Procurement: Brad Johnson Says “Get Used To It”
Flash Report – October 15, 2003
This BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT information is for agencyfinder.com Certified Agencies, Agency New Business Executives and agency subscribers. We communicate with registered member-agencies using e-mail.
CONTENTS:
1. Procurement: Brad Johnson Says “Get Used To It”
2. Does Anyone Notice When They Leave?
3. Clients Still Sit in Judgment
4. New Business Awards
5. RefNet Assignments
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 agencies hung in there as long as they could, but couldn’t do so long enough while waiting for this much touted but “not-yet-here” recovery.
Are we heading towards days of a precious few?
CLIENTS STILL SIT IN JUDGMENT
One of our search clients is a highly technical, engineering-managed organization. Their equirements called for no-nonsense, to-the-point creative and identifiable ROI. When they finished their on-line search, they printed full reports on 11 candidates. They selected some but not all for invitation, and asked us for our opinion and/or confirmation.
One agency they hadn’t selected had a compelling client list, and a string of credentials that should have made them “top-choice.” We thought this agency deserved a second look, but then I found these essays (that the client had already reviewed), and saw how they did themselves in.
Profile: Relations – “Our ideal client relationship is full engagement–that is, the client employs us as a
marketing partner, sharing strategy and strategic development, and allowing us to immerse into their business. Budget is less immportant than allowing for the strategic aspect of the relationship. Allowing us to take some chances or creative risks is important.”
Profile: Media – “We employ two staff to manage primarily trade print contracts. Account personnel are actively invloved in clients media planning and strategy.”
Please – don’t kill your own goose! Go in now and check ALL your essays for appearance, content and accuracy. We don’t offer spellchecker in that section, so if you need to, copy and paste what you’ve written out to Word or somesuch and check; then FIX as needed. We can’t explain away something like this.
Thanks for taking time to read this; we look forward to getting you face-to-face with a great prospect.
Sincerely,
Charles G. Meyst, Chairman/CEO
Business Partnering International, Ltd.
Vantage Place, 4327 Cox Road
Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 USA
