getting to know your audience.

2. Make Your Content Sing

• Develop a short, clear, one-sentence main message, e.g., “I have a dream.”
• Repeat your main message a number of times during the presentation. Use the exact wording each time. Like the chorus of a song, keep repeating the refrain for retention.
• In addition to data, include analogies, metaphors, examples, and stories. These will dramatically improve message retention.
• Have a strong, memorable opening and closing. Leave the audience with a clear call for action.

3. Think Differently About Format

• Build your talk first, and then add visuals as you need them.
• Think about the story you want to weave. Use boards, props, handouts, or anything to help leave a lasting impression.
• Do not let PowerPoint be the main focus. In fact, do not use PowerPoint. If you use PowerPoint remember the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides – 20 minutes – 30 point font.
• People are persuaded by and respond to you, not to your slides. Make people be the stars of the show.

4. Practice Your Style

• The way to build style is to practice your presentation in rehearsal. That is, by standing up, moving around, and speaking out loud.
• In rehearsal, exaggerate everything. Use longer pauses, gesture with meaning, move strategically from spot to spot and look ‘em in the eye. Strong, purposeful style feels unnatural and phony, yet looks confident to the audience.
• Keep descriptive gestures up above the belt, and away from the front of your body. This creates a strong look and feeling of confidence.
• Keep nervous ticks out of your presentation, i.e., no hair twirling, no earlobe pulling, no clicking ballpoint pens, and no knuckle cracking.
• Throw back your shoulders and “Let ‘er Rip.” You almost can’t overdo the style, as contrived as it feels.
• A week from now, people will not remember the content of your presentation. However, they will not forget your powerful and confident style.

5. Shake Things Up

• Research studies show that people fade out in meetings and presentations about every 12 to 15 minutes. Sometimes it is less than a 12-15 minute time span, so pay attention to your audience.
• Purposely build in an activity that will “disrupt” the flow of your presentation, every 12 – 15 minutes.
• Remember to vary the presentation format, invite participation, turn off the slides, tell a story, or even use a prop.

6. Make the Q & A Worthwhile

• After asking for questions, wait a few moments. It may take people a while to think of any. If no one asks a question, ask your own: “You know, a question that often comes up when I give these talks is…”
• Repeat questions for clarity. Answer to the whole group so everyone feels included.
• If you don’t know the answer, agree to find out and get back to them.

Simple. Often forgotten. Yet so important.

Recommended Next Steps

Achieving successful long term growth should be the goal of any good agency. Where does your agency stack up with the common business cycles we see?

Where is Your Agency?

Definition: This is the curse of many marketing communication companies, usually small ones. It’s up and down, up and down. The firm wins some new business and everyone works to handle the new account and no one continues to sell. The workload slows down so the firm does more new business. New business comes in and the new business effort stops while the new account is handled again.

Summary: This cycle unless broken will keep your firm small.

What’s needed: A strong consistent new business effort that doesn’t stop when the firm gets busy. And more new business leads.

Definition: This is often the cycle of a new start up. The firm opens with a burst of activity and business from existing relationships. The management believes this will continue forever. Of course it doesn’t. An account or two leaves and the firm panics and scrambles trying everything to get some new business in. The management team usually doesn’t understand new business so many firms in this situation go out of business before management learns how to grow the firm.

Summary: This cycle usually doesn’t last long. If the firm cannot learn how to do new business, it will quickly cease to exist.

What’s needed: Quickly learn how to do new business the right way. And more new business leads.

Definition: This is the business curve for many older firms. The firm rocks along without much growth until a major account leaves and pushes the firm into emergency. What the firm should have done is concentrated on new business during the good times, investing in the future by building up new business strengths.

Summary: This cycle sneaks up on a firm without any warning. The danger sign is no new growth and clients that have been with the firm for a number of years. For many firms caught in this situation with an outdated brand image, recovery is often difficult.

What’s needed: Immediate major new business effort, perhaps re-branding and more new business leads.

Definition: In this cycle the firm is experiencing a long-term steady decline. Typically the firm experiences a few account wins but older ones leave. The impact is overall decline because the new accounts won are smaller than the accounts leaving so the effect is steady decline.

Summary: Often the agency knows how to win new business but needs help in targeting and winning larger accounts. This common cycle can usually be arrested more quickly than the other cycles.

What’s needed: Help in winning larger pieces of business, and improve the quality of leads.

Definition: This is the preferred cycle where the firm grows steadily over time, usually ahead of the industry average. This is the cycle of a firm that understands new business and has a strong new business program in place that is generating a steady stream of new business leads.

Summary: This cycle allows a firm to continually renew itself. The steady stream of new accounts means many new opportunities and new challenges for the staff to work on. Such a condition provides a fun place to work but it does carry some stress as the firm shifts to handle an expanding workload.

What’s needed: Perhaps more efficiency in new business so the firm can win more accounts with less effort (fast closing). And perhaps improve the quality of leads.

Next Steps: Breaking the cycle

For more information on finding more prospects and winning more business, give us a call!

The best way to break the cycle is to install a proper new business system that puts your agency in front of one or two good prospects every week.

Option #1: DayOne is Recommended Course of Action

• Full-day new business planning session at the agency
• Sort out various options and build the most effective program tailored to the agency’s needs
• Builds management consensus behind the new business program
• Full explanation on new business program, critical elements, projected investment, and timeline
• Determines new business priority including more leads or presentation assistance or something else (added resources, etc.)

Option #2: Brand Retreat

• You might not have a new business problem. You might have a brand problem
• In one day at the agency
• Focus on if the agency’s brand needs modifying, re-defining, or changed
• Two to three days to get the Brand Retreat set up, one day on-site

Option #3: Spark Training

• Two to three days on-site at the agency
• Trains the agency’s account executive for new business on how to build awareness and create relationships
• Sets up the timeline, defines the needed support items such as direct mail, agency brochure, and other materials

Option #4: Account in Review

• One to three days at agency and/or on phone
• Help on upcoming new business presentation
• Focus is on lead already at the agency
• High success rate at helping agencies win
• Earlier in the greater the chance for success
• Strategy is to win at every level: RFP, tour, first round and last round

Note: If the best option for your agency is unclear, schedule a DayOne to sort it all out so the agency doesn’t waste time or money. But the mission must be to generate more leads!

Sometimes we are so engrossed in the new business problem we can't see the easy solution!

Missing the Forest for the Trees?

For the most part, all marketing firms love the chase, the thrill of being in the hunt, late nights and cold pizza, and then having the opportunity to stand up in front of a prospect and deliver the winning pitch. If I had a nickel for every agency president who told me “just get me in front of em, I’ll do the rest” I would have at least $5!

But that’s missing the forest for all the trees. The key to getting “in front of em” and winning is building a relationship with them. Long term nurturing of prospects is NOT something most agency leaders think about. As a result most agencies end up pitching to prospects that are already deep into the review, with little time to build a relationship, much less better understand all the nuances of the brand. And they are now involved in a heavily contested review where up to 20 other marketing firms are all scrambling to make the cut.

What most agency presidents fail to understand is that prospects end up holding reviews because nobody was in there early in the process showing the prospect another way. By the time the prospect is ready to buy, there is no relationship-based agency friend from which he would like to buy.

I mean lets face it - the formal review process needs to change. If more marketing firms took the lead in developing their relationship building skills we would not be subjected to the pain and suffering of giving away ideas for free. All on the whim of a prospect you may have a 1 in 20 chance of winning. In addition, formal reviews can be too expensive for clients. It takes time, management commitment, and in the US, heavy fees for search consultants.

While one of the goals of relationship building is to improve your chances of winning formal reviews, there are additional benefits to nurturing prospects you are interesting in working with. The longer you work to build a relationship, the greater chance you have of closing the business with a fast close. You just need the skills and training needed to recognize where the prospects are in the review, and an understanding of how to move quickly and aggressively to preempt the process. Use that insight you’ve gained from understanding the prospect and building the relationship over time to win quickly, saving the prospect from the long drawn out formal review process.

Agencies are Full of Winners

The type bred for the hunt, the closers, the hawks. But who on your staff holds the responsibility for being the relationship builder? Who has training on how to cultivate and build relationships with a large number of prospects over time? The farmer of leads? This sacred role is the secret to many new business wins over time. Some of the largest account swings in history have been the result of an agency well versed in relationship building and understanding how to close.

Most agencies ignore prospects that are not ready to buy now. Those that ignore relationship building as a critical element of new business have to attempt to swoop in and convince the prospect on the beauty of their idea, the desire they have to work with their brand, how much they looove them! All in the weeks and months leading up to the pitch. This is a losing proposition if some other agency has put the time and effort into relationship building.

Every year Sanders Consulting Group travels to some of the best agencies in the world, and every year we help them address challenges with growing their agency. While each agency is unique its amazing to us how many fail to invest in long-term relationhip building. A small investment here can help solve many new business problems. If you have any questions please contact us at info@sandersconsulting.com or 800.899.1538.

There is much to be learned from taking a contrary view of Steve Jobs and studying his actions as the leader of a company in an industry still undergoing epic transformation. Just as the entire marketing industry is going through now…

It’s Steve Jobs’ world and we’re just living in it!

From about the late 1700s to the mid-1800s, no one at that time understood that the extent of change that would later be deemed the Industrial Revolution. New ways of managing and organizing business completely transformed the world. Production of goods that for centuries were in small family-run business gave way to large centralized factories, and the concept of mass production not only opened the door to new opportunities and unprecedented growth, but also reshaped the way we live, work, and play.

The digital revolution is just as transformative, and again no one saw just how much this change would influence our lives. Steve Jobs was lucky enough, good enough, and smart enough to thrive in and be part of that change. And along the way, Steve created a series of great “gotta-have” products. In effect, Steve created new ideas and products from nothing.

So as we are still living within this digital revolution, we have to re-evaluate where we are now and try to figure out where we are headed. There have been many books, articles, blog post, and discussions on the changes sweeping our industry. Many so-called experts are pushing various models, structures, skills, and ideas that advertising agencies should adopt. Some seem like good ideas; others seem very much like pie-in-the-sky thinking. What is true is that change is sweeping through the marketing industry. A new foundation is being created, but it’s still too early to tell just what this new foundation is or how it will end up looking. To quote the oft used adage “the only constant from now on will be change!”

Many leaders, when faced with this epic change, look for inspiration, a guidepost, something that will offer a clue about how to lead in times of upheaval. Truly transformational leaders who change the world for the better remain rare in business. Which is why Steve Jobs is so fascinating.

Don’t Be Like Steve: 8 Unforgivable Mistakes Agency Leaders Should Avoid:

1. Don’t be a jerk. Steve Jobs was a known bully and would often fly off the handle at those under him. He would publicly question the intelligence of anyone he found fault with. Steve would snap and bark at those under him, park in handicap spaces, flaunt the rules and more… You don’t have to be arrogant to impress people with your abilities. Leave the arrogance at home because it’s not going to work for you. A real leader works to develop and maintain basic management and leadership skills– and isn’t a jerk.
2. Living with bad decisions. A young Steve Jobs brought in John Sculley to run Apple. Unfortunately he got someone that didn’t understand Apple’s culture or brand. Eventually Sculley consolidated enough power and moved to have Jobs replaced. As a result the Apple brand suffered. A decade later Jobs said, “What can I say? I hired the wrong guy. He destroyed everything I spent 10 years working for, starting with me.” You can’t survive with poor employee decisions and/or actions. Trust your gut and move quickly to address your bad decision. As one agency leader told me when I asked for the reason for his success, “slow to hire, quick to fire!”
3. Not communicating expectations or goals. When a visionary leader sets a goal, they expect everyone to move in that direction. With Steve Jobs he often didn’t understand why people didn’t “get it” because it seemed so obvious to him. Rather than clarifying goals, Steve would publicly humiliate them or just fire them outright. As a result, the creator of the outstanding retail stores, Rob Johnson, left. Alison Johnson, Apple’s vice president of global marketing and communications, left. Spend time with your staff and make sure they understand your goals and expectations.
4. Fail to train and invest in staff. Steve Jobs never had any formal training: not in management, not in engineering, not in design. Almost everyone he worked with was amazed at his capacity to make decisions solely based on his instinct. This is great for a gifted visionary. Not so good for the rest of us. Invest in and develop your next tier of leaders.
5. Failure to advocate, support, and nurture initiative. There are many accounts of Steve jobs firing staff on the spot for taking initiative. His staff had to be very careful of what they could do; everyone understood some actions were not forgivable. If you’re the CEO of one of the largest, fastest growing brands and an icon of top talent around the world, then by all means punish anyone you like. Use fear as a motivator. Good luck attracting and keeping top talent. Better to create an environment where initiative is rewarded and mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn.
6. Don’t build walls. Apple’s cult of secrecy, a brainchild of Steve, is well known. Programmers were not allowed to see the product; designers were broken into small groups to work on different elements; and people were publicly fired for letting any information out. Nobody could share ideas. It was rumored that fewer than 12 people saw the final iPhone prior to Steve demonstrating it at Macworld in 2007. Apple needs to keep secrets, no question, but for most successful agencies inclusion is the name of the game. Be sure to involve your staff in any activity where they could make a contribution.
7. Failure to provide and receive feedback from staff. There were many stories about Steve Job’s bad behavior to his staff, how often he would make absurd or derogatory comments to them. But the most common criticism was that he interrupted and didn’t listen. As the incontrovertible public leader of Apple, Steve embodied the vision and was responsible for its success. He did so by relying on two things: understanding trends and using his own gut. There aren’t many people in the world that can build a world class organization on those two things. Stop, and listen to what your staff is telling you. Work to include them in your decision making process.
8. Allow conflict and competition to get out of control. According to former NeXT business partner Pat Crecine, Steve Jobs was “absolutely single minded, almost manic, in his pursuit of quality and excellence.” As a result, he would create conflict… and into that high octane combustion he would pour more gasoline with his abrasive personality. The flip side is just as dangerous for agencies: trying to eliminate conflict altogether. Work to find that happy balance.

What did Steve Jobs Do Right?

There are many, many books on what Steve did right. The proof is in the results we see today. I just want to highlight a few…

Steve Jobs used the power of vision to drive Apple forward. Today, agency leaders struggle with managing change in the market. Agency staff perceives the ongoing conflict between their leader’s actions, the ever changing goals of the agency, and client demands. Often times the messages from the leadership about what the agency is doing to deal with change is confusing, conflicting or just lacking all together. There are many reasons for this, but most stem from a lack of understanding about what is changing or from a lack of the development of a long-term vision. After all, if we’re not sure what the future holds, then what sort of firm should we be creating? Without any clear articulation of future expectations and goals the staff is left wondering if there is any benefit to be gained from the changes occurring all around them. The key question on everyone’s lips is “what’s in it for me?” Here is where we can take a page right out of Steve Jobs leadership handbook. His vision for Apple was simple: “Our primary goal here is to make the world’s best PCs — not to be the biggest or the richest.” Every Apple employee was expected to share that vision. John Sculley wrote after taking over in 1985 about the vision “Apple was supposed to become a wonderful consumer products company… This was a lunatic plan. High tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product.” Seems he was wrong and Steve’s vision won in the end.

Steve Jobs was fully committed. It’s often been said that “change is exciting when done by us and threatening when done to us” and this is truer today than ever. Steve understood this and was willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of his vision. Look back at all the Apple initiatives canceled at the very last moment for not reaching his standards. Whole programs developed at great cost he cut. We know now that he canceled an Apple PDA and a set of web services at the very last minute costing him millions. As agency leaders it’s your role to own the brand. After all, ownership leads to commitment. Your actions can make any change less threatening. Remember, you always must demonstrate your commitment to change with actions. And if you’re a leader, then you need to be the first to change — jump off the cliff!

Steve Jobs surrounded himself with top talent. He worked hard to recruit people usually regarded as the best in their fields. And the very best wanted to work for Apple so finding them became easy. For an agency you have work hard to find new talent and/or develop what you have in-house. The world of marketing will continue to change, affecting all levels of not just the industry, but the agency and everyone who works there. This is a people business, and our staff is our most important asset. As a leader of the agency you must be aware of the changes and its impact on people. Each individual in the agency must change their behaviors to better handle the agency changes. And agency leadership must support the changes with open communication and ongoing education programs. Find or develop the very best talent you can.

Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that Steve Jobs was a force of nature– unique in our time. Recognized as one of the true visionaries in history, there is much we can learn from his actions. Some good, some bad. The key is to be comfortable in your talents and don’t try to “be” Steve Jobs.

Research shows the best leaders are good communicators. They have learned to give clear instructions, stay responsive to questions and suggestions, and keep the appropriate parties well informed. Research also confirms a positive correlation between communication (understanding) and:

• improved productivity
• better problem solving
• a reduction in grievances
• ideas for improvement in methodology
• improved working relationships
• greater personal satisfaction

Agency leaders must set the example of how to survive and succeed in this new age of change. Be it external in the services you develop and offer, or internal with changes to your organization, work or decision making processes.

Sanders Consulting Group works with marketing firms of varying sizes in one-day planning sessions, four week assessments, weekly monitoring, and long term on-site implementation programs. We have worked with over 2,500 advertising agencies, public relations firms, and sales promotion companies all over the world for over 25 years.