Comments on: Can We Dance? The Experience of Finding a New Client http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com/2007/11/12/can-we-dance-the-experience-of-finding-a-new-client/ Great customer experiences and what it takes to pull them off Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:40:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Doug Davila http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com/2007/11/12/can-we-dance-the-experience-of-finding-a-new-client/#comment-184 Doug Davila Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:22:45 +0000 http://10.98.16.51/experience-matters/?p=90#comment-184 The blame is also on us for pursuing opportunities without some key questions answered--budget, competitors, objectives, senior management buy-in. Perhaps if more agencies declined pitches when basic information is not revealed (no, the temperature in hades will not be dropping any time soon), then some clients may start to get religion and appreciate the time and effort that can go into responding to one of these. But why buy the cow when the milk's free? The blame is also on us for pursuing opportunities without some key questions answered–budget, competitors, objectives, senior management buy-in. Perhaps if more agencies declined pitches when basic information is not revealed (no, the temperature in hades will not be dropping any time soon), then some clients may start to get religion and appreciate the time and effort that can go into responding to one of these.

But why buy the cow when the milk’s free?

]]> By: John http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com/2007/11/12/can-we-dance-the-experience-of-finding-a-new-client/#comment-182 John Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:43:11 +0000 http://10.98.16.51/experience-matters/?p=90#comment-182 Neil: Excellent post. As someone who for years helped brands initiate and manage their relationship with their agencies, I believed strongly in the motto... "Clients get the results that they EARN". Earning great work from an agency comes from 1) Relationship Building 2) Super strong briefs 3) Effective, Consistent Cogent Feedback and 4) Consistent adherence to the golden rule. And of course, a relationship poorly started is likely to be a short lived relationship. Great stuff! Neil:
Excellent post. As someone who for years helped brands initiate and manage their relationship with their agencies, I believed strongly in the motto…

“Clients get the results that they EARN”. Earning great work from an agency comes from 1) Relationship Building 2) Super strong briefs 3) Effective, Consistent Cogent Feedback and 4) Consistent adherence to the golden rule. And of course, a relationship poorly started is likely to be a short lived relationship.

Great stuff!

]]> By: Valeria Maltoni http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com/2007/11/12/can-we-dance-the-experience-of-finding-a-new-client/#comment-183 Valeria Maltoni Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:28:05 +0000 http://10.98.16.51/experience-matters/?p=90#comment-183 We used a broker. She was recommended to me by a marketer I met through blogging and respect a great deal. We did a full brief of what we were looking for with the broker and then she in turn went and looked for agencies that met our criteria -- setting expectations, and doing the briefing each time. We met two of the three agencies presented and selected one of them. This process shaved months off the recruiting and allowed up to hit the ground running. It also injected some objectivity into the selection as each member of our team knew several agencies we might have wanted to present to our colleagues... I agree with you, Neil, the RFP process is broken. And I am seeing brokers or intermediaries (a connector, or maybe a conversation agent;-) as part of the answer. There is too much information to sort out. Having someone who has the pulse on skills and capabilities and can do the match making might be quite valuable for all. We used a broker. She was recommended to me by a marketer I met through blogging and respect a great deal. We did a full brief of what we were looking for with the broker and then she in turn went and looked for agencies that met our criteria — setting expectations, and doing the briefing each time. We met two of the three agencies presented and selected one of them.

This process shaved months off the recruiting and allowed up to hit the ground running. It also injected some objectivity into the selection as each member of our team knew several agencies we might have wanted to present to our colleagues…

I agree with you, Neil, the RFP process is broken. And I am seeing brokers or intermediaries (a connector, or maybe a conversation agent;-) as part of the answer. There is too much information to sort out. Having someone who has the pulse on skills and capabilities and can do the match making might be quite valuable for all.

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