Agency Agony Uncle

If you are making money and all is well with your main business then what a fabulous time to speculate and go and get new business; too many agencies wait until new business is an imperative and then they are forever filling up a leaking bucket. So yes, go after new business, and as you are obviously an independently owned agency I like the fact that you have targeted specific areas you believe you can make a difference in and are considering doing some speculative work.

However, if the prospects, for they are not yet clients… well not yours... do not have a marketing budget now, or in the future, then no, I wouldn’t chase them – what’s the point in that?

If you want to do some pro-bono work then go do it for a charity and at least get a warm fuzzy feeling as you ain’t getting any cash. If, however, the prospects simply have no spare budget now, but have spent money with other agencies, then why not create something just for them, an e-comm solution – what better way to demonstrate not only your skills but also your interest and desire to work with the prospect?

As for payment, why not take the first £x of sales/profit that your solution generates to pay you for your initially speculative solution. After that sum, the revenues are all your prospect’s.

In effect, you are proposing a risk/reward approach, what has your prospect got to lose? You may, though, have to get them to sign something saying that they will honour your agreement and will nick neither the intellectual property nor the forthcoming revenues.

This approach will not make you popular with other agencies, especially the incumbent, but then again you are not in business to please them are you?

Dear Uncle Carl,

Call it paranoia – even though I have very little to be paranoid about – but I think my boss might be monitoring my emails. Well, not just my emails but all staff emails. I was just wondering if this is common practice? Or, if the staff haven’t been alerted to the fact that all emails are monitored, is this against the law?

I think a smattering of paranoia is a healthy thing; keeps you on your toes and hopefully one step ahead of the masses. But in this case I think your paranoia is more likely to be less a figment of your imagination and more likely a fact. A fact in so much as a recent survey I read showed that 60% of UK employers monitor their staff emails.

Now every employer ‘could’ monitor your emails but, more than likely, they do not have the time, or the inclination. However, there is a chance that if you are a new arrival/have handed your notice in/are a repeat offender for half day ‘dentist’ appointments/in some sort of HR ‘consultation’, then you have put yourself on top of your boss’s ‘emails to read today’ list. I certainly did it, oh the things I have read… As far as I am aware, it isn’t ‘against the law’ and is more likely to be governed by your company handbook or contract of employment.

Bear in mind you are using an email system provided by your employer as a tool to do your job and represent their business; they are probably well within their rights to do ‘random’ checks on how those tools are being utilised by their employees. Also as a recent news report demonstrated, more and more employers are checking staff’s social sites and one young lady was fired for saying her job was dull – so bare in mind what you write on your facebook status!

Dear Uncle Carl,

Two of us run a small design agency that’s built up a good creative reputation. Unfortunately, we’ve now hit a wall when it comes to bringing in new clients. We’re both from creative backgrounds and, if we’re honest, probably not as savvy when it comes to the new business side as we should be. We’ve been thinking about bringing in someone with a bit of clout in the industry to try and raise our profile and get some new clients in, but we can’t afford to get burned by a chancer. What qualities should we look for in someone who’ll boost our business and what type of people should we avoid?

There is a natural pattern to business – the excitement of the start-up, the energy (and fear that brings), the growth from a couple of (usually stolen) clients and the quick addition of more business, more projects, then you become ‘full’.

The clever ones realise they have to hold on to what they have but also look to add more business and that becomes difficult when the main protagonists are now busy doing the work and holding the clients close to their creative bosom.

Bringing in a big hitter is, by its very nature, a big risk and a big investment and you are right to think there are a lot of chancers out there because there are! I think that the new biz person, along with a creative director, are the hardest roles to fill in an agency. I would have a look, but bare in mind that no one, I repeat no one, will measure up to your successes and commitment of the early years, so don’t expect to find them – you will only be disappointed.

Consider their track record, the success of the agencies they come from, their understanding of the industry, your sector, your ‘type’ of clients. Will the chancer fit in with your team, will they be able to provide a return on their salary cost – sorry investment. Also, bear in mind it could take a year for them to produce anything worth having.

While you are looking, make sure that, as a business, you have a multi-channel approach to new business; are you doing PR? Are your clients and staff ambassadors? Are you in the right trade bodies? Are you networking at the appropriate prospect events? Are you seen as a leader in your sector or commentator in your market? Do you buy advertising? Do you have partnership deals with other agencies or could you use a cold calling agency?… The list goes on and sometime the new business person is simply the co-ordinator of all these things not the originator. So be sure of the shape and needs of your own business before you take a chance on a chancer.