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The Most Important Client At Your Agency

November 13, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

This management team is working on the agency’s most important client.

They’re at a leadership retreat planning the agency’s future. And the management team understands that the agency is the most important client in the agency.

Unfortunately most agencies spend too much time doing client business and forget to do the agency business. And that attitude can get an agency into serious trouble in this fast-changing marketing-communications environment.

The best advice might be to get out of town, away from the phones and the pressures of everyday client concerns and focus on the agency’s concerns. Where is the agency going? How to get there?

What resources are needed for the agency to prosper and not just survive? Do high investments in creative talent pay off or should the agency take some new initiatives into consulting, planning and brand building? What’s the right balance between new business and client retention? What are the best agency practices around the world? And what is the right management structure?

These are critical decisions for all agencies but most agencies leave them to chance. You wouldn’t expect a smart client to let the future just happen. Why let the future happen to your agency?

It All Starts With Vision

Look at it this way. Having a vision marks you as a visionary. Then if you have the ability to get others to buy into that vision, you’re called a leader. The reason is simple. You know it will take others within your organization to help you achieve your vision. And you have seen what happens when businesses, both large and small, try to operate without a clear vision.

Trying to managing a firm that doesn’t have a strong vision is like trying to get a group of friends to run through the woods at night. You might cover a lot of ground but you and your friends get banged up a lot. There is a better way.

Why: Vision seems so simple but it’s so important. With a strong vision, you know where you are going and how you hope to get there. That’s the start. Then you need to let others in on that vision so they can help you achieve it.

We work with firms of all sizes around the world helping their owners and operators set a vision for what they can become. And then we work together to make that vision a reality. If the vision word troubles you, then just consider the whole vision thing as a way to create the future.

We Can Help

Sanders Consulting Group has been a leader in the marketing communication industry for over 20 years. Our track record for helping agencies grow through client retention and new business wins is unparalleled. In any given year, Sanders Consulting works with most of the top ten advertising agencies and hundreds of local and specialized firms. Our extensive roster of programs and services is unique in the industry.

Beyond agency growth, Sanders Consulting has developed practice areas dedicated to agency re-branding, operations management, productivity improvement and information technology, as well as a wide variety of management concerns and ownership issues.

As you evaluate opportunities and challenges at your agency, never hesitate to give us a call.

Phone: 1.800.899.1538

Mail: info@sandersconsulting.com

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using Good-To-Great to Brand Your Agency

May 1, 2012 By NewBusinessHawk

“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

It answers how to describe your firm and tells you what services to offer. If you know what you stand for you can match up your prospects and target them. Perhaps more importantly a strong brand can help answer which prospects to pass on.
Many marketing firms are afraid to stand for anything. Mostly out of fear of losing a potential prospect. However if you are clear in what you stand for it shows your view of what’s important. This lets a prospect know quickly whether or not you are in step with their view of the way things work – you stand out to THAT prospect. The one you are really looking for. Other agencies, who try to stand for anything and everything, really project “gray” don’t match up well with a firm clearly branded.
The runaway bestseller Good To Great/Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t provides insight into how to brand your firm.

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

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

Stand Out!

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

  • Determine what are your Good To Great circles
  • Find your Sweet Spot.
  • Shape that into a Hedgehog Concept that’ll work in your market
  • Dream big and express your Hedgehog Concept in a BHAG
  • Find your best growth opportunities and stick to those only
  • Build your brand so you maximize those opportunities
  • Set up your new business program to support the brand
  • Integrate your brand into everything you do and live the brand
  • Get set to move from good to great
  • Take the credit. You did it.
We’ve helped many marketing firms with their brand by understanding our industry, the market, and having experience with thousands of similar firms. Mostly we know what works, and what doesn’t. Often times a one-day session with us provides you with the creative fodder to remove any logjams in deciding which way to go. Free of the “unknown” most marketing firms are then successful in launching a new brand.
If you are thinking about your agency brand, give us a call – it could save you from making a costly mistake.
Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Ad Agency Leadership: Planning for the Annual Retreat

September 20, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Planning

Time to break from routine, an opportunity to step out of day-to-day life and reflect on purpose and meaning, clarify direction, and fine tune processes.

‘Tis the season for reflection and planning about the agency and where you want to go in the new year. We typically help agency leadership approach the planning question three ways.

1. Focus On Growth:

The first way is New Business oriented since so much planning for agencies typically starts and stops with getting more new business. We run a standard new business planning session in one day that agencies love. The day is built around a basic planning track that cracks open the best growth options and gets a management team to decide together how best to solve new business. We call this the DayOne. It involves a half day of one-on-one meetings with the senior team so their concerns get heard, followed by a group session focused on new business growth. The objective is to build a strong new business plan for the new year by the end of the meeting which the team commits to execute.

2. Focus On Change:

The second approach is more of a general management meeting. New business is only one item on the agenda, there are other issues that are very important like structure, profitability, M&A, adding new talent, expanding PR, growing subsidiaries, etc. We work with the management team one-on-one to get their feedback to build an agenda, get ownership direction on where they want to take the meeting, and then structure a one or two-day meeting with sub-groups perhaps, focused on the most important management concerns. This is often an off-site meeting with a dinner the night before to set up the teams and the time schedule and then launch the program the next day. We have some exercises that agencies like and the session is very popular since agencies usually don’t focus on themselves as much as they need to, so putting this time on the most important client in the agency, the agency itself, is a welcome change. We refer to this as the Agency Retreat.

3. Focus On Operations:

The third way is moderating a one-day session that outlines changes in the industry in a way that allows you to pick and choose what applies to your unique needs and goals. You benefit from our experience of visiting and working with over 1000 agencies. After your management team develops a common understanding of what can be accomplished, we work with you to identify productivity issues and opportunities within your current operations. Specific client service issues are surfaced, product development lead-times are reviewed and agency definitions of service and quality are clarified. Finally, the consultant then works with your management team to evaluate how a range of operational solutions can address these strategic needs. A plan for action is created that allows you to build on the day’s experience. This is built around a standard planning session with an outside moderator very experienced in the agency world there for perspective, insight, help and a neutral POV.
When it comes to planning, we have been helping agencies do this successfully for over 25 years. Contact us at info@sandersconsulting.com and let’s start your planning the right way.
Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Business: The Winning Pitch

July 15, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

If you’re in the agency business, you quickly learn you have to be good at presenting. If you’re going to really grow your firm, you have to be especially good at presenting to win large accounts in what we call a “formal review” or the Pitch You Have To Win.

Ad Agency New Business: The Pitch You Have To Win!

Winning the new business pitch

Successful pitching is neither art nor science… it’s both.

You know the review I’m talking about. It’s where the prospect has selected a number of agencies to present for their business. It usually starts with a “cattle call” for lots of agencies. Then this mob is whittled down into the “consideration set,” requiring jumping through some additional hoops at an intermediate stage in the selection process. And finally you get to the “presentation set:” those agencies chosen to finally present for the business.

Prospects love these formal reviews because they get all this advice and creative work – most of the time for free! And a group of very smart agency people are all lined up to tell them all about their markets, their business, their competition, and offer thoughtful recommendations on what they should be doing with their business. What’s not to like?

But on the agency side? Well, it’s a different story. Long hours, lots of pressure, changes made at the last minute. Presentation books to prepare and print. Lots of tension and patience is in short supply. You have probably been there before, so you know full well what I mean.

The agencies have to spend a lot of time and money on these formal pitches, knowing there will be only one winner and nothing for the agencies that lose (except maybe, and I really mean maybe, a thank you note from the prospect). But most times agencies hear nothing back after putting in all this effort. And the message is brutal: “Sorry guys, we’re going with someone else.” And the unstated message agencies hear is: “We’re going with someone we like a lot better than you. We’re going with someone who is so much better than you.” It’s crushing on agency spirit. And if the losses mount up, it kills an agency’s self image, an agency’s confidence.

Make your presentations pay off by winning more formal reviews. I mean win three, four or five presentations in a row. And many of our agency-clients win at this success rate. Then the effort you put into formal presentations isn’t a lost expense but an investment because your firm is winning more than its fair share.

A Defining Moment

Here’s how the process starts. First you need to get what we call a “Defining Moment.” That’s a big opportunity that will basically redefine who your firm is if you win the account. The win will reshape who your firm is because of the account’s size, its budget, the type of business it is, their reputation, their category, and their impact in the market place. All these can redefine an agency if they win such an account.

Getting a chunk of the Apple business is a defining moment for many national agencies. A nice bank can define a local agency. Winning a consumer product can reshape a B2B agency. Winning a nice technology account can redefine a retail agency. And moving into consumer advertising can redefine an internet agency. I think you know what I mean.

You want to look for a “Defining Moment” to win: a presentation that will have a big impact on your agency. You might have one right now on your hands. If you do, then this information will really help you.

Pitch Elements

Understand that any pitch you make will be made up of four elements – Style, Format, Content, and Chemistry. And most agencies mishandle these four elements completely by putting all their time and energy into Content, the least important part of the four. They practically ignore the power and account-winning pull of getting Style and Format right. And they spend NO time on thinking about how to win with Chemistry.

New Business Pitch Elements

Prospects have a very different view of your presentation than you do.

 

Style

Style is how you present. How you own the room. What techniques you use to present. Are you locked into PowerPoint, which puts most prospects to sleep? Do you have walk-in music? Do you put out agendas? Do you bring in coffee and refreshments? Do you have a welcome video? Has your CEO learned to charm a room with a simple story from his childhood that he tells to set the stage? Are you using California Boards that make an impact in a room? Do you use reveals? Do you tantalize? In other words are you set to make your presentation a show?

Remember this is a fun school trip for prospects, and they want to be entertained. They want to fall in love with an agency. They want to be dazzled. They want to laugh and to enjoy the process. They don’t want to be bored. And they don’t want to be talked down to – talking down to a client means you know their business more than they do. That’s insulting. The agency’s role at this stage should be to offer the prospect something they want and need. So you have to get Style right and make a show by the smoothness of your presentation, your professional look, and the impact you create.

Format

The second element is Format. And that’s the structure and organization of your pitch and how you organize things. Basically, what format do you follow? For example, do you lead with a creative to grab their attention? Do you change the brief in some dramatic way? How do you structure what you present? Do you let one person dominate your presentation (which rarely works)? What’s your casting and do your people show well? How are they dressed? Do they look like dress casual gone wild?

Is your presentation logical? Have you dumbed it down so everyone can easily understand what you are saying? Do you make sense? Do you build from one key point to another? Does your presentation lead somewhere? This is all Format and you need to get it right.

Frankly, from what I’ve seen, and I see lots of agency presentations, most agencies seriously fall down in the Format stage. In fact, most agencies, and this is coming from the search consultants who sit in on agency pitches all the time, say prospects are most often seriously disappointed at the quality of the presentations they see. There is no Style. Format is weak. And Content, the third element of pitch, all looks and sounds the same from agency to agency.

Content

The third element is content. I’ve sat in day-long new business planning sessions where each word in a presentation is agonized over, discussed, argued and beat to a pulp. Hours wasted on reviewing the 120 slide pitch deck. Each slide is analyzed in isolation to the big picture. And while each slide is finally perfect, clear and perhaps even makes a great point, the overall message is lost in the clutter. A few key points when thinking about content:

  • Brand your message
  • Presentation built on one central theme
  • Check, check, double check for mistakes/typos
  • Avoid hyperbole
  • Clearly demonstrate a clear path to success/results
  • Less is more – remove all excess and put in the leave behind

Chemistry

The fourth, and most important, element of presentations is Chemistry. New business wins swing most often on which firm the prospect likes best. Every search consultant will tell you the work, strategy, and presentation are all important – but the number one reason a firm is hired is the client felt a connection with them. They liked them the most – not which firm does the best work. Once you understand this, you can see why new business is mainly about people and your firm’s likeability. Learn how to best match your people with prospects, so they like you better. Learn how to profile prospects before you even meet them.

Call Us

If you have a Defining Moment, call us. We have an excellent track record of helping agencies win pitches of all shapes and sizes. We can help, from large multinational wins to small local business wins. Whatever is a Defining Moment for your agency is a defining moment for Sanders Consulting Group to help you win, help you redefine who you are and what you stand for.

You’ll get the training and learn the processes that can keep you winning. I’ve seen defining moments change the direction of an agency for years to come just by winning that one key first account. If you’re there, then call us.

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Business in Tough Times: 5 Ideas for Growth

July 13, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

A recent B-to-B Magazine headline shouted, “Desperate ad agencies scramble for business.” There is no disputing that the current climate is the most challenging our industry has experienced in memory.

Fishing in Troubled Waters

Doing new business now is like fishing in troubled water. Only the professionals head out.

The traditional advertising agency model is under attack from all sides. From the strategic side agencies are being pushed out with the increasing impact of consultants; search, procurement, brand, marketing, and of course, the big fish, management consultants. On the tactical side agencies have to compete with all types; design, internet, database management, media buying, promotion, direct, special events, sports marketing firms, corporate identity houses, two guys and a Mac, and more. This is troubled water.

A recent poll among advertisers indicates the current tenure for a marketing manager is only 18 months. These new Marcom Managers are younger, have less experience in advertising, are more focused on tactical issues, and recognize that they are only there for the short term. At the same time they have a wider span of control over marketing and budgets, and they want their own suppliers – people who think and look like them. Not surprisingly they don’t take advice very well from traditional agency staff that often comes across as patronizing. More troubled water.

Client turnover is among the more serious challenges within our industry. Some recent studies show that for smaller accounts the churn, or client turnover, can be as fast as every two years, while larger accounts have gone from seven years to three. Clients, these new Marcom Managers, are growing more and more impatient and are quick to question the effectiveness of their current agency. The growing percentage of project-based work has made it easier to change – click to what’s next. Yet more troubled water.

Design studios and other low-cost providers have seen revenues increase as their agency brethren have suffered. These creative firms are organized and operate tactically. They are taking business away from traditional agencies on account of price, speed and timely delivery. Many other specialty shops who often work faster, are more focused on results, and offer tangible benefits to clients are also seeing an upswing in new business. Clients are questioning the value of all the layers at the agency; account service, traffic, and all the administration. Further troubled water.

The Changing New Business Landscape

There is a renewed focus on new business, but most agencies have no system for sustained business development and few staff skilled in new business. What was done 3 years ago no longer works. The troubled water is changing everything. You have probably been frustrated by first-hand experience with all of these changes; but opportunities for new business are abundant for advertising agencies that are prepared.

We believe there is no better time to do new business than times like these; when clients are changing how they spend, when your competition is worrying about staying in business, when companies are changing agencies at an unprecedented rate, and when prospects want to make decisions that enable them to solve immediate challenges. Doing new business now is like fishing in troubled water. Most people don’t even go out – but that’s also when the pros know fishing is best. While others stay home, the smart ones go fishing.

What steps can you take to grow in times like these?

Here are 5 strategies we recommend:

1. Make sure your firm is properly branded.

Check to see if you are caught up in alphabet soup with a brand that doesn’t say anything. Clients who are looking for a new agency don’t want a “we-are-whatever-you-need” advertising firm. In fact, that turns them off and harms trust. At a recent new business conference hosted by the AAAA, every client and search consultant said “stand for something.” You have to know who you are and why you should be considered. Otherwise, you risk fading into the fog of marketing services lingo. It is better to stand for something and not be considered for one account then to stand for nothing and not be considered for any accounts.

2. Focus on generating leads.

That means increasing the number of opportunities to go visit good prospects. Too many agencies only focus on winning pitches, not working to get into more pitches. Beware of the “we’ll win the next pitch” red herring. This is where an agency is busy pitching but not focused on creating awareness and relationships. Unless you are a recognized agency brand (and there are only about 10 in the US), counting on referrals and word of mouth is not a new business program. Many agencies have attempted to flip a new business switch – “we need some new business NOW! Let’s form a committee!” Few are finding success.

3. Sell smarter.

Focus on the overt benefits you offer. Make it clear what you do why and how it gets results. Successful agencies do this face-to-face, not by clicking PowerPoint slides at a prospect with lots of case histories and marketing babble. Stop doing capability presentations! Instead show them how you work, specifically with their brand, and how you will impact their business. This means that you have to work hard and listen to understand their problem. This sounds simple, yet it is one of the most common problems in all client/agency relationships.

4. Think about growing the old fashioned way – buy growth.

A cross-town merger with another firm in your market can create a wealth of opportunities. There are some good opportunities in every market. You can gain efficiencies and add new services and resources, and create more awareness for your brand.

5. Go after the consultants and the strategic high ground.

Transform how you think about marketing and offer consulting services of your own. This requires a separate brand that is not linked to advertising or marketing. Too many agencies forget that if you’re an agency, and try to add consulting to your brand, you are still only an advertising agency –Where are my ads! However, if you are a consulting firm, then you can work at the strategic “C” level, and open up a sizable new revenue stream. This provides more opportunities for the agency side to follow once the consulting assignment is completed.

Search consultants are saying new business is slow. They’re wrong. Their business is slow. New business is heating up. The competitive landscape for agencies has been forever changed. As the economy recovers and picks up speed, you will need to adapt to win today and change to succeed in the future.

As you evaluate opportunities and challenges at your agency, never hesitate to give us a call or send us a new business question to info@sandersconsulting.com

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ad Agency Branding

May 20, 2011 By NewBusinessHawk

Our industry is taking a beating, marketing firms are struggling, and many agencies are starting to ask how can we survive?

Take a lesson from the TV show Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

Ad Agency Branding LessonsIn this show Gordon Ramsay, a world renowned celebrity chef/restaurateur, takes on struggling restaurants on the brink of collapse. With soaring food prices, thrifty clientele and unrelenting competition, Gordon uses strong language (bleeps abound) and sound advice to transform the owners, staff, and the food in order to ensure their survival and keep customers hungry for more. His solution is to find a unique value proposition for these homogenized bland brands. What’s the difference between one restaurant and another? Gordon works hard to discover that key ingredient that will ensure the struggling brand stands out, gets noticed, and succeeds.

Sound familiar?

All the elements are here including rebranding the restaurant facilities, positioning, theme, staff training, and yes, the product itself. In the end, Gordon’s work pays big dividends to the owners.

While you may not be a restaurant working hard to find new customers, most marketing firms are unique brands working hard to find new clients. On top of that we all have to face some brutal facts about our industry: advertising is now viewed as a commodity, too many agencies are still around even after the biggest shakeout in history, most agencies are now treated as vendors, and prospects see few differences between agencies. These trends won’t change or improve for our industry in the next 10-20 years.

So what can we do?

A clear agency brand needs to address these changes while providing focus for new business: how to describe your firm, what services to offer, and even what organizational structure works best. If you understand who and what you are, a clear agency brand provides discipline for the agency’s new business program. This helps you identify which prospects to go after and which prospects to pass on.

A clear agency brand attracts prospects and aids new business:

  • Shows what you stand for
  • Shows your view of what’s important
  • Lets a prospect know quickly whether or not you are in step with their view of the way things work

A clear brand provides a center point for all your new business activities:

  • Web site
  • Social media focus
  • Agency listing on search sites
  • Description in directories
  • Agency décor
  • Agency graphics package
  • Agency stationery
  • Holiday/seasonal cards
  • Invitations
  • Nudge articles
  • Door opener mailers
  • Send-me-something brochure

Our advice?

You need to conduct a thorough review of where your agency has been, where you are today and where you are heading. This process will save your agency from years of trial and error trying to solidify agency direction and gain consistent growth.

Ad agency branding
“Time and again your agency’s brand is the key decider on whether or not your agency gets invited into a pitch” Bob Sanders, President, Sanders Consulting Group

Take the information gleaned from the review and use it to develop an agency vision and a plan to implement that vision. Most importantly: narrow your focus! Find something that will help you stand out. In the show Gordon always finds something unique about the restaurant and establishes a clear identity that gives people a reason to come back for more.

Another lesson from Kitchen Nightmares is to have an unbiased outside perspective providing alternative view points. Gordon has first-hand knowledge and experience on turning around many restaurants. Like the restaurant business, having an outside expert with a deep understanding of the changes in our market will allow you to successfully implement the changes needed to take your agency to the next level.

The last lesson from Gordon Ramsay is to listen and follow his advice. One of the greatest obstacles to success is the restaurant leadership fighting the truth. Most of the owners have a hard time taking the advice or accepting that changes are needed. However, Gordon usually finds a creative way to convince the owners that they must change the way they think.

In the end, the owners who follow Gordon’s advice on how best to stand out are successful. If your agency is struggling in the market, missing opportunities, not getting invited into the review, or you are always the bridesmaid, then perhaps its time to look at your brand.

 

Email us at info@sandersconsulting.com and I’m sure you’ll be impressed with our understanding and ability to help shape marketing communication firm branding. After all, we’ve been doing this for over 25 years and have hundreds of branding exercises under our belt.

 

Filed Under: New Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,