Thunderclap

Hi. Many, many agencies suggest they’re great in new business. If they only had more pitches! Loyal Thunderclappers will have seen a few interesting ideas on this ad agency new business blog that will help increase the number of opportunities they have.

But what about the problem no one wants to admit they have? The one that people deny all the time.

I’m talking about losing. You earn the pitch… move through the RFP phase and credentials… get more excited as each round goes by and you face fewer competitors… only to lose at finals.

What happened?! Ya got me. I wasn’t there. But here’s a list of common culprits:

• Failure to market the agency throughout the process
• Non alignment around the presentation
• Lack of key inside insights and intel around decision-makers and/or company
• Incomplete brief to team (beyond the client’s challenges, what are the messages we need to communicate that convince them we’re better than our competitors?)
• Poor presentation construction
• Inability to make the human connection (“chemistry”)
• Entering finals as an also-ran (not a true competitor)
• An inefficient method for pulling together pitch content and context
• Failure to connect the work to the needed client impact
• Ensuring all have a shared new business skill set
• Poor search consultant management

So, there are lots of reasons why your agency lost. And the thing of it is that your mileage could vary on each and every trip. Er, pitch.

And while it might be easy for you to read that your solution to solving the kinds of challenges listed above by hiring your friendly ad agency new business consultant, let’s be a little less self serving.

So, one solution that can help with many of the above challenges?

Build and follow a process
This concept can take many forms. It could be a brief, that addresses the prospect’s marketing problem AND details intel around the decision-makers. Or maybe it’s a roadmap that lays out the deliverables over time and how you can marshal the team to win each deliverable and leverage the time in between. Whatever it is, the process could build in the energy for you to focus on a particular challenge your agency has around winning. So you can avoid easily made mistakes.

Very easy to get carried away with something like this, though. Complications can just as easily muck things up. There is an art to it, though, which yours truly just realized will make for a nice little post sometime. So, c’mon back when you can.

###

Ad Age story suggests they just hired a new CMO from another CPG giant. Yours truly lost track of this business once it left DFCB Chicago to Element 79. Not quite sure where it’s at right now, but would guess this could be an opportunity for many agencies. Or, even, a sister. So to speak!

Maybe what you need to win this business is a brand backgrounder. Available on a first come, first served basis, these intelligence briefs can ensure your agency can not only get on the radar screen, but win the business.

###

More news. Saw this story that details Blackberry’s business plans. Article suggests they are looking for a new CMO and will increase their focus on marketing. Perhaps a little too late, me thinks. How can your agency help them avoid being a myspace of their category? Perhaps you have a history of helping brands play leapfrog. Or…

But the royal we of Thunderclap digress!

###

Another client leader change can be seen at buy.com. Here’s the story. Lest you think their brand is too small for  you. From their press release, “with more than 18 million customers, Buy.com is a leading retail marketplace, focused on providing its customers with a great shopping experience and a broad selection of retail goods at everyday low prices.”

Their new CMO has digital marketplace experience, hailing from Newegg and PC Mall.

###

Typically, you see pitch predictors here based on client-side personnel change: new CMOs, directors of marketing, etc. But today, you’re seeing this one for another reason: badvertising. I saw this campaign break weeks ago and immediately saw this business will go into review.

I also happen to be a Netflix stockholder, and have been extremely disappointed lately. Here’s a Youtube link to Netflix stuff.

But wait, there’s more. Turns out there has been a change in management, too. Leslie Kilgore is stepping down as CMO. She will remain on the company’s board of directors.