Insights

Sales Pitch Rejection

July 6, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

Ah, Nothing Like Sales Pitch Rejection

Here is a quickie on the wonderful experience of sales pitch rejection (plus my advice – below) and a bit on the also wonderful post-sales pitch chirping sound, lately known as ghosting.

Thoughts On A Recent Sales Pitch Rejection. Me = Pissed Off. But, Twas A Learning Opportunity

The odds good are that your advertising or marketing agency or consultancy will often be rejected. A decent reason: the prospect is looking at more than one option and your batting average, even a good one, might only be 300% (note, a career-high like that would get you into the Baseball Hall of Fame). You mitigate the art of rejection by pitching the right prospects and the great fact that you are an expert in what the client is looking for. Ok, that said, you will still get rejected if you have an active business development program.

But, what you don’t want is a useless rejection that does not help you improve. Here is one example. And, tell me if I am too thin-skinned.

Note: 100% of my leads come as inbound inquiries. That means that the prospect probably heard about me from WOM or read about me (and read my insights) and made the decision to make contact.

This happened a couple of weeks ago with a New York agency. We scheduled a call, I gave them my pitch, discussed their needs in detail and they asked for a proposal. I sent it a day later and then kinda got a bit ghosted, as in they did not respond in a timely manner – here is a definition of ghosting:

Ghosting is a relatively new colloquial dating term that refers to abruptly cutting off contact with someone without giving that person any warning or explanation for doing so. Even when the person being ghosted reaches out to re-initiate contact or gain closure, they’re met with silence. (Source: Verywell Mind.)

Look, I know that people need to take their time. So, I do not get crazed if I do not get a yes or no quickly.

Follow Up Scenario

To keep the ball rolling, I did my 4-day post-proposal email follow-up and after a couple of more days got a reply from the CEO who told me that they had selected another consultancy because I did not share the agency’s “vision and values.” Now, I usually go, “well, OK.”

But the statement that I did not share VALUES kinda pissed me off. I mean, WTF does that personal to me message mean? What values did we talk about? I then sent this email: [Read more…] about Sales Pitch Rejection

Is Mexico Dangerous

June 29, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

Is Mexico Dangerous? Let’s Let Advertising Help Answer.

There is a video inside an AdWeek article I want you to watch. Do it. It is about powerful advertising that can make an idiot look like a real idiot.

But, first this.

One of the smarter questions I get from Americans asking about my life in San Miguel de Allende Mexico is – “is Mexico dangerous?” Note, it very safe for millions of Mexicans and gringos – despite the drone of bad USA news. The bad stuff is the cartel people killing each other. Think mafia wars.

I also get this question, “how is the beach in Mexico City”. But I’ll save that brilliant question for another day.

Bottom line: Is living in Mexico dangerous? No. Ain’t Texas.

I sure feel safer here than in Texas where it is mucho easier to walk around with a loaded handgun on your hip (in a supermarket or your 7-11) than it is to get a driver’s license.

Imagine buying diapers with your toddler when the low IQ dude next to you is packing a 30-round Kel-Tec. But, I’ll save discussing that insanity for another day.

OK, the advertising video.

From AdWeek Magazine…

On a sunny day in early June, David Keene, board member and former president of the National Rifle Association, thinks he is delivering a graduation speech to a high school in Las Vegas. Dressed in a black cap and gown with a bright yellow sash, he stands at a podium and tells the students of John Madison Academy, “Follow your dream and make it a reality.”

Before him stretches a sea of empty white chairs, hiding a chilling truth behind this ceremony. For while Keene believes he is rehearsing for a commencement speech, in reality John Madison Academy is not a real school, and those empty chairs will never be filled.

Each of the 3,044 seats represents a student who should have graduated in 2021–if they hadn’t been killed by gun violence.

A Jaguar Request For Advertising Proposal

June 29, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

I Bet You’d Dig A Sweet Jaguar Request For Advertising Proposal

Imagine getting a request for a proposal from Jaguar. The car manufacturer. You’d feel mighty fine, right? Below is a segment from Mad Men in which Rodger Sterling gives pitching advice to his British partner Layne Price. Give it a look. First, here are a couple of my takeaways.

Look at the office. I started in offices like that. First I was in an AAE Qube (with walls, what a good idea), then I got my AE window office, then an Account Supervisor window office with a couch, and then the big Management Director office where we could also hold meetings at a table. Imagine that. NOTE: It was all way better than today’s (or yesterday’s) people sitting at long tables plus headphones.

Rodger talks about how to do a ‘chemistry’ meeting. Use your time together to get to learn about your prospect. Pay attention. “Smile, sit there, and let him talk.” “Don’t let him near the check” and “Find out everything about him before you get there.” Allow me to parse this out. Be friendly, listen, learn all about him (her) before you get there. In my parlance – there is no blind date in 2021.

A couple of stories. How to get or not to get a request for advertising proposal.

I once ran the $60 million Northwest Airlines account at Saatchi & Saatchi. When we lost that (we were fired by the new CMO at an award dinner while winning a Gold EFFIE). If you think you’ve met a bigger asshole, let me know. A couple of years later I was running global biz dev and had a get-to-know-you dinner in D.C. with the President of US Air and the New York Saatchi Chairman and President. My NYC guys talked about their golf game for two hours. Non-stop. I never had a chance to talk about airline industry issues. After yawing, the client guy left. Never heard from him again.

Early in my career, I got some advice from a smart Minneapolis agency leader. He would travel out of town to meet a business prospect. Invited him to dinner. Before they met, my guy would head to the restaurant, hand over his AMEX card and put down a 20% tip, told the restaurant to just charge the account… not to bring the bill over (made the guest go, “WTF” with a smile). Serve my guy a watered drink (see the video). Also when they walked into the restaurant to call my guy by his name and say “nice to see you again Mr. XXX.” Ok, yup, kinda corny. But for me a learning experience about managing an experience. Especially the part about the bill.

Need more info on how to win an account? Buy me dinner sometime. Or just… Buy my book.

Mad Men’ Rodger Sterling On: Request For Proposal From Jaguar

The Cobbler’s Shoe Excuse

June 26, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

The Shoemaker’s Children Go Barefoot

I hear a lot of excuses from large, medium, and small advertising agencies about why they are not running a long-term, 24-7, active business development program. These agencies often chuckle – a wary chuckle, before mentioning the cobbler’s shoe excuse.

You know what I’m talking about. The excuse is that the agency is so focused on its day-to-day clients that they neglect their own biz dev, or better expressed, their own sales program. These agencies act like the way too busy shoemaker whose children go barefoot. “Yup, I’m like really busy making shoes for my customers. Just don’t have the time to take care of the kids.”

Of course. This is insanity. Many agencies touch failure because one of their large, cash-cow clients leaves, and the agency does not have the active pipeline that will deliver the next big account. Insanity. I have never seen an agency in my long-term experience that did not eventually lose a major account.

A Recipe For Business Development Failure Success

Let’s get really simple. This is what every advertising and digital and PR agency has to do. Period. Give me a shout and I can help you create and run the plan that will make these actions happen fast. As in, make those shoes for your kids.

Caveat: Is this radically new information? No. But, this is the blueprint. If you do not do this, then go barefoot.

Have agency leadership that recognizes that they must play a major role in agency growth. When I ran business development at Saatchi & Saatchi, both Maurice and Charles dove into pitches.
Figure out who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the business development program.
Make sure that your advertising agency can get found by a future client that is looking for your type of agency. Just for kicks, start with a ‘blank sheet’ and try finding your agency. Do you stand out from the 4,000 marketing options that are in front of most clients? Have a get-found plan.
Have an active friends, business associates, family referral plan. WOM does not always happen automatically or when you want it. You need to manage your WOM outreach.
Love the clients you have and grow them. This can not be placed on automatic. Do your people know how to nurture?
Build the agency marketing plan. A manageable plan. And, KISS.
Have a standout positioning. Being an expert in something would be a rather good idea. Translate this into an “elevator pitch.” You could even carve up your positions and use targeted marketing to deliver multiple messages. You can be both a mobile and a pet marketing expert. Try different landing pages.
Know exactly what clients you want and how to entice them to want you. Ask yourself, “why would that client want to get to know me?”
Build your prospect lists. And, personas.
Leverage Account-Based Marketing to go get their attention. This takes time. Make sure you nail a LinkedIn program and then move on.
Create thought leadership that cannot be IGNORED. Please be unignorable.
Build a website that is sales-oriented. And different. Drive contacts. Did I say sales-oriented?
Use video to sell yourself, your story, your reason for being. Just for kicks, try using paper. Yes, paper.
Have a must-follow process that includes plan elements, a marketing calendar, to-do lists, and very clear responsibilities, and a CRM system.

r/Advertising Advertising School

June 21, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

An Advertising School For You. Yes, You.

A few months ago I bumped into the r/Advertisingschool on Reddit. I’m like = this is a cool, smart, and free online advertising school. All of this, especially smart, being a good thing for the vast majority of advertising agencies who do not do any employee training – a thing from the higher-margin past.

Not to get too far into the old days. but, when I started in the business at my mega New York agency, I, along with my cohort group, had weekly training sessions. We covered how to communicate with clients, how to be strategic geniuses, how to write creative and media briefs, and how to present.

Those were the old days. Days before agencies curtailed training. Now with r/advertisingschool y’all got… Imagine… A free, smart set of courses that even an “I know it all” veteran can learn from. For example, watch the Digital / Social course on YouTube – its below.

Just Do It

I urge you: agency owners; employees from all groups and your “I wanna work in advertising” types to peruse and watch the sessions. Try one on for size. Here is the school’s description:

r/Advertising School is a free portfolio school hosted in Reddit’s r/Advertising community.

The 12-week program features courses from industry professionals alongside real assignments to promote diversity in the ad industry.

Yes, a course. BUT, BUT… you can watch the advertising school course videos at your own speed when you want.

Hey, just go here and check the videos out.

The courses include:

Digital/social
Strategy Account
PR
Media Planning
Design
Brand building
Portfolio

Watch the Digital/Social video as an appetizer… it gets cooking at about the 4:30 minute mark. I have been using and social media thangs since 1995, yes, true. I learned from this one.