I love conducting agency reviews. I learn a lot about a number of different industries. I learn a lot about new advertising technologies and tools, and I meet a lot of agencies who become my best friends for a couple of weeks.
I recently completed a couple of agency searches and I saw that the Pandemic had made doing a review very challenging for the agencies and the clients in many ways.
First a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting is not the optimum way to select an agency partner.
I have always believed that New Business pitches are theatre. I know most agencies feel more comfortable sitting at the table and talking. New Business meetings are pitches. They are not status meetings. Agencies that stand up and present engage better with the client. Agencies are supposed to be creative entities. It is challenging to bring theatre to a Zoom call.
During my recent reviews I have found that agencies who used Video as a presentation tool stood out because they seem more real. More human. They had full bodies, more movement and they projected more excitement.
Online meetings come with poor internet connections, microphone mix ups and washed-out background lighting. I also want to be in your office to sense your culture. I do not want to see your bedroom, garage, open bathroom, or other backgrounds you see on a Zoom call.
Clients often say that all agencies are the same. Many are. However, meeting several agencies on a Zoom call tends to homogenize agencies and make them all look the same even more.
I have found during my time as a search consultant that three things win New Business. Experience, Sweat Equity and Chemistry. You can show your experience and demonstrate your sweat equity on a Zoom call, but it is extremely hard to build chemistry online.
During my recent reviews we got the chance to meet with some agencies in person. Clients overwhelming felt that was the best way to build chemistry. They felt it was very helpful to meet in person and just get the chance to talk and get to know the people from the agencies.
When I pitched one of the advantages of pitching in person was that you could read the room. Where they smiling, nodding, engaging? You really cannot do that on a Zoom call. Many clients turn off their cameras during the presentation and you are pitching to circles with initials in them. A little dehumanizing.
If you are going to be pitching clients in the new future, I would push for a in person meeting. If gyms can be open, then you can meet your prospect in person. I think that there may be a residual Zoom legacy and some agencies will try to continue to use online meetings. They will rationalize that it is easier, saves travel costs etc. It does all that, but Zoom is not a bonding medium. In person is always better.
More to come.