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Robin from PromoManagers writes about the ultimate agency nightmare client.  His firm acquired the business but the client doesn’t listen to the agency advice.  The relationship has been going downhil.

But they are stuck because the agency needs the income but they also recognise this client won’t ever be a huge success with the campaigns they run and won’t make them rich due to the lack of follow-through.

He says

I’ve been part of a team of people working on “the problem child” account for almost a year now. The short of it is that (a) they need more than just marketing to grow their business and (b) they blatantly ignore our recommendations and then complain that they’re not getting results.

This is clearly a failng relationship.

His article was prompted by an Entrepreneur article where the commenters all suggest their ‘best decision’ was to actually fire the customer – interesting that Robin didn’t feel he could do the same.  But maybe he’s not the decision maker in his agency.

Symptoms to watch out for – Nightmare Clients from Hell

1. you complain to your co-workers A LOT about them
2. nearly everything they say annoys you
3. you find it hard to think of something positive to say
4. when you see them the first thing that jumps into your head is negative or sarky/snide / negative
5. you have to struggle to be enthusiastic about your work on their brand

Any others?  What do nightmare clients from hell make you do or thing?

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Image by antitezo via Flickr

Is it possible that a creative agency can build a pipeline of new business without having to respond to RFPs as a means of finding new leads?

Two articles in my RSS feed today struck me today as being relevant to this topic
The first is a slide deck from the excellent Courtney Pemberton and Tom Ross

Where the presenters contrast Schipul - a 37 person web development firm who do low-budget websites and lots of them; with Four Kitchens a 12 man operation whose average web development budget is $250,000.  Which firm would you rather do new business development for?  I know my response!

And the second is a USA Today expert opinion from Steve Strauss. He details the hideously comic-if-it-wasn’t-so-awful conference call with a web development team who fail to deliver even a basic understanding of their prospective client’s business.  I am sure it happened just as he recounts

•They internally scheduled the wrong time for the call (we are on the west coast, they were on the east coast).

•Once the call started, 15 minutes late, two of the folks on their end couldn’t find the website we had asked them to review with us on the call.

•The boss was not on the call at the start and they scrambled to find him.

Finally, 10 minutes into a call that was already starting 15 minutes late, the boss jumped on the line. He didn’t really know the purpose of the call, or who I was, or what we were doing, and so asked “So just what is it you do again?”

Are you disorganised in your new business process?

Making new business happen is one of the 7 steps in our new biz dev process.  Internal team management in advance of and during briefing calls is a ‘hygiene’ factor.  It is necessary as the underpinning to a solid new business pipeline.

The client is Feedblitz.com – an RSS to email service provider.  A very neat tool that enables marketing newsletters and blog RSS feeds to be merged into a single site service.  The advanced functionality is very useful.

Take a read about what they wrote about the project.

Creative Agency Secrets has worked on

• User interface redesign
• New site features
• Logo redesign
• CRM customer analysis (value ranking and customer needs analysis)
• Marketing communications – to come later.

We congratulate Phil Hollows and the Feedblitz team on the work so far and look forward to an awesome relaunch… more anon.

Doc kindly credited me with making the introduction and amplified on an earlier post by Don which was promted by a link I sent to him.

Enabling the smooth development of new business ideas and theories should allow the experts in CRM who have been delivering strategies for orienting business around the customer for nearly 20 years to adapt their advice as power shifts from the corporation to the individual.

This is a good thing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• CRM+VRM 2010 Follow-up (blogs.law.harvard.edu)
• ” About ProjectVRM (blogs.law.harvard.edu)
• Opening new common ground (blogs.law.harvard.edu)
• Experience on the Edge Podcast #2 – Industry Cuts and Bruises, Lists, and the Left Brain (thecustomercollective.com)
• Personal Data Stores, Exchanges, and Applications (joeandrieu.com)

This is a guest post by Kath Pay from The Email Academy. She will publish another 3 articles over the next few weeks.

For most companies, your database is essential and list growth is one of your key aims. Ideally the subscription process needs to be as easy as possible – my mantra for building a quality list is: ‘Make it easy – and they will subscribe’ (with thanks to the movie, Field of Dreams for inspiration). So let’s have a look at some of the most common barriers which can prevent your list from growing at a healthy rate.

1. Assuming that your all signup procedures are still working and in place. When was the last time you actually went through the entire signup procedure? Not just to reassure yourself that all the links work correctly (it’s surprising how many sites I’ve visited that have this problem), but also to check on the ‘Friendliness’ of the procedure.  It’s advisable to schedule a 3 monthly check up with all of your points of subscription and make sure all function as they should.

2. Only advertising your signup on your website. Don’t forget there are many other places and mediums which lend themselves to promoting your newsletter or email sign up. Some of them include:

• Social media pages such as Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook etc
• Company blog
• Transactional process
• Customer Service/support
• POS (Point of Sale) customer forms
• POS registration by salespeople
• Events, Trade Shows, Networking Events, Webinars etc
• Also – Don’t forget to add FTAF (Forward to Friend) and SWYN (Share with Your Network) tools to your email communications.

3. Not having explicit permission. Ok -so legally you may be covered (depending upon the legislation of the country you’re sending from and mailing to) and your list growth may zoom, but using methods such as pre-ticked checkboxes and ‘conjunction’ acquisition (subtly adding a clause to your T&C’s or Privacy Policy) methods will generally only result in a short term list growth and possibly cause deliverability problems due to the number of spam complaints you receive.

4. Not stating the benefits. Why should they sign up to receive email communications from you? State these benefits clearly and up front. Write the copy with the subscriber in mind.  They will be looking to see ‘What’s in it for me? Think of it as a value exchange. What are you giving them in exchange for their valuable data? If you don’t have the available room to do this at the point of subscription consider linking to a page which provides you with more room to fully state the benefits.

5. Not providing enough value within the value exchange. If your subscription form tends to look like an insurance form, chances are that you’re asking for too much information. If your aim is to grow the list, you may have to consider which is more valuable to you – fewer subscribers with more data or more subscribers with less data? A nice compromise is a two-step form. On the first page you simply ask for their email address and possibly their name (or whatever data is absolutely essential) and then after they click subscribe, they are then taken to a landing page which could be their Preference Centre. Using some wonderful copy i.e. ‘ in order to enhance your experience, we’d love to find out some more about you….’ you then incentivise them to fill in the empty fields – however, make it clear that this is not compulsory and that it is for the subscribers benefit and you may be surprisingly pleased with the results.

6. Using a stereotypical, bland Call-To-Action (CTA). What’s wrong with standing out in a crowd? The below example comes from www.whichtestwon.com, with the results being that Version A increased signups by 23%. Test your CTA and find out what works best for you and your product/offering.

7. Not asking the subscriber to whitelist. Requesting that the subscriber whitelist you or add you to their contacts used to be beneficial, but now with the Gmail’s Priority Inbox and Hotmail’s inbox changes and with the other ISPs soon to follow suit, it will soon be an essential element to your subscription process. Ideally it should be requested on the Thank you page after subscribing, the Welcome email, as well as within all future emails. The trick is to make it easy for them and give them full instructions on how to do it (taking them to a landing page). It could look something like:

Please add name@companyname.com to your email address book or safe senders list. Click here for instructions how to do this.

8. Not setting expectations. What are you going to be sending them? Can you show them an example? How often will they be hearing from you? These are all questions the subscriber will be looking to find answers for. Again – if space is limited, link to a page which outlines all of these, along with an example of an email they can look forward to be receiving and/or past archives if it’s a newsletter.

9. Hiding the subscribe form on your homepage and not having the subscribe form on every page of your website. We all know that the website’s homepage is prime real estate and you have to fight for space within it, however, having the subscribe link/form below the fold isn’t doing anyone any favours – least of all your aim to grow your list. Ideally the subscribe form/link needs to be placed above the fold on the homepage and don’t stop there – add it to every page. Remember our mantra – ‘Make it easy – and they will subscribe’.

10. Not flaunting your Privacy Policy. Reassure your potential subscribers. Spell it out in plain English. Be transparent. If you aren’t going to share their data with a third party – then flaunt it! State this right next to the email field. It could look something like this: ‘Don’t worry – we respect your data and won’t share it with anyone else. Read our Privacy Policy’. Be sure to link to your Privacy Policy again on the Thank you page as well as within every email that is sent.

11. Not optimising your Landing/Thank you Page. Your landing page is an often neglected afterthought in the subscription process. However, it can make or break a relationship with a new subscriber. Continue as you started – make it easy. Have everything your subscriber needs for a wonderful experience with your brand within reach on this landing page. Don’t let it become a dead end. Where would they like to go next? Suggest something to them. Maximise this opportunity to delight and help them.

12. Not testing. Testing is essential for your subscribe form(s)and landing page(s). Don’t just accept that the ‘norm’ works for you and your company. Your company’s subscribers are the best people to judge as to what works. Test factors such as; placement, copy, number of fields, one page form VS two page form, landing page elements etc. This can be easily achieved by using Google’s Optimizer which allows you to set up multiple forms/landing pages and will disperse the different pages to your readers. You can then check the reports to see which form/page succeeded in more conversions.

T: @kathpay
E: @ kpay @ theemailacademy.com

Excerpt from Jill Konrath’s “Candid Letter from Sales to Marketing”

Dear Marketing,

I know we haven’t always gotten along. In fact, I’ve been pretty critical of you over the years.

I’ve complained that you’re not doing enough to get us business. I’ve blamed you when our new offerings fail to achieve projected success. I’ve accused you of being out of touch with what’s really going on with our customers and prospects.

The truth is, I don’t want to be the fall guy when I don’t reach my numbers. You don’t either. You’ve been just as hard on me as I’ve been on you.

You’ve criticized my salespeople’s skills, telling everyone in the company that we’re incapable of selling value. You’ve carped about our bonuses, whined about our expenses or grumbled that we weren’t working hard enough.

Enough already. We need to stop this blame game or neither of us will be successful. Personally, I’m at wit’s end. It’s harder than ever to reach our numbers, and I don’t see things getting any easier in the future – especially when I talk to the people who buy our products and services.

You may not realize this, but most of our prospects today suffer from a severe case of Frazzled Customer Syndrome. This is a debilitating condition brought on by excessive workloads, 24/7 availability, information overload, lack of sleep and job-related stress….more

To read the full article, visit the website of Manticore Technology—a leader in demand generation software—and download the full version here.

Disclosure: This is a paid for post.

Rebecca has been asked to speak at a Cambridge University Careers service recruitment evening about our industry.

I’d like to give them a decent informational talk with a bit of humour thrown in.

Here’s the brief.

You may remember we met back in the Spring and amongst other things I mentioned that I may run a Careers Evening of talks around the Advertising and Marketing sector. Unfortunately, this hasn’t come to fruition. However, the Advertising and Marketing Communications Careers Fair is happening on Thursday 29 October and I am putting on some talks during that event.

We talked about the possibility of your doing 20 minutes on understanding the family tree of the sector, what job titles really mean with some jargon busting. Would you still be willing to come along and do this?

Questions:

1. List all the different types of Advertising and Marketing Communications agency specialisms
2. Create a ‘family tree’ of the sector
3. List all the main job titles found in agencies
4. List all the main job titles found in client-side marketing departments
5. What does each title REALLY mean?

Sounds like an A-level exam….. but can you help me out?

I’ll get going with some of the lists.  More tomorrow.

Please post your suggestions below.

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I have been contacted by Emmanuel Moll – an old rowing contact, who is involved with the French movement to get customers to club togehter to buy out the management of the Nabaztag wifi rabbit toy service company.

I was wondering if you could help me with something. I recently started an initiative for the first ever crowd-funded community buy-out of a company (www.SaveNabaztag.com ).

It's a bit of a crazy initative since we are trying to raise 2M€ in 3 weeks.

However this seems to have gathered a lot of interest (160,000 hits from facebook, twitter and online press) and has an underlying political-economic message: the right for entrepreneurs to call onto public funding (i.e. more than 100 people).

(c.f. Techcrunch article: Trampoline jumps the VC ship for crowdfunding and closes a round in a fortnight)

So here's the SaveNabaztag website where you can make a pledge  (€87,000 pledged to date)

Follow Emmanuel on Twitter

The principles of working remotely are commonplace and many of us have opportunity to take days away from our office desks and work at home or from another location. Nothing much new there.
But what if you could completely redesign your job so that half of your activities were taking place using internet tools?

What do I mean by “internet tools”? well anything from a meeting scheduler like Doodle to a shared database like SugarCRM or Salesforce and collaborative project management like BaseCamp .
I regularly use these tools so that I can now work almost anywhere with little loss of functionality compared with my own desk. The only things I carry around with me are papers [goodness, how last century!]

It feels good. I leave all the backing up and security tools to these online service providers. No need to buy new software each year because when it is released it’s usually already installed on the website and my fee to them includes all these updates, online support and training.

A new mode of working

This phenomenon is called SaaS or “software as a service”. But it’s come to mean far more than just software. It is a new mode of working that releases organisations from having huge in-office servers for hosting networks, software installs and updates and costly security firewalls. Many small and medium sized enterprises now don’t have their own servers. Is this progress? Does it save money and staffing?

Well it seems that Pharma is slowly catching up with the crowd with the first drug rep meeting scheduler tool – all run off the internet. RXVantage has been running a trial in Rhode Island and Massachusetts for the past two years. And it seems to work well.
Drugs reps and medical device salesfolk can schedule meetings online with doctors. It’s led to an increase in efficiency for time-starved doctors and the reps are able to make an appointment without first having to visit the doctor’s practice, sit in the waiting room for 2 hours in order to make the appointment (tell me that wasn’t a waste of time!).

Although I’ve positioned it as a scheduling service the company describes itself as

“The most efficient way for medical providers and pharmaceutical companies to exchange knowledge and ideas that improve patient care.”

How does that sound to you? It’s an ideas exchange…. we give you information in exchange for your time Mr Doctor. Obviously NOT selling.

It has a huge sign-up rate for doctors of over 90% of those invited joining enabling the reps free access to the majority of medics in two states. The doctors can reschedule and rearrange appointments easily online (quick to do between patients rather than having to pick up the phone) and the software advises all parties of the change. It fills a gap in the doctors’ surgery software armoury – they have no proprietary software to handle drug reps visits. It also enables doctors to show when they are available for rep visits… insight that must be worth gold dust to pharma companies.

Why is it an attractive proposition?

The openness of the exchange of value between a drug rep and a doctor is the underpinning principle for this service and is one of the main reasons both parties find it attractive.
There are times in our working lives when we are ready to be “sold” to and different times when we want information or education.

A salesman has to guess when these times are based on little or no information from his targets (even if he has a loyal customer base and data from years of interactions, it’s still guessing much of the time). By taking the cold-calling aspect away from these interactions, RXVantage has created a fabulous exchange of value between these two groups. I tell you when I want information, education, drug samples or just a general catchup and you turn up to my bidding.

One of the key insights that CRM has failed to deliver to many industries is the timing for a particular information exchange. This software service passes power to the doctor community to dictate when, where and how the drug companies can interact with them.

Now that’s a real example of B2B vendor relationship management (VRM) in practice. And the future is slowly developing before our eyes.

Exciting, isn’t it?

The authors have re-published the book with some additional chapters by themselves and another luminary, JP .  Which will be great and some added thought-provoking chapters to digest.

What was so great about Cluetrain?  It first foresaw and articulated the concept of the market as a conversation. That is thesis number one.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

That corporations are made up of people who (shock horror) may disagree.

How do you speak in a human voice? First, you get a life. And corporations just can't do that. Corporations are like Pinocchio. Or Frankenstein. Their noses grow longer at the oddest moments, or they start breaking things for no good reason. They want to be human, but gosh, they're not.  Christopher Locke

and thesis 15 stands out for me today – have we arrived at the point of 'a few more years'?

In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.

For me what happens next is the really interesting part.  Here's what I think….

1. the rise of the power of the consumer to inform, bargain, leverage and enthuse
2. corporate honesty is tested and changes many organisations
3. Reversal of the advertising-led world of marketing and sales to networked conversations
4. The end of corporate databases and centralised record-keeping.  Only record-verification needs to be centralised
5. B2B engagement and prospect research is easier and cheaper and the opportunities to find good new business partners and clients quickly and cheaply grow massively
6. Shifting budgets from OTL to direct and social media
7. The up-skilling of call centres from help-desks to teams of helpful folk who can get things done, sell more product and work withing the network to facilitate the coompany goals

thanks to David Cushman for the link.