Look Before and After!

I attended an very interesting conference yesterday where I heard a piece of advice given from one executive to another about how to deal with this economy. Look before and after. This is what this advice means to me as a leader of an ad agency.

Look Before.

If you have a potential new client, take a look at the agency they are leaving. If that agency is very similar to yours it should cause you to ask some serious questions as to why they are leaving them. Bad clients run through agencies quickly because they are not looking for long-term partnerships. They might be motivated by potential costs savings, their need to blame an agency for their own dysfunction or they simply are unethical and have learned how to wave the magic carrot of $$$ to get free thinking, which is almost impossible for hungry agencies to resist. If their old agency looks, talks and smells like yours, chances are the potential client's motivations are not going to be a healthy addition to your new client roster. If fact it could cost you dearly because of the unknown costs of opportunity lost because you were busy being the next babysitter.

Look After.

Clients leave all the time for a myriad of reasons. Some you love and it hurts something awful to lose them. Others, can't wait to see them go. The key is to try to take the emotion out of it and take a hard look at they agency where they land. Without kicking yourself, try to understand if the new agency has a capability you don't, better or different creative style, or a new way to drive consumer insights into their work. If you're honest with yourself you could learn some things that might help moving forward.

Denial is a terrible thing and it can destroy profitable focused businesses. Remember to look before and after.