Brad Zeifman, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, SHADOW.
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For brands and agencies, the new business process is an age-old song-and-dance, with both sides trying to signal who they are and what they’re about without fully pulling back the curtain on themselves. I’m here to encourage both sides to break free from that tradition. When it comes to finding your brand/agency partner, show your cards and use your voice from the outset. Create an honest dialogue that emulates the one you’d have in a working relationship. Show up as you are, with integrity, from the very beginning.
Parties on both sides—agencies and brands—would benefit from drilling into specifics as much as possible before engaging in the RFP (request for proposal)/new business process. For agencies, this means not being afraid to ask questions and push for parameters where there are none. For brands, this means being transparent about brand guidelines and budgets and speaking openly about the qualities you’re looking for in a partner. If both sides do more of this on the front end of the process, the final brand-agency team can use the winning submission as a real utility on day one.
When brands put out an RFP, they typically share a handful of insights about their priorities and goals in the market. In turn, agencies submit their ideas and strategies for how to get there. The RFP process as it currently exists is designed to be intense so as to discourage casual submissions; deadlines are usually tight and the criteria is almost always vague. They’re meant to inspire out-of-the-box thinking, with few restrictions. Brands are looking to see who can get creative under pressure, and who can nail the tone and message most intuitively with the least amount of guidance. Agencies are trying to flex their creative muscles and demonstrate how tapped into the culture they are while showcasing their understanding of the brand’s core values and their own agency competencies.
While there’s value in all the above, both sides have opportunities to push for clearer goal posts, and doing so will only strengthen the resulting partnership. An enormous amount of time and work goes into a new business pitch on an agency’s end, and brands spend days sifting through 50-page decks and listening to hours of in-person pitching. The more transparent both sides are with their criteria and capabilities, the tighter and more actionable proposals would be and the better the chemistry will be between eventual partners. Here are a few actionable suggestions for how both sides can refine this process.
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Brands: Say what you actually want.
• Share the numbers. An agency will happily (and easily!) put together a $1 million stunt for you, but if the real budget is a fraction of that number, just say so. You’ll see which candidates can get a real bang for your buck.
• What’s your wish list? Tell agencies your real aspirations and you’ll receive quality pitches in return. Who is your true target audience? What is your dream collaboration? What are your top priorities for the coming year?
• Talk partnership. Do you want an agency that communicates daily or saves updates for a monthly sync? Do you want an agency that pushes for their ideas or respects your first “no”? These dynamics matter.
• Share your deal breakers. A “no” from a brand can be just as informative as a “yes” in helping an agency shape a game-changing strategy for you.
• Ask your own questions. You’re well within your right to ask agencies about their work style, their proudest moments, their relevant experience and wins, and their key learnings of the last year. The right partner will want to share that with you.
• Normalize feedback. Even if the feedback is negative, articulating it (even for the agencies you don’t select) helps you crystalize what you’re looking for and also keeps the parties in a good and resolved relationship. You never know when you two could circle back to each other.
• Give the agency a small assignment to see how they think. It’s untraditional, but it can reveal a lot about the partnership’s prospects. Do they understand your brand as an agency? Do they think the same way you do?
Agencies: Find the utility in the process.
• Go after what you want (and only what you want!). An RFP is a massive undertaking; limit your proposals to brands that fit seamlessly into your portfolio, expand you into a strategic new category or get you to where you want to be.
• Ask for feedback as you go. The process doesn’t have to be cloaked in mystery. Be upfront and you’ll avoid going too far down a road that doesn’t align with the client’s wants or needs. They’ll more than likely appreciate that you’re trying to deliver something thoughtful and tailored.
• Get to know the people behind the brand. What are their core values? How do they work? What inspires them? Do they believe in diversity and inclusion of people, thought, histories and futures? Lead with this on your side as well—it can only increase the chances of a harmonious relationship.
• You can say “no,” too! A brand might have a particular goal or vision that your experience tells you is unreasonable or inadvisable. Speak up and share your authority. They’ll value your insight at the very least and either accept your advice or not. Either outcome will be informative and helpful.
• Go for it! Show up as you are, deliver your authentic point of view, and let your work serve as the ultimate and truest indication of what they can expect.
The RFP/pitching process can offer a rich opportunity for both sides to express their real wants and needs, capabilities and limitations, and yield results that can set you up for success on day one. A failure to get deeply real during this phase can easily result in a partner mismatch. Avoid wasting time, effort, bandwidth and brainpower by aligning on the important stuff—early and often!
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Author: Brad Zeifman, Forbes Councils Member
