I think it’s fair to say that new business development is a concept that as a profession may not be wholly understood by agency principals which has lead to some of the issues I’ve observed in our industry. Just recently I read a question from an agency president in an Ad Age blog about how to compensate a new business person. I doubt very much that the same question would be asked of a copywriter or an art director. I believe that most agency owners feel they know what business development is about but don’t fully comprehend nor appreciate the nuances, tasks, and activities associated with this role. Perhaps the reason for this is that in most agencies the business development person is a non-billable individual and as such is viewed as overhead not unlike a personal assistant or someone in the accounting department.

Since “a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush” I wonder if agency principals forget how valuable a new business person can be and that keeping them informed of everything the agency does is critical since they can use this information to help position the agency with new clients. If the new business person is doing their job then they are ultimately filling the funnel with new opportunities which represent the billable client of tomorrow. Hence why some consider new business the life blood of the agency! Keeping this person in the dark or informed on an as needed bases is wrong and counterproductive. They need to know when things are going well for an agency and when things are not going so well so they can prepare and react accordingly.

Those relationships that are marked by open lines of communication and collaboration between senior management and the new business specialist tend to be the most successful ones in our business.

I recently received a message from this software provider that my license was about to expire and would I like to renew now or later. This was very friendly and very professional message. When I finally opted to renew the software license things initially flowed smoothly. I followed the step-by-step instructions and let the “wizard” do the rest. Half way through the setup process don’t I get an error message which instructs me to contact technical support. Now the simple thing in my opinion would have been to include a toll free number in that message. After all they asked me to contact technical support. But as you guessed there was no number. So I proceeded to follow my intuition to try to contact customer service or technical support. I went and opened the Norton Protection Center to see if I could find a link to customer service and voila I found it. Unfortunately there still was no telephone number. Instead I was faced with several links and an FAQ section. I also saw an option to talk with a live person via the internet (Live Person). Unfortunately for me I am not using Internet Explorer 5.5 which apparently is the only web browser that will support Live Person. I proceeded to check out the FAQ section to see if others had encountered a similar problem to mine and how was it resolved. I saw a link that came close and downloaded what I thought would be a quick fix. Needless to say that didn’t work.

Fifteen minutes later I finally found a number to call. The same number they could have programmed into the error message that greeted me while trying to install an upgrade. You know what happened next. I spent 5 minutes talking with a computer answering questions including putting in my order number. I finally received a tech support person in India and the first thing he asked me for was my order number. Did’t I just key it into the phone.

Now I know that India has received some bad press lately about tech support and how many reps are encouraged to take on US names like Harry and Jane but I’m happy to report that my tech support guy was good and kept his birth name. The bad side to this story is it took him almost 45 minutes to help me fix the problem. In all I spent well over an hour of my time doing something that should probably have only taken 5 minutes.

Unfortunately this is not the first time I’ve had this experience with Norton. At the end of the day they offer a superior product and I will continue to be a customer of theirs but they should consider doing one of two things. Either fix the technical glitches which are causing the set-up error when upgrading a software package, or include the tech support number right in the error message when it does pop up.

At the end of the day people want to do business with people they like and the only way to find out if there is chemistry is to meet in person.

While I know many agency owners and new business people feel it’s important to visit their prospective customer at their home office I think there is something to be said for having the prospect visit the agency! What better way to show off what and who you have.

Bart Cleveland does an excellent job of pointing out the obvious that here we are, specialist in differentiation, at least for our clients, but we (ad agencies) ourselves can’t seem to do a good job of marketing our own brand. It’s the infamous “shoe makers children” comment. Well I think that if you are going to continue to rely on that old adage then you deserve what you get.

Yes the marketplace is becoming more competitive but I also believe that those agencies that assert themselves a little more and share with their clients and prospects what they are all about, and no I’m not talking processes, but what their belief system is that where the shoe fits you’ll have a match.

At the end of the day people will do business with people they like. I’m always telling my clients to try to align themselves with prospects who seem to share some of the same philosophical beliefs as they do. In the end it will yield better, longer client relationships.

As the new J.C Penny ads debuted more attention then usual was given to a new campaign since it was based on the philosophy preached by Kevin Roberts in his book. It’s one thing to share one’s thoughts about advertising with the world in a book, it’s another to put that philosophy into practice and hope it works.

In my humble estimation, Saatchi & Saatchi has more to loose then its clients. If the campaigns for J.C. Penny and Wendy’s don’t produce then they will cut the agency and choose a new one. A phenomenon that happens all too often in our industry.

With the latest news about Wendy’s looking to possibly sell, there is enormous pressure on the agency to produce with its first ad. Yes, the board proclaims that advertising alone won’t help right the Wendy’s ship but we all know it’s a lot easier to fault the advertising for not helping move the needle in the right direction.

That was one of the criticisms when the new J.C. Penny ads came out. While they were extremely creative, by far the best I’ve ever seen for the brand, will it motivate change? In other words will more people go to J.C. Penny to buy from them? Only time will tell.

For now, however, all eyes will be on what happens come June when the new Wendy’s spot will be shown to the franchise owners.

What will they say about Lovemarks six months from now.

I would highly recommend reading the article for it points out some painful truths how clients are looking for instant gratification and results. While they talk about how the speed of the internet is effecting all business I think it’s important to point out that having relationships and being able to build relationships is still key to keeping a client longer then two years.

Marketing executives will come and go, and many of them have a relationship with an agency which is why you almost always see a review within 6 months of a new CMO coming on board.
While I think it is extremely important to make sure you are serving the needs of your client (a bird in the hand is worth more then two in the bush) an agency also has to continually mine new opportunities in part for self-preservation.

In the end you need to do what’s best for you and your company since loyalty is not as strong as it once was.

Sprint is struggling to compete in one of the fiercest, competitive markets out there — wireless telecommunications. In a recent WSJ article it discussed how Sprint shares are down 30% since the Nextel acquisition and how they have lost 306,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter. That’s a huge number especially when your competition is Verizon and AT&T. Gary Forsee (Sprint CEO) has been under a lot of pressure to make a positive change at the company but firing the COO and slashing the workforce by 8% hasn’t moved the needle enough.

As the WSJ article stated “even if Mr. Forsee delivers improved subscriber numbers this summer, (a task which is much harder then it sounds) a bigger task lies ahead: finding an identity for Sprint in the increasingly competitive U.S. cellphone industry.” With a statement like that I’m certain all eyes will be watching for what Goodby and company can churn up in the coming months. While this win is huge for the agency I don’t think it’s an enviable task, and it’s one that could haunt them even if they do everything right. After all if the numbers continue to go down it’s much easier to blame the advertising and fire the agency.

Good luck guys!

One of the points he touches on is how advertising agencies have not been able to successfully embrace technology or as he calls it the digital revolution to effectively communicate a brand to it’s intended target audience. OK that’s perhaps a bit of a generalization, however, Weiden and Kennedy, Nike’s long time agency, announcing that it would open it’s doors to add additional resources to its roster is saying something.

While I agree with everything that Bob discusses I think it has to be pointed out that a lot of what’s happening online seems to apply more to consumer marketing and less to the business-to-business world. Perhaps the reason behind this phenomenon is because within the business-to-business arena you are dealing more with an older demographic that is slow to change. I have yet to see where large commercial companies who are solely business-to-business are shifting their advertising dollars away from traditional print media to the internet. That said it’s only a matter of time especially as a new generation takes the helm of these old commercial institutions, and it should be the agencies priority to recognize this change and help lead their clients into the future as opposed to following behind or risk being left behind as their clients search for a new firm.