Are Agencies Isolated?

I am always amazed when I reach out to agencies by email and even phone calls when I am doing an agency review that some agencies don’t respond. I get nada.

Imagine the fact that you have to chase an agency when you could be a conduit to New Business.

This has been consistent over the years for all the agency searches I have conducted for brands from Jacuzzi to Toyo Tires.

I often wonder why? Do they think I am trying to sell them something?

Maybe agencies are skeptics. After all when your business is basically selling new ideas then you may get tired of being sold.

Maybe people have changed. Certainly the business has.

Want More New Business? Turn It Down.

Chasing New Business is an interesting game. I know because I have played it a lot. From both the agency side and the agency review side.

I learn a lot from walking down both sides of the street.

Some agencies chase every shadow. “We’d be perfect for (name the client)“, they always say.

Some agencies say they don’t respond to RFP’s and only work with clients who seek them out or through referrals. Nice place to be.

Some agencies never respond to my outreach when I am looking for agencies as a search consultant. Surprising but very true on the majority of reviews I have completed.

How Long Does It Take For Agencies to Land New Business?

How Long Does it Take for Agencies to get New Business?  Longer than you want it to. Yes, New Business can take a very long time but most agencies don’t want to hear that.

The last thing that agencies have in New Business is patience.  Patience is what they tell clients when they are disappointed with the results of a campaign. These things take time agencies counsel. Be patient they plead.

I got an e mail from an agency New Business leader the other day. He was trying to do a little research on the typical sales cycle for advertising agencies to close New Business. He was encountering some internal resistance to his belief that New Business isn’t transactional selling and takes time to develop.

Are Agencies Arrogant?

I had lunch the other day with a new client friend. Somebody who worked for a company whose logo would appear in every agency’s New Business deck or lobby wall if they had their business.

Look who we work for it would imply. We must be smart because successful companies work with us.

But sometimes agencies miss the chance to add those logos and show their smarts.

I was giving my client friend some advice on an agency search that she was conducting internally.

I would have loved to help her but that is how it goes some time.

She shared that she found some agencies very arrogant during her outreach to them.

Why Finding An Advertising Agency is Not an Easy Task

This is a blog I recently wrote for Marketing Executives Networking Group.

Now I imagine that if you were an agency owner reading this you could be a touch frustrated. You might respond, “Look I am right here. I am easy to find.” But that is not always the case.

I look for agencies all the time when I am conducting an agency search and it’s not an easy undertaking in the New Normal. Sure you can find the usual suspects but I want to go deeper than that and find emerging talent. Then again many established agencies are invisible.