Hunger can be a beautiful thing

I was recently working with a newer client of ours and was so fired-up and excited that I had to stop for a second and ask why: Why was it so great to work this company? Was it because they were a new client or a new product for our company to learn? Were they friendlier? What was it?

I came to one conclusion about the client: They were hungry. This client wanted progress, it had been a tough recession for them. They needed fresh ideas and were ready to cooperate and partner with us to help them.

Maybe if this client had been doing great, they wouldn't have been so tremendous to work with, so appreciative of our ideas and willing to try them.

There's a world of difference between a client that is guarded and distant versus one that has its mind and arms wide open. The results are also drastically different, for all involved.

A hungry client like the one I'm describing will get their suppliers' best thinking--and is a supplier's dream to work with.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

The best bet in this economy

As the economy is supposedly improving, already you hear companies saying things are on the upswing. That feels good. But let's look at reality.

It is conceivable the economy and the stock market will improve, but that doesn't mean we're out of trouble. We're in uncharted territory. What will the deficit mean to all of this? What about the numerous regulatory laws that will be affecting industries? Inflation? Deflation? De-valuing of the dollar?

There are too many unknowns out there due to the uniqueness of our economic situation. The best bet? Stay hungry, be aggressive.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com

Trade Down or Partner Up

I just talked with my buddy Tony Mikes, President of Second Wind Agency
Network (an association for small to medium size U.S. ad and marketing agencies)
and he told me the strongest trend he's seeing in his 800+ agency network: Trade Down.

In Tony's words:

Across the nation, larger clients are re-thinking what they're getting
from their big agencies and are starting to trade down to smaller, hungrier
shops that will do far more with far less budget.

Of course, I love hearing that since I run one of those hungry shops. My two-cents on this:

1) The smaller marketing shops are also more entrepreneurial. Many times, the big agencies are most like the mega corporations they serve. The right small shop can bring energy and fresh ideas at a lower budget.

2) Sometimes, a combination of both a smaller shop and large agency working together is successful, too. We've worked as a team with some big agencies and it's been successful. We carved out our portion and the big boys did their stuff. Client got quicker service, paid a little less.

Here's an interesting insight on #2 above. Many of the big agencies are uncomfortable doing the smaller, quick turnaround projects on tight budgets--sometimes they feel obligated and pressured to do them (they don't want to say "no" to the client). They're willing to lose those projects to a smaller agency IF that agency is a good partner (doesn't undermine them or their work).

Trade Down or Partner Up--either are better than the alternative.