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Every agency that’s ever participated in a pitch knows RFPs and pitch processes can be far from perfect.  We’ve all heard the horror stories and whether the pitch is run directly by a client or a search consultant, win or lose, we all sense there’s probably room for improvement.

While we know there were more than 150 pitches undertaken in Canada last year, what we don’t know is the range of pitch practices agencies are faced with and where specifically we should be calling for change.

Last year, our partners at TrinityP3 in Australia pioneered a survey to capture much needed data on the state of the pitch landscape to help the industry understand the good, the bad and the ugly of pitching across Australia.  The information gathered is now a starting point for an industry discussion around pitching based on actual data rather than hearsay.

We have joined forces with Campaign, to launch the State of the Pitch survey here in Canada.  The 2024 survey is hosted by Campaign Canada and you can find the link to the survey here. Campaign have also published an article to explain what we hope to achieve and why we feel it is so important, as well as some industry commentary.

We are asking every agency that participates in any pitch – irrespective of winning or losing – complete the survey. The link can be used as many times as needed – one for each pitch.

Because pitches are typically confidential, we’re not mandating any information that can be linked back to a particular advertiser, agency or pitch, and is therefore within the confines of any reasonable confidentiality agreement. Likewise, details of any single survey response will never be revealed.

This is not about who won or lost. It is about how well those pitches were managed.

The survey will enable us (hopefully on an annual basis) to report on the trends in pitch behaviour and to start a meaningful dialogue with brands about improving the process for agencies in Canada.

Sampling commences today but any pitch you have participated in since January 2024 can be included.

Campaign’s global team of data analysts will then work to process the findings, working with the editorial team here in Canada to produce a full, anonymized report in Spring 2025.

In short, every pitch agencies participate in moving forward can now be included – no matter how big or small. Each and every contribution made will add to and inform a rich view of the state of pitching with which we hope to effect a positive change.

Our goal is to hold up a mirror to the industry that will inform – and hopefully transform – pitch processes based on agency input. It will start conversations between clients, agencies and consultants on what constitutes good pitching and what doesn’t.  This is an opportunity to help our industry get it right, eliminate the practices that drive us all crazy, and a chance to have your say on the state of the pitch here in Canada.

Thank you in anticipation.

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While CMO tenure seems to have stabilized, their average time in the role is still only about 4.2 years, according to Spencer Stuart’s annual CMO Tenure Study.

Wikipedia defines the chief marketing officer (CMO) as ‘a corporate executive responsible for marketing activities in an organization. Most often the position reports to the Chief Executive Officer.’  So I took a look at some random job descriptions for CMO positions and here’s a snapshot of what’s expected of the role: So, as we appear to be measuring average CMO tenure over the course of a few short years, you have to ask – how the heck can anyone make a meaningful impact on those mandates in that kind of timeframe? And with that kind of pressure, it should come as no surprise to agencies operating with CMOs in these environments, that expectations to perform are really high. So what should CMOs be expecting from their agencies in this kind of pressure cooker environment?  Here are five that could make a difference:

Focus on the business

OK, no brainer. But it’s very easy to develop a myopic focus on a project at hand rather than the broader aspects of the business.  So the question agencies should being asking, is what’s really going to make a difference here?  What metrics is the CMO really looking at?  And is the agency 100% focused on delivering against those metrics?

Understand what the CMO really has to deal with

If you’re in any doubt as to what a marketer has to deal with – take a look at the laundry list of responsibilities a CMO is charged with.  Dealing with an agency – or agency issues – is just one piece of the puzzle in delivering a whole range of results expected by the CEO. Typically CMOs are looking for agencies to take things off their plates – not add to them – so agencies that are natural problem solvers and collaborators likely to rise to the top.

Be thought leaders in change

Where’s the marketer’s business going?  Where’s the agency business going?  And how can those evolutions maintain a parallel path to ensure success? Day-to-day demands often have agencies focused on delivery, but CMO’s are looking for clear, concise, well-reasoned thought leadership that helps them evolve their vision within their own businesses.

Manage complexity

Multiple brands, a myriad of distribution and communication channels, multiple projects often managed by multiple agencies, shifting business priorities and rapidly evolving consumer habits mean CMO’s often have to switch focus and priorities on a dime, while ensuring their organizations grow profitably.  Agencies must adapt to these scenarios, while providing leadership, insight and perspective that support CMO environments.

Deliver!

Above all, agencies need to deliver flawlessly – both in strategy and production so their CMOs can focus on driving their businesses and stay ahead of the competition. Issues around strategic thinking, delivery, cost or timing only take away from the CMO’s real role and their perspective on how you’re adding value to their business. If this has you or your agency thinking you need to step up your game – you probably do.  Make no mistake – it’s really tough out there. How can agencies support client CMOs and make themselves more valuable to your business?
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When I started my own business over a decade ago, I promised myself I’d only work with people and clients I truly liked.

For the most part I’ve been incredibly lucky – met some amazing people, worked with some outstanding clients and – I hope – made a difference by helping many marketing teams navigate their way through times of challenge and change. But I can’t help but wonder how long it’s going to be before we come face-to-face with some of the behaviour that seems to be passing off as ‘acceptable’ or ‘normal’ towards agencies and other marketing support services. Woefully underwhelming behaviour from businesses that should know a great deal better is now – unfortunately – not uncommon . So, since we’re on the subject, here in my opinion, is a timely reminder of the five worst examples of poor client behaviour you might like to ponder during your next pitch:

Free Work

I’m not sure when free work has ever been an acceptable ask, but we’ve heard it more frequently than we should. We’ve seen pitches where clients insist on spec work that’s not paid for. And we’ve heard existing clients asking for a ‘quick favour’ or  ‘just mock-up such and such’ which then apparently happens over and over. But the agency is reluctant to say ‘no’ because they don’t want to upset an otherwise stable client / agency relationship. Which leads me to ask, ‘do you give your customers free stuff just because they have the audacity to ask?’  Probably not.  So why ask from an agency?

Unreasonable Timing

Unreasonable timing typically shows up in two forms:  The first is asking (ahem… ‘insisting’) something is done during downtime – over a weekend or over a holiday period.  The second is asking for something to be done in a tenth of the time it would normally take.  In culinary terms, take something out of the freezer and bring it to the table, rather than spending any time cooking it.  Well, you get the idea.  ‘I want it now’ is a sure sign of poor preparation, lack of consideration or cluelessness (sometimes all three).

Extended Payment Terms

90, 120, 180 – even 365(!) day payment terms are apparently seeping their way into agency and supplier agreements to a point where they’ve almost become the norm. Why any client think unreasonable payment schedules are ok when they wouldn’t contemplate it from their customers is a mystery to me.  My phone provider bills me thirty days in advance for the following month’s anticipated phone charges. My credit card allows me 21 days to pay my bill or I’m clobbered with a 28.99% annual interest rate charge. So why do some clients then think it’s ok to potentially delay payment for up to six months or more? Would it be ok to hold your pay check for as long as you hold payment to your agencies?

Crickets

Why is it that anyone thinks it’s acceptable not to return an email or a phone call from someone they’ve either worked with or asked to pitch their business? The agency or supplier (a word I hate) comes in, does a presentation at the request of the client; weeks later the agency asks what the status is and the client doesn’t answer. Crickets. Does anyone else get it? Because I don’t. And neither should you. It’s real simple: If you ask an agency to come in and pitch their wares, have the decency to return their call when they ask if you’re still interested. It’s not difficult. And you’re not that  busy to dodge an answer. Make the call!

Disrespect

And speaking of respect, your agencies are your chosen partners in helping you solve business problems. They deserve the same respect as any one of your colleagues in your office. Agency resources that are shouted at, ignored, viewed as mind readers, magicians, people who should automatically work nights, weekends or holidays, order takers, manual labourers or something you’d scrape off the bottom of a shoe have the right – and absolutely should – treat you in exactly the same way you treat them. I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. This is a very sorry and all-too-familiar state of affairs that I’m hearing in our industry. And it’s not ok.

Excuses don’t matter. Whether you’re overwhelmed, have unrealistic goals, or simply ‘too busy,’ you have a responsibility to your partners, mentees, and everyone who looks up to your company.

If you’ve got an agency or supplier relationship that you’ve engaged or requested – you owe it to all of them, those you mentor and who look up to your company and yourself, to act with the same responsibility and respect you’d expect from them. Please. And thank you.
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Out of the blue, an RFP arrives in your inbox from a company with in an irresistible brand name. Wonderful!

But the thrill of the newly arrived RFP quickly gives way to discouragement when you see it’s a staggering 25, 50 (or even 100!) pages, with even more pages of terms and conditions. There’s probably little or no information about why they’re searching for a new agency and their questions are buried under a mountain of legalese and procedural directives. Yep.  Probably a procurement crafted document from hell but the brand’s so great you can’t say no.  Sound familiar? Well, take comfort, you’re not alone in your pain as almost any agency that receives this kind of procurement missive is agonizing as much as you are. So what are the clues and questions that you have a procurement driven RFP on your hands and how should you answer it?  Here are few tell-tale warning questions we’ve seen in the past:

Will you accept 180 day payment terms?

This one’s easy: No. For goodness sake people – why would anyone ask for or (or accept) 180 day payment terms. If you’re a client in search of a loan – go to a bank – don’t ask a potential agency to cash-strap their business to ease your cash-flow. Put another way,  ‘would you mind if we held your paycheck for as long as you hold paying your invoices?’ Of course not. So why would anyone else?

Describe your case studies in detail and attach all documentation in order to allow us to understand and evaluate the outcome

This issue for any agency in attaching ‘all documentation’ is likely a breach of confidentiality, and how could any team not associated with the project possibly evaluate the outcome? No matter how the question is phrased, the answer is: Client name – problem / solution – result. Succinctly. If you’re allowed to provide detail, by all means – but not at the expense of your own confidentiality agreements.

Answer this question from another [unrelated] RFP we created…

This one came from an Asia Pacific RFP, but the variation on the theme could come from anywhere. And simply put, this is a procurement team lifting a question from a manufacturing RFP and dropping it into an agency RFP: What are the provisions of your DRP/BCP in respect of the services you are providing to your clients (e.g., alternative premises, recovery time, access to equipment and systems, etc.)? If you do not have a DRP/BCP in place, please state whether you intend to develop one. If so, please estimate date of completion. If you find multiple questions that are obviously only relevant to manufacturing or supply based RFPs, then make the case for pushing back, picking up the phone and asking why – even if it does break the rules.

What discount will you provide / what work would be done at no cost?

Another case for pushing back – even if it means breaking the rules.  As with extended payment terms, free work should be a deal-breaker for any agency and procurement teams should know better than to ask. Meaningful pricing is virtually impossible without a scope of work and pricing should reflect a competitive market price, while leaving room for a fair profit for the agency.  Anything less is asking for trouble.

Five golden rules

Rather than asking isolated questions that are largely irrelevant to agency search and selection, procurement teams will receive more meaningful and insightful responses by following five golden rules:
  1. Context. Providing context for both the reason for the RFP and the questions being asked will help agencies craft insightful responses tailored to the organization for which the RFP is being issued.
  2. Case studies. Case studies should be used to provide a window into areas of agency capability that would be most relevant the client. An excessive number of case studies (more than five or six) will make evaluation between agencies more difficult and increase workload for both proponents and readers.
  3. Document size. Limiting the size of the response document to a specific number of words or pages is a great way to get the agency to focus their response, sharing what’s really relevant based on the context you’ve provided.  This sets the foundation for more considered RFP responses and hopefully more engaged reading.
  4. Differentiation. Generic questions across about agency  history or capabilities lead to generic answers that make the distinction between agencies more difficult, whereas thoughtful questions will generally lead to more thoughtful (and meaningful) answers.
  5. Evaluation criteria. Clearly articulated evaluation criteria will help agencies understand what to focus on within their responses and help procurement teams, and their marketing counterparts, rank responses in a meaningful order of merit.

If you’re answering an RFP and there’s no flexibility around these kinds of questions, beware.  Press hard for their evaluation criteria and if it’s not forthcoming, the RFP may not be worth your time.

And finally… the question to which we don’t have an answer:

If your agency were an animal, what animal would it be?

I have to admit, I’ve no idea how or why this question would be asked but (unfortunately) we’ve seen it. So presumably the answer is, ‘dolphin’ because who doesn’t love dolphins, right? No? Then perhaps ‘tiger’. To eat whoever it was that came up with the daft question in the first place.  
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We’d been sitting on the plane parked at a departure gate at Changi Singapore airport for over an hour.  The air conditioning was having a tough time staving off Singapore’s sizzling heat and with no explanation on the cause of the lengthy delay, all of us were getting pretty grumpy.

Then an announcement: Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.  I want to apologize for the delay today, which is not as a result of air traffic delays or any kind of maintenance issue. The delay is entirely my fault.  I missed the crew bus from the hotel this morning and I alone am to blame.  I’m truly sorry – I’ll do my best to make up some time en-route.” My jaw dropped.  And apparently, so did a few others as applause started to ripple through the aircraft.

Shocking! Someone had told the truth!

Far from being greeted with anger, the emotional temperature in the cabin dropped instantly.  While the problem still existed, most identified with what was a genuine, human mistake – the guy missed the bus – no different from any of us showing up late for a meeting for one reason or another. The problem wasn’t disguised as something it wasn’t.  It wasn’t a yeah, right ‘his dog ate his glasses…’ laughable attempt at the truth.  It was the unvarnished truth.  And it went over well. So if the truth can go over well, why are so many marketers and agencies so uncomfortable with telling it like it is? And if you’re thinking ‘no, not us’ – try one of these:

I don’t agree

You’re in a meeting listening to your boss, your client, your agency – whoever – and you know deep down their point of view or idea is wrong. Is it because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings?  Or could it be you’re afraid your client or your boss won’t appreciate your point of view?

We screwed up

Admitting you screwed up can be difficult. Of course there can be fall-out from admitting a mistake – but the generally speaking it’s easier to deal with a genuine mistake than a convoluted version of the truth. I’d suggest it also builds trust that whoever’s made the mistake is honest enough to admit it.

It’s late

This is a tough one because it means you’ve either over-promised, under-estimated or whatever it is, is out of your control.  Either way, it’s late. In which case, it’s likely easier to focus on the new timetable and deal with the reasons later.  But it’s tiresome if you spend your time blaming others or making up excuses.

No

Ever wanted to say ‘no’ but couldn’t? Sometimes saying ‘no’ can be hard but the consequences of saying ‘yes’ can make matters worse. ‘No’ with a considered point of view can even strengthen a relationship if your ‘no’ is reasonable.

I don’t know

We’re not all walking encyclopaedias – it’s ok to say, ‘I don’t know – let me go find out…’ once in a while.  And isn’t it far better to admit you don’t know something than to make up something that may not be true? Fear is likely at the bottom of most if it.  Fear your boss will lose confidence in you.  Fear your client will take their business elsewhere.  But the irony is, that more straight-up you are as an individual, as a corporation, as an agency or as a client – the more likely you are to garner greater respect and success than if you’re economical with the truth. So go ahead – tell it like it is. You have way more to gain – and a lot less to fear than you might think.  
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Forget handshakes and small talk…  strong client relationships hinge on clear expectations, not awkward silences. So to unlock true partnership magic, agency teams needs to be able to answer some key questions. These aren’t brain teasers, but they are vital for setting the stage for a smooth collaboration and keeping everyone laser-focused on success.

Even with seemingly clear roles, a team clarity check can reveal surprising gaps in understanding.  So don’t be surprised if a team check reveals areas where roles need clarification:

What are our expectations?

Here’s the real challenge: what if your agency freezes when asked ‘what are the client’s expectations?‘ If that’s the case, things are out of step before we start.  Ideally, both parties have a crystal clear understanding of expectations. And if the client struggles to articulate them, it’s an opportunity for the agency to revisit the business relationship and ensure everyone is on the same page.

What are our company’s objectives?

In order to contribute to your business successfully, everyone needs to be able to clearly articulate both your business and marketing objectives. Anything less should have you questioning their ability to participate in meaningful dialogue around the needs of your business and come up with solutions that are aligned to your needs.

What does our brand represent?

Strong agencies aren’t just order-takers, they’re brand whisperers. They can delve deep into a brand’s DNA, understanding its essence from every angle. Why? Because articulating a brand’s core values and messaging is the lifeblood of any successful campaign. It’s the secret sauce that connects with audiences on an emotional level. Without this superpower, marketing strategies would be bland echoes, failing to resonate with the very people they’re meant to reach. This is where the magic happens and why everyone working on your business needs to fundamentally understand a client’s brand and what it represents.

Do you understand our customers?

Fundamental to the success of any marketing activity is an understanding of your audiences. So to brief, create, and evaluate truly meaningful marketing solutions, all team members have to understand who you’re trying to reach, what’s important to them, how they’re interacting with your brand, what they’re looking for, and the kind of expectations that’ll create meaningful experiences.

What’s your role in our marketing ecosystem?

Clearly defining roles and responsibilities within individual teams, between marketing teams and agencies, and – when there are multiple agencies on your business – between agencies themselves sets the ground rules for engagement. The more precisely you define roles within your agency, the less likely you are to encounter confusion, wasted effort, or internal competition. This clarity fosters sharper, more focused teams that can deliver exceptional results.

How are you adding value?

Nobody needs or wants to feel like a cog in the machine, so it’s important everyone on your team feels like (and realizes) they’re adding value.  So if someone on your team can’t answer why they believe they’re adding value, it should be articulated so they can align on where and how they’re making a difference.  And if they’re not adding value – then perhaps they need to find a different path where they can addvalue

What’s our budget (for this)?

Understanding the project budget empowers everyone on the team to make informed decisions. While a deep dive into every allocation might not be necessary for all roles, everyone should be familiar with the overall project budget. If a team member struggles to answer ‘what’s our budget?’ it highlights a potential gap in communication. Open communication around finances fosters trust and helps to avoid scope creep. These core marketing concepts might seem like marketing 101, but a quick reality check can do wonders. Openly discussing these fundamentals ensures your team isn’t a squad of rogue freelancers, but a cohesive team focused on crushing your brand’s goals. Are you ready to ditch the marketing mystery box and unlock peak performance?  
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While there’s obviously work to be done in developing a fair evaluation grid and evaluation system during an agency search, preparation needs to begin even before you pull the trigger on an agency search.

Considering that the purpose of your agency review, how you propose to brief agencies and who you select to participate in your evaluation process, all play a role in a fair and transparent evaluation.  And the more diligent you are about structuring your proposed evaluation, the better the result you’ll likely achieve.

So with that as the context, here are some essential steps to help set any agency search evaluation up for success:

Be clear about your search and what you want to evaluate

This essentially sets the groundwork for everything – defining why you’re initiating your search and the questions and challenges you’ll then want addressed.  Any shortcuts in the planning at this stage will short-change you and your team’s ability to evaluate effectively.  And if you haven’t already done so – consider hiring an agency search consultant to help you.

Align stakeholders

Once you’ve defined your evaluation criteria, your stakeholders have to meet and agree this is how agencies will be evaluated. Aligning stakeholders before you get started is pivotal in your ability to evaluate as an organization rather than as individuals with separate agendas.

Dump preconceptions

As you align stakeholders on your approach, criteria and the challenges you want addressed, your evaluation team has to dump any baggage and preconceptions.

Easier said than done sometimes

But you need to be explicit in having this happen. This is particularly important if team members are expecting a creative presentation and the ask is focused on chemistry and approach.

Be transparent about what you’re evaluating

Openly sharing your evaluation criteria with agencies improves the entire search process. It will help your team make a more informed decision about the best agency for your business and gives agencies the opportunity to tailor their pitches to your specific needs.  Why hide it?

Develop a meaningful evaluation grid

Any evaluation grid needs to be a meaningful reflection of the key attributes of your search. But just as important, evaluation grids should be straightforward while allowing for an analysis that’s more than just a score.  A random score is meaningless unless you have some context on how your team arrived at their score.  Find out more on developing a meaningful scorecard here.

Everyone participates against the same framework

To maintain objectivity, the search team should base their assessments exclusively on the pre-determined search criteria.  And if you have stakeholders who can’t attend all presentations, they don’t get to vote – it’s unfair to allow participation on some agency presentations and not on others.

The search consultant doesn’t vote

The job of your search consultant – if you have one – is to provide objective, neutral input – not to weigh-in on agency performance.  Ask your search consultant for guidance, help to weigh the pros and cons – but don’t ask your consultant to vote – they need to be neutral at all times.

How will you find your proverbial needle in the haystack?

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If you’ve ever had your home renovated – or at least had builders trampling through your front door – you’ll likely know how frustrating renovations can be. I speak from experience. And despite the most meticulous planning you’ve likely found yourself intensely irritated by some fundamental problems that can cause some very heated friction between you and your chosen contractor.

Interestingly, I suspect it’s likely the same underlying issues that irritate both marketers and their agencies:

Start late / deliver late

When a project if briefed or starts late, it stands to reason the rest of it is likely going to be late, or rushed, or both.  And from an agency perspective a delay in one project can often lead to a delay or impact another initiative that’s in the works.

Budget allocation and management

With marketers facing intense scrutiny on budget allocation and potential evaluation on their ability to manage budgets – agencies need to take time to estimate, budget and manage accordingly.  The flip side is that marketers need to understand what things really cost and ensure sufficient budget is assigned from the get-go.

Broken promises

If you make a promise – keep it.  Or, if you don’t know – just say so and then go find the answer.  Intense friction, frustration and mistrust can be generated when a promise or assurance is given, only for it to be reneged on later. This applies to both clients and agencies: If you can’t keep it – don’t promise it.

Unwelcome surprises

In today’s complex world of collaboration, integration and multi-channel communication, shifts in projects are sometimes unavoidable. But the sooner you communicate a change in anticipated budget, scope, timing, cost, the better for everyone concerned.

Weak project management

Over the years, I’ve sometimes underestimated the value of thorough and experienced project management – to our cost. Rigorous project management can often alleviate potential irritations before they start. Cutting corners in quality project management almost always creates more problems than anticipated savings generated on paper. Any of this sound familiar? Whether a marketer, an agency – or indeed having your house renovated – most irritations can be avoided if they’re started on time, funded and managed properly, and unforeseen issues are managed quickly and transparently. But then again, I’m never surprised by stories from the frontline.  What irritates your teams – and could those issues be mitigated?
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When a marketer calls an agency review and asks new agencies to pitch, the default position from agencies is typically “yes”.

Marketers too are typically in a “yes” mindset – wanting to be open to all permutations and possibilities, while agencies are also in a “yes” mindset – answering yes to capability questions and yes to invitations to participate in the upcoming pitch process. But yes isn’t always the smartest answer. Marketers and agencies should feel confident and good about saying “no” when the situation calls for it.  And in some cases, “no” is perhaps the best word of all. Here are some examples of when saying “no” is a way better answer:

MARKETERS

Agency pitches can be time consuming and disruptive for both marketers and agencies, and an honest, straight forward “no”, can save time, money and angst on both sides.

Inviting incumbent agencies

Unless you have a corporate mandate to call an agency search, you need to be very clear why you’re calling an agency review and in particular, why your incumbent agency isn’t satisfying your needs. Inviting an incumbent agency to participate just to be “polite” isn’t enough. If the incumbent can cut it – then perhaps a search shouldn’t be happening in the first place. If you don’t think they can cut – say so and say “no”.

Window shopping

Window-shopping isn’t a reason to put an agency on a pitch list – particularly if you don’t think they have the skill-set or horsepower to manage your business. If you’re just curious about an agency’s capabilities – be direct and call them. Let them know your points of interest and be clear about your goals. But say “no” to including them if you’re just window-shopping.

Politics

Whether we like it or not, corporate politics can play a role in the development of agency review lists. While challenging, politics should be squashed (or at least addressed) before your invite list gets into the market. So when it comes to agencies and politics – steer clear and say “no”.

Chalk and cheese

Fit and chemistry are huge drivers in any pitch process – even if they’re not attributes on a scorecard.  It’s very rare that a marketing team will choose an agency they don’t feel comfortable with – even if they’re ticking all the functional boxes.  If you have concerns about an agency’s fit or chemistry with your team – chances are you should listen to your gut and say “no”.

Cheapest price

This is more than a “no”, it’s a “no-no”. Agency relationships that are forged on price alone don’t last. Services get cut, resources get throttled back and disagreements quickly bubble up.  Always look at value and quality of services relative to their cost.  If costs are way cheaper than others and it seems too good to be true – it probably is.  Say “no”.

AGENCIES

While the pressure to drive revenue and secure new business may never go away, there are times when a well placed “no” can help you focus on current clients or other new business that may be better suited to your capabilities.

Incumbent agency

If you’ve been invited by your client to participate in an agency review process and you know it’s not a corporate mandate to review after x number of years, you need to understand why they’re calling a pitch and specifically what your chances of success are.  If you’re not completely comfortable with the reasoning, it’s probably the right time to say “no”.

In over your head

While large clients or complex marketing organizations may seem attractive at the outset, they can present enormous risk to smaller agencies if things go wrong.  Some marketers place a cap on the percentage of business they represent in smaller agencies, simply because they don’t want to bankrupt them if things change, budgets get cut or alignments force an agency change down the road.  If you think your agency is in over its head and you could potentially be putting the agency at risk – say “no”.

Current commitments

If you’ve recently won a new, prestigious client, your agency is growing really quickly and / or you’re working through other growing pains, you should consider whether adding further headaches into the mix is the smartest thing to do. While the increased revenue might be appealing – the operational challenges won’t be.  This time round, say “no”.

There’s no chemistry

What kind of agency are you?  What size and kind of marketer hits your sweet-spot as an agency?  These questions not only help define what’s not right, but really help define where and in what industries an agency can excel. Agencies should define their own best fit parameters and interview the potential client as much as the marketer wants to interview them. If the chemistry is wrong or just not there – say “no”.

When your gut says no

The good news here is that it’s probably easier for an agency to quantify a gut reaction than it is for a marketer to implement a gut reaction decision. If your gut or your team is saying no, it probably means the chemistry isn’t a good match with your agency’s culture – and “no” is probably the right answer. “No” isn’t always a bad word when it comes to participating in an agency pitch – it’s often saying “yes” that causes the problems.  So whether you’re a marketer or an agency – feel good about saying “no” when it’s the right thing to do.
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Surprising as it may seem, the real differentiator for agencies likely is not being the most creative or cheapest(!), it’s a weapon most agencies wouldn’t expect:

Financial Fluency.

Imagine. A team where everyone, from the copywriter crafting viral copy to the social media expert, can decipher a client’s financial health with the ease of reading a menu. I believe that financial literacy in advertising could really change the game.

Sound crazy?  Well, here’s why I think fostering balance sheet literacy across your entire agency would benefit your team and your clients’ businesses:

Demystifying the Numbers Game: Why Balance Sheets Matter in Advertising

While accountants might handle the nitty-gritty, understanding its core components would empower agency resources in several key ways:

  1. You’re Likely Missing Out: Missing out?  Believe me when I say that there are any number of consulting companies marketers can (and likely will) talk with to help them understand the financial implications of strategic decisions they’re contemplating. And that’s a role agency’s need to own.
  2. Strategic Alignment: Campaigns built in a vacuum often miss the mark. By understanding a client’s financial health, your team can tailor strategies that align with their resources. Is the company flush with cash for a high-budget campaign or are they better suited for a targeted social media campaign? Balance sheets provide the context to make informed decisions.
  3. Cost-Effectiveness: Every dollar spent on advertising needs to deliver a return on investment. Understanding a client’s financial limitations helps your team avoid proposing extravagant campaigns that might not be feasible.
  4. Client Comprehension: Balance sheets aren’t just for internal discussions. When teams grasp financial statements, clients will quickly see they’re astutely invested in their financial success.
  5. Identifying Growth Opportunities: Balance sheets can reveal hidden gems. Perhaps a client has a healthy cash reserve that could fuel expansion into new markets. Or maybe their low debt-to-equity ratio suggests they’re ripe for strategic partnerships. With an understanding of their financial position, an agency could confidently propose innovative marketing strategies to unlock untapped potential.
  6. Deeper Client Relationships: Finances are often a sensitive topic. But if an agency team demonstrates financial literacy, they automatically position themselves as more than just creative partners. They become strategic advisors who understand the bigger picture to build stronger, more collaborative client relationships.

Beyond the Bottom Line: Building an Agency with Balance Sheet Savvy

So, how could agencies equip their teams with the power of the balance sheet?

The ROI of Balance Sheet Literacy: A Win-Win for Agencies and Clients

The benefits of a financially literate agency extend far beyond just understanding budgets – and here’s the ultimate win-win:

Sure, financial statements can be drier than a day-old pop tart and I’m not trying to suggest agencies turn into spreadsheet superheroes.  But further empowering teams to create marketing magic that respects the cold, hard reality of your clients wallets is the key to forging deeper client bonds and yes, even winning more business!

So in our view, a small investment in balance sheet literacy will pay agencies dividends as  your teams transform deeper financial literacy into greater marketing power.