Six Secrets To Save An Account

I interview a lot of senior advertising executives.  Many of them have saved accounts.  I have made it a point to ask what they have done to correct a bad situation.  I realized that their solutions are always pretty much the same.  The results seem to fall into several categories and I thought I would pass on the things I have learned.

Agencies and clients rarely part due to creative differences or strategic disagreements.  Mostly, I have heard about agencies losing business over lack of communication and lack of connection.

1)  Listen to the client   

This is an issue I hear virtually every time someone tells me that an account runs into trouble.  Clients complain that their agencies are simply not listening to them.  

This mistreatment manifests itself in many ways, including not doing what is supposed to be done when it is due.  One person who saved an account told me that he simply started to deliver on time work.
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Listening to clients doesn’t mean rolling over and playing dead when it comes to creative work.  More often than not, it means that the client needs a willing ear on the part of its agency.  Many agencies seem to treat clients as if they don't know their own needs.  Sometimes this is actually the case, but the smart account manager knows to listen to his or her client, develop the asked for work on a timely basis; that breeds trust  and when the client trusts the agency, they are able to push for better solutions, if necessary.

 

But first and foremost, clients need to know that the agency is on its side.

2)  Meeting with clients in person

Some time ago I wrote that email was killing the business.  Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting.  It is critical that senior agency people meet with senior clients on a regular basis.   

I just interviewed an SVP who had been running a major account which changed agencies recently.  He told me that the EVP previously running the account at its old agency had lost touch with the client because he had only gone to the client twice in a year.  Ouch.  To make matters worse, the agency was in NYC and the client in NJ. 

The former EVP, at the turn-over meeting, had insisted that the client refused to see him or kept cancelling meetings.   His mistake was waiting for an invitation; it became a vicious circle.  Many senior managers have faced this issue in one way or another.  The smart ones don’t wait for an invitation. They simply show up and, after a while, the client realizes that their agency really does care.

Getting to know the client applies to junior people as well.  It is critical that account executives, supervisors and account directors visit clients regularly. Ditto the creative people.  A relationship cannot be built on the phone or with email or even Skype.  And if the people who are doing the day-to-day work do not have a proper relationship with their counterparts, the foundation of the business will be weak.

Agencies have to become part of the client’s business.  That can only be accomplished by being there.

3) Knowing the client’s business

Many agencies have simply relegated themselves to executing work.  That is not a way to build a relationship.  There are many things which should be done in order to build trust and a partnership.  That is what account people are supposed to do. 

An account which went into review was recently saved.  The person running it made sure to get his account group to really dig into the business.  They came up with insights which were new to the brand group.

The creative work they presented showed a depth of knowledge and commitment.  The agency kept the business.

This is the kind of thing which agencies do when pitching an account but often forget about once the get it.

Knowing the client’s business enables the agency to sell better work and it builds mutual client/agency respect.

Getting back to basics saves business. 

4) Knowing all the client marketing people

Senior people at agencies need to spend time with people other than advertising people – brand managers, promotion people, sales people, manufacturing and the like.  These people are a gold mine of information and insight, not to mention a possible source of new revenues.  I heard a great story about an account director who befriended the client’s specialty sales people – military, incentives and premium, food service. 

These people became great advocates for the agency because they felt that someone was paying attention to them (which goes back to point number one).  They also became a source of additional revenues for the agency, because many of them have specialized budgets which the agency had not previously tapped.

Too many agency people go to visit the client, have their meeting and leave.  Having a meal and walking the halls does wonders for the relationship.

5)  Exchanging Ideas with the client

One person I interviewed told me that twice a year he instituted what he called a group grope.  He called a meeting of his entire account group, including planners, digital, media and creative and had all the clients, including the CMO, in attendance. These meetings have a loose agenda; their purpose is ostensibly to brainstorm about the business. They are informal and fun.  And they take place off campus.

It gives everyone a chance to know each other, to develop ideas and to learn each other's business.  These meetings generate ideas which are far afield, some actionable, some not.  But much good comes out of these get togethers. Everyone gets to really know and respect each other.

Both client and agency look forward to these meetings. The clients feel that they are partnering with the agency.  The account person told me that for the next meeting, they are trying to get the client CEO to attend.

Doing this saved the account.

6)  Involving clients with the creative process

One really good account person told me that she always brings clients into the development of the work. 

The creative department does tissue sessions with the client.  In turn, the client becomes both a source of information and inspiration.  When the final presentation comes, the client feels as if she is part of the process and supports the work.  The account people have learned how to manage the client during these critically important sessions.

 Making sure that the client has a vested interest in the work does wonders for the relationship.

Adventures In Recruiting: The Best Job Specs I Ever Got

Back in the mid to late nineteen eighties, there was a nice small agency called Doyle Graf Mabley (subsequently bought by Chiat, before TBWA, I believe).  They had one of the hotel accounts, Sheraton International.

 

A management supervisor there gave me an assignment to find a junior account supervisor.  They wanted someone who knew print production, was strategic and smart.  They would promote an account executive.  They also wanted someone with an MBA from one of the top B schools to mirror their principal client.

I sent her three really good candidates.  Each of them called me after interviewing with the management supervisor and each of them had then been passed on to the president of the agency.  Subsequently, the management supervisor told me that the president had rejected all three, but with no reasons given; she asked for more people.  I was surprised and perplexed since each of my candidates met the specs exactly, so I called the president.

Some of you may remember Charlie Fredericks.  Charlie had been president of Wells, Rich, Greene and had also been a senior executive at several other well respected agencies.  He was a really good guy. He knew the business well and there was no B.S. about him.

Charlie told me that he loved my candidates, but that they were over-qualified.  He asked me about the specs I had been given.  When I got to the part about the MBA, he said, in a way that only Charlie could say it, and in his big, booming voice, “No. No. No."  He then went on to give me his job specs: find an account executive who loves creative, who has a traffic or production background who had been at one of the big agencies.  He said, “Find me someone who has just been passed over for promotion. You know them.  Someone who gets it done, is great at execution and detail.  Screw the MBA and the strategy.  I will promote him or her.  This is about Sheraton International.  It is about changing the logo for the same ads in different markets.” 

He went on to tell that he would do the first interview and that he would handle the management supervisor.

Now that is what I call a great job spec.  With a minimum of words, it was brutally honest, clear, to the point and very actionable.  I knew exactly who he wanted.

That afternoon, I found someone who was exactly as described by him.  She was hired the next day.  She worked there for several years and was very happy.

The lesson here is to know exactly who and what you want when looking for a new hire.

The Effects Of Sandy On My Business

                                                                       

This blog post is apropos of the recent outages caused by Sandy.  As an apolitical comment, I am very worried about the impact that a cyber attack will have on our country.  Computers have taken over business and people don’t know how to function without them.  Me included.

Somehow in the storm, despite maintaining electricity, I was left without internet access at the office.  That meant that I could not receive or send email. It lasted until November the 12^th, two full weeks.   Sadly, we no longer know how to do business the old fashioned way.  

Imagine yourself with no internet.

Here are some of the things that happened to me.

-       My candidates and clients had no way of knowing that my email was down.

-       I couldn’t contact candidates who had appointments with me who had not sent résumés before the storm.  I neglected to get contact information when they made appointments (I won't do that any more).

-       Clients couldn’t reach me to give us assignments.  Sadly, most clients email assignments with only bare bones descriptions.  I have to call almost every client after receiving an email so that I can ask necessary questions.  Since I hadn’t received their emails, I didn’t know to call.

-       One client called me and berated me for not calling him – which he asked me to do in an email which, of course, I had not received.

-       One candidate couldn’t figure out my company name and called at home.  My wife graciously gave him my office number.

-       Another candidate called me and made an appointment.  I asked him to either snail mail or fax his résumé.  He was afraid to fax from his office and did not have stamps.  His inability to resolve this simple problem caused me to decide not to see him.

-       I couldn’t do my billing via the internet.  I had to do snail mail manual billing, which I have not done since 2005 (My apologies to my clients).

-    I couldn't pay my bills on line.

-    I couldn't check my account balances on line.

-       I had to cancel out of town Skype interviews.
-   My Blackberry worked (but no email) and I could contact both Twitter and Facebook through it.

-       When my email came back on, I had 954 emails to deal with, most had to be answered.  It took me almost seven hours to get through them.

At least my home and office were intact.

Why It Often Takes So Long To Interview And Get A Job Offer

                                                              

Sometimes we get assignments and they go on and on and on.  Simple mid-level hires can take weeks to complete.  Some senior hires go on for months and months. I have observed companies that spend so long hiring a CEO that, in the meanwhile, the company almost goes out of business for lack of management (This actually happened with a small but highly regarded agency during the mid-1990’s.)

 My observations as to why this happens follow.

1) Companies fail to define the issues and problems

The delay happens because the company has to see too many candidates before they can figure out who is right for the job.

To me, this is the number one reason that it takes too long to make a new hire.  If jobs are not properly specified and defined, if issues are not spelled out, it is virtually impossible to know who the right candidate is.  I have actually had management tell me to send a variety of people because when they meet the right person they will know him or her.

This is no way to hire. And it often results in a bad hire.

Creating Proper job specs is essential.  Sadly, most companies don’t know how to write a job spec. The bottom line is that once written, if a candidate is rejected for any reason and that reason is not part of the job description, then the spec needs to be rewritten.  

2) Too many people are interviewed

Hiring managers ought to have the confidence to know the right candidate when they meet him or her.  They need to trust their recruiters and their human resources professionals to send them appropriate people. Seeing too many candidates makes for confusion and delays the process, often necessitating the candidates seen early in the process to have to be re-interviewed.  Worse, the process may take so long that interested candidates continue to interview and  often get other job offers.  This means the original company has to start all over again.

3) The job gets over intellectualized
Over thinking leads to paralysis. 

Sometimes hiring managers get too caught up on the wrong issues.  Over thinking the job creates its own confusion.  There is one simple and overriding issue: Can a candidate do the job?  

Sometimes hiring managers who do not know how to interview or judge candidates really get caught up in their underwear. They raise issues which may or not be evident or relevant: will the candidate stay for several years (is that required to actually do the job?); is this job a stepping-stone to something else (does it matter?); will the candidate's family life take precedence over work (should this really be an issue?).  

Many issues can be answered if references are asked appropriate and probing questions.

4) Lack of proper hiring procedures

Few companies formalize the way they interview.  If a candidate has to meet three managers plus human resources, those people should discuss the candidate prior to each interview.  Mostly, what happens is that all three managers will simply meet the candidate and ask their own questions based on their individual perceptions of the job.

Instead, each interview should have a syllabus and agenda.  Issues raised in one interview should be covered again in other interviews.  Each person along the way should know what they are looking for and what the possible issues are.  And again, everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to what they are looking for.

The president of a great agency properly rejected an account director candidate because that candidate did not have enough gravitas to fill in for the group account director if that person was unavailable for an important meeting.  I thought that was very fair criteria.  Sadly, no one in the interviewing stream knew that was what they should be looking for.  It resulted in a lot of wasted time.

5) Agencies and/or holding companies have set up complicated and bureaucratic hiring procedures
Often, even CEO’s don’t have the full authority to hire even very junior people – they have to get approval from their CFO’s or, if the job is senior enough, from their holding company.  I have seen it take two to three weeks to get approval to hire once a candidate has been chosen.

At one agency, it takes six approvals just to start looking to hire; once a candidate has been identified, it takes the same six people to approve the hire.  If the candidate is very senior (over $200k) it may take an additional number of people at the holding company level to approve.  This pre and post process can add as much  as eight to ten weeks to the process.  I have one friend at a well known agency who told me that even the simplest, most junior hires can take as much as four months.

If you are a candidate and expect to be hired, it can take days or weeks to get the final sign-offs to make the offer.

Some delay can be intentional.  Remember – a $120,000 a year employee costs the company $10,000 per month plus benefits.  Delaying the hiring decision by even a month can put tens of thousands of dollars right to the bottom line.

Adventures in Recruiting: Don't Trust Your Recruiter

There are all kinds of recruiters. I receive comments all the time about others, many of whom are my competitors.  A good recruiter must maintain a delicate balance between the clients who pay them and the candidates who support them.  It is evident from many of the comments I receive that some recruiters really are only looking out for themselves and will do anything to make a placement.  That is a short term strategy.

A good recruiter will never lie to either his or her candidates or clients. It just doesn’t pay.  Negative word of mouth can kill a business. 

 

Some candidates don’t trust their recruiters – after all, the recruiter is trying to make money by placing them; but no one candidate is worth ruining a reputation or a business for.  When a good recruiter gives advice or council, it is generally given objectively and to the best of the ability of the recruiter. (My post several weeks ago about giving bad news is a case in point.)

                                                                    

Some time ago a candidate received an offer from a wonderful ad agency, through us.  At the same time, he received an offer from an agency where he had been freelancing; he had been working for a terrible person with a justly deserved poor reputation, but his boss had not yet revealed her true self.  He told  the recruiter he was working with, that, after all, the other job where he was now freelancing would pay a few thousand dollars more and had the promise of a big bonus.  The recruiter  warned him about the reputation of the person he would be working for. He was warned that if he accepted the job, he would not last long enough to collect a bonus – several people had previously served in this job and none had lasted more than a few months.  (I will never understand how companies keep department heads like that, but that is for another post.). The recruiter even told the candidate to ask others in the industry about the people he would be working for. All to no avail.

Our candidate would have loved the other job and, the compay really, really wanted him and went out of its way to show him how much they liked him - their offer went way higher than the original job specifications.  The recruiter tried to tell the candidate that he was making a serious mistake by turning this job down.  But I think our candidate really thought we were only trying to talk him into accepting the job that came through us.

Of course you know the rest.    

Barely a couple of weeks into his new full time job, we received a surprise email from the candidate asking if the first job was still available (of course it wasn’t).  He was man enough to admit that we were right and that he could not bear his boss.  For his sake, I was sorry to hear the news, but not surprised.  He actually apologized for not listening.  

The lesson in this story is that if you find a trustworthy recruiter with an impeccable reputation, who thoroughly knows the business, you should listen carefully to what they tell you.  And if they tell you to go to other sources to check out what they are telling you, you can believe they are telling the truth.