6 (or so) questions an ad agency should ask a prospective client before pitching
Above: a few wee beauties from my lovely collection of RFP documents.
Came across a post by Edward Boches, 'Chief Creative Officer and Chief Social Media Officer' of U.S. ad agency Mullen. On his blog Creativity Unbound he writes about how new biz RFIs typically ask lots of standard questions about figures, management bios, client list, recent/wins losses, capabilities, strategic approach and examples of work, etc. He suggests clients would get more revealing answers if they asked the following questions:
1. What is the future of advertising?
This is a tough one for sure, but you’ll want to know if your agency has a clear sense of how much is changing… A forward thinking agency should have a pretty good point of view about how social media, technology, and the “good enough revolution” are changing the business.
2. What are you doing to assure your survival?
These days an agency should look pretty different than it did a few years ago. How have they made themselves more digital? What practices have been abandoned?
3. What are your criteria for hiring people?
Talent is everything… Given that you’ll have to work hand in hand with people, you may also want to know what qualities the agency looks for. Curiosity? Courage? Relentlessness? Disruptive? Crazy? And find out for sure how many digital natives your agency’s hired recently.
4. What is your definition of a creative team?
Who else besides the writer and the art director are on the team? Technology? User experience? Social media? Connection planner?
5. What are five recent creative ideas that aren’t ads?
Are they inventing new products for clients? Creating communities? Building platforms? Developing apps and utilities and WAP sites? Are they as committed to all the non-advertising platforms as to the 30 second spot?
All reasonable suggestions and, in fact, we're starting to see these kind of questions more and more in the RFPs we receive. (In addition, of course, to the usual questions about studio rate card and proprietary research tools.)
One of the commenters on Mr Boches' blog suggested that there should also be a list of five questions an agency should ask a prospect, 'to test if the agency should engage in an RFP or just give that customer up'. Interesting. It's something we've often talked about here: what kind of questions should we ask of prospects in order to establish whether we think this will be a mutually beneficial relationship. So, here's a stab at '5 – or more – questions an agency should ask a prospective client'.
1. Who are the decision makers on the pitch and on the agency's work?
It's always a worry when you do a pitch and there are a bunch of stakeholders who you don't get to meet until the final presentation. I've had a few experiences of the CEO who is unavailable to meet until the final pitch presentation and who then turns up and directly contradicts the direction we've been given by the client running the pitch. ("Is that really the brief you guys were working to?!") Hugely frustrating. In general, we'll decline a pitch process that doesn't allow us to speak to all the decision makers before the final presentation. Sometimes clients are a bit offended when they call up and ask us to pitch and we say, 'Well, we'd like to meet you face to face before we agree to participate.' But we want to spend as much time as possible getting to know them to see if we can work with each other.
Another point on this: in general, the greater the number of people who have a say in the approval of the work, the less likely it is to be great, and the more likely it is to be costly to manage. Long and complex approval processes should make an agency wary of getting involved with a client.
2. What are your criteria for judging the success of your agency's work?
Sometimes, this isn't very clear, and that can lead to a disconnect between agency and client, or an agency that feels like its work isn't touching on the real issues facing a client. Is the real target audience the sales force? Or the City? What does the client's bonus depend upon? What are the real drivers of profitability in the client's business and how can the agency make a positive impact on those? Are the business issues things that can actually be addressed by the scope of work in the pitch?
Also worth asking if they have a pitch 'scorecard'. If they do, and they don't share it with you, it's like sitting an exam without knowing how many marks are allocated to each question.
3. Is your inclination to aim high and do something extraordinary, or to settle for the ordinary and avoid the risk of failure?
As Phil Rumbol of Cadbury wrote in Campaign the other week:
"As the world of marketing moves away from the tried-and-tested
techniques of the past 40 years, marketers need to seize the opportunity
for competitive advantage by being braver and more ambitious in all they
do. In a corporate world that "seeks certainty", there are too many
marketers that aim to get ten out of ten things "right" by avoiding
doing them wrong. Instead, the best marketers of the future will aim to
"hit every ball out of the park", and make the most of the learning
opportunity from those they miss. They need to embrace the new media
landscape and learn by doing."
Or, as we tend to say at W+K, are you ready to walk in stupid and embrace failure?
4. What made you consider us for this pitch?
May seem like a dumb question, but the answer can be revealing. If the response indicates a degree of knowledge of the agency's competitive strengths, market positioning and working philosophy, that suggests that the client has done enough homework to evidence an interest in who you are and what you do. That's an encouraging sign. If they find it hard to answer the question, then either it wasn't their idea to put you on the shortlist (suggesting that someone else is the real decision maker and you should be talking to that person) or they just don't see this whole thing as that important, which is a bit of a worry if you're about to commit your team's evenings and weekends to this for the next few weeks. The answer may also be that a mutual acquaintance has recommended you to the client, in which case you can get a bit of inside track on the pitch by asking the recommender about their conversation with the client.
5. How many agencies are pitching and who are they?
A long list, or a weird, ill-assorted list, or a list that includes the client's brother in law's agency, all set off alarm bells.
6. Will you pay a pitch fee?
Can't hurt to ask. Shows that you place a value on your work. And the answer can again be revealing about the client's attitude to agencies.
Actually, now I start to think about it, there are lots more questions to ask, like…
– why are you reviewing?
– is the incumbent repitching?
– how much budget do you have set aside for agency fees?
– to what extent are you prepared to share the rewards if we achieve and exceed your objectives?
– how do you use research in the creative development process – as a tool to aid decision making, or as the way you make decisions?
And more. But it's getting late. So, any further suggestions on questions to ask clients before agreeing to pitch?