The author provides an overview of his most important findings in Werbewoche and on Werbewoche.ch. A shortened version of the following text is printed in the print edition (the last six paragraphs are missing).
"Now you've shown us what you can do. Which of these are you particularly good at? What is actually your specialty?" Unfortunately, when a marketing decision-maker asks an agency this question, the person in charge often only receives an evasive answer or no meaningful answer at all. Many agencies are very good at advising their existing or potential clients when it comes to positioning issues. But if you want to improve your own, this becomes a Herculean task. This sums up the opinion of around 40 marketing decision-makers I spoke to. I wanted to know from them in general what agencies do well in new business and where they can improve.
To be fair, it has to be admitted that agencies have certainly made progress in terms of their own positioning in recent years: More and more are realizing that, especially as a small and medium-sized agency, it is not possible to present a "we-can-do-it-all approach" in a meaningful and credible way. Small structures in particular can no longer keep up with the latest knowledge in all communication disciplines. Even agencies that are only at home in the digital sector face massive challenges here. Even if they can no longer do everything, many service providers are still carrying around a remarkable vendor's tray. Even without the label of "integrated communication" or full service, it becomes difficult to name their core discipline. Yet every client wants to know what an agency is particularly good at. This is the only place where it can provide meaningful help and be deployed. Unfortunately, the positioning of being an all-rounder reduces credibility and leads to being sidelined. Even if there are always exceptions to the rule, specialization is winning more and more often.
Marketing managers are also critical when it comes to the initial contact between agencies and potential new customers, which is usually made by telephone. This is certainly seen as a useful tool for initial contact. However, agencies often make the mistake of letting call centers or junior colleagues pick up the phone. If a potential customer asks more detailed questions here, they usually only receive the response that they are welcome to discuss the answer in detail in a personal meeting with the agency's managing director. Of course, this is no way to achieve credibility, nor does it convey expertise. No marketing manager seriously expects the agency's managing director to make cold calls himself. You know that these employees also have other tasks to perform. But the colleague who makes the calls should be experienced. However, these are usually neither juniors nor call centers.
I also talked to the marketing decision-makers about the reasons why they sit down with an agency in the first place and how agencies argue here. For them, the question of why a marketing manager would spend an hour talking to them is not easy to answer. Their reaction is often to place too much emphasis on their own work; even later in a personal meeting, they primarily want to talk about themselves. This may be well-intentioned, but is of too little benefit to the potential customer. Such an approach does not set you apart from competing agencies, as the vast majority argue in exactly the same way. If you want to get an appointment today, you have to provide the contact person with an intangible benefit in return for this one hour of your time. And that doesn't consist of showing off how great your agency is.
Many have responded by looking at selected aspects of a potential new customer's communication from their own perspective. In a personal meeting, they want to present these findings in the form of feedback. There is clearly a benefit here and you have looked at the potential new customer's work in advance; this is a clear plus point. However, you have no briefing and no insights. So you don't know which of the proposed solutions can be implemented at all, which have not been liked in the past and which have not been successful. What could an alternative look like? It can be much more exciting to leave your perspective and talk to customers of the potential new customer. These people also have neither briefing nor insights. But their opinion should interest every marketing manager. And as a side effect, you get into a real dialog with the decision-maker and are perceived as an equal partner.
Let's take another look at the question of how presentations are made today. The decision-maker of a medium-sized BtB company asked the legitimate question as to why almost all agencies use PowerPoint or something similar. However, he was advised to differentiate himself from his competitors. "Why don't agencies use this opportunity in the presentation itself?" There is no general answer here, but it is worth thinking about. The good old overhead projector can perhaps only be used in selected cases. Courage is appreciated here and you will be remembered for a long time if you present "differently". Agencies should sometimes have the courage they demand from their clients.
If you are then invited to a pitch as an agency, you should take a very close look at whether it makes sense to take part. An important criterion here is how many agencies are taking part. Ideally, there should be a total of three service providers, but four is also an acceptable number. If there are more, participation must be viewed critically. If the agency is expected to surrender its copyrights at the beginning or even later, it is "time to say goodbye". Such behavior on the part of the potential new customer gives rise to the suspicion that they are just trying to get ideas quickly.
Whether a pitch fee is paid is less and less the central question, even if agencies often judge this differently. Although you often hear from service providers that they never pitch without financial compensation, in real life you often find different behavior. As is well known, such a fee should only cover part of the costs or be a recognition of the service. If the overall package is right, you should think about taking part. It is also interesting to note from the marketing side that few agencies ask for a fee if they are not offered one.
You also need to know who is organizing and carrying out the pitch. An example: The marketing manager receives an order from the managing director to put out a pitch. However, he has a rough idea of his boss's expectations. The briefing is exactly the same. During the presentation, it turns out that marketing has sent the agency in the wrong direction and the managing director actually wanted something completely different. Problems like this arise particularly with projects where it is very easy to misunderstand each other. Design tasks come to mind. Here, the agency can only know what is wanted if it talks to the final decision-maker. This is not feasible for international projects in particular, if the decision-maker is based in the USA or Asia. However, if it is a national job and the managing director consistently delegates to marketing and is therefore not available for such discussions, the question of the quality of the pitch arises again.
The briefing itself can also be a stumbling block. Customers often do not have a precise idea of what the solution to a problem should look like. In times of many new communication options, such cases will increase. But a pitch with a half-baked briefing is not the right way to go. As an agency, you should always encourage people in such situations to think about other ways of solving the problem. Workshops or clarifying discussions can be one such option.
Only a few criteria could be listed here to help you decide whether to take part in a pitch; a checklist must be individual. Today, everyone should have such a document available. Too much gut feeling makes little sense and does not lead to the necessary decision-making certainty.
About the Author:
Heiko Burrack (born 1967) successfully completed his business studies with a focus on marketing at the Georg-August University in Göttingen in May 1995. The business graduate then worked in customer consulting for various agencies. In 2003, he founded Burrack NB-Advice. NB-Advice advises agencies and companies that have their core service in the marketing sector on the strategic and operational acquisition of new customers. Burrack.de
In addition to this work, Heiko Burrack is also a speaker, trainer and coach. He publishes regularly in various trade journals and is the author of the books "Vom Pitch zum Award" (with Ralf Nöcker), published in May 2008 by FAZ-Verlag (Frankfurt), "Erfolgreiches New Business für Werbeagenturen" (September 2009) and "Die Werbepropheten und ihre dröhnenden Lautsprecher" (February 2012); both books were published by BusinessVillage (Göttingen). In June 2014, his latest book "Matching" was published by New Business-Verlag in Hamburg.
