Maybe you think not much has changed.

That may be the case, but it’s not what we are finding.

During the last year we have conducted hundreds of interviews with senior business figures and the pandemic has caused a lot of them to review their business relationships.

– As a client, how do you optimize your supplier relationships?
– As a supplier, how do you protect and build business, and make yourself an essential partner?

In our recent webinar we talked about this and more, sharing our learning and discussing how you can advantage of the changing landscape – watch it now or feel free to get in touch to discuss further!

To watch the webinar again, please see the video below:

The post Business Relationships catch a virus – What you can do about it – Watch the webinar now! appeared first on Relationship Audits.

We’re very excited to be partnering with Myriad in such a large and dynamic market and have already received significant interest from blue-chip companies in India to hear more about how we can deliver positive outcomes for them in the quest to optimise strategic relationships with key customers/clients, suppliers and partners.

If you’re based in India and would like to hear more please email sanjay.thapar@relationshipaudits.com

The post Relationship Audits partners with Myriad in India appeared first on Relationship Audits.

Waypoint’s recent webinar with Relationship Audits and Management (RAM) uncovered some major ways that agency-client relationships have changed so far in the coronavirus pandemic

1. Everyone is nervous

Our ‘new reality’ is changing every day, and we have no idea what things will conclusively look like once we’re out the other side. Furlough, job losses, reduced hours working, and more are altering everyone’s experience, with no idea what will happen later in the year. There’s a feeling that things may get worse, with more job losses in Q4.

Agencies are becoming nervous about some client’s ability to pay media.

Some clients are asking for teams to be furloughed to ensure that they have teams ready to start when things pick back up.

2. However, we are seeing much more empathy and collaboration.

From campaigns with an increasingly social conscience to inter agency collaborations, and even more brand collaborations – working together and caring more has become not just a ‘nice’ thing to do, but essential.

3. In the absence of face-to-face interactions, agencies and clients have realised they need to work harder to build and maintain relationships.

Clients were becoming less willing to travel before the pandemic hit due to environmental and sustainability concerns, and that’s amplified now – and unlikely revert to what it was before.
So, communications have to be more considered, useful and relevant – particularly from agency to client.

4. Supply chain disruption is passing down the line – with risk profiling and a move to smaller agencies as a consequence

Many clients have been hit by breakdowns in the supply chain and are consequently reviewing the entire way they work – including their agencies. For many, reducing risk is now a key focus – it’s coming up in pitches and current agencies are being asked to provide details of their plans.

We also believe this will be an opportunity for smaller, independent agencies who can be more agile in their responses.

5. The C suite is under pressure and CMOs are losing influence

Management is now refocusing on ROI, and so data has become even more important. There’s a new focus on who controls the data (and therefore has the power).
Agencies that haven’t historically provided much in the way of ROI may find this a struggle in the coming months. However, as a counter to this, some marketing strategies are changing from pure promotion to demonstrating social purpose.
CMOs are losing influence within some enterprise companies and as a consequence, agencies are struggling to be seen as trusted partners and top-tier advisors. Building these relationships with the C suite has become a key focus for many – becoming a ‘trusted advisor’ will be essential for survival in the new reality.

6. Larger enterprise clients are providing generous support for employees and the competition for talent

Smaller agencies will need to compete more for the best staff, as the large multinationals are investing heavily in talent. One large pharma multinational, for example, is offering free counselling and mental health support; remote learning subscriptions for children and new technology for employees.

Between the appeal of freelancing (and increased demand for freelance services) and larger corporations investing in employees; small to mid-sized firms may struggle to recruit.

With remote working becoming more of the norm we are likely to more “off-shoring” of some job functions.

7. Agencies are having their cost bases interrogated

There’s a perception amongst some clients that with reduced overheads comes a reduction in agency fixed costs. For many who are still paying for premises, this won’t have hit yet, but it will be something that you can anticipate down the line, as clients begin to expect that cost saving to be passed on.

Many larger corporates are also reviewing their payment terms. We know of one CFO who said: “each time I shake the agency money tree more money keeps falling out – so I’ll keep on shaking it.” Be proactive on communicating with clients on fixed and flexible costs.

There will be many agency reviews when we are out of the crisis – clients will be looking for agencies that have adapted their offer and way of working to suit their new needs. Those that can manage and adapt to the way clients want to work have the most to gain.

8. In-housing will rise further

The Association of National Advertiser in the US now report that 78% of its members have in house capabilities – and more clients are asking agencies to consider sending teams or part-terms to come and work in-house.

9. The agencies that do best are anticipating the new landscape right now

While it’s tempting to bury your head in the sand – especially if clients are continuing to pay and use your services, this isn’t a long-term option.
As we move down the line, with less budget and fewer briefs, the agencies that engage early and establish their role in their clients’ recovery plans now will be the ones that win out in the long term.
Invest in the right things that will make you competitive as we emerge from this crisis – look at pricing, team structures, services and other things that can offer you a competitive edge.

10. Acceleration of use of new technology

We were all making greater use of tech before the pandemic – but COVID-19 has accelerated uptake – and moreover, made technology use socially acceptable.
The onus, however, is definitely on agencies to fit in and use the technology supported by their clients. But now, it’s no longer frowned upon to suggest a Zoom call rather than a face to face meeting, and this is unlikely to simply switch back once travel is safe again.

11. Employee/employer trust will be a rising issue

Despite most workplaces seeing a gain or maintaining productivity in the new work from home world, we’re hearing of more firms using software to keep tabs on what employees are doing. Establishing a position on this will be important going forward, as it will raise questions of trust and privacy for employees.

12. The socially distanced office

Just before lockdown, KPMG was splitting departments into different locations to minimise the risk of an entire department contracting the virus. Some offices are giving people different shift times, or different days to be in, with cleaning in between.

However, working from home where possible will be normal/preferred for a long time – not least because of fears and reluctance from staff around using public transport.

Setting up agencies for the future will also depend on how clients restructure and adapt – agencies will need to mirror this.

Checks and systems will need to be established and communicated

The systems you use to keep people safe – and employee’s own responsibilities – will need to be clearly communicated.

We’re seeing a lot of suggested approaches: from checking temperatures and requiring test certificates to having one-way entry/stairway systems and to working out how to keep shared toilets and kitchens cleaned after use.

Other initiatives we’re hearing about include having meeting rooms converted into offices, limiting entry capacity, banning external visitors (including clients) and also restricting or banning trips outside for food and coffee.

Some offices are increasing food storage, bike storage and personal locker space, and removing all plates and cups and replacing them with disposable items. If required, you may also need to provide some elements of PPE for staff. Setting up and communicating all of these systems will be vital to employee confidence.

If you missed the webinar, catch up with the below video:

The post Twelve ways the global pandemic is changing agency/client relationships appeared first on Relationship Audits.

As consumer spending plummets, client budgets fall and we enter the most difficult recession in living memory, it’s no surprise that the client-agency dynamic will change.

Increasing consumer spending and confidence will be crucial in our economic recovery – and marketing will play a vital part in this.

How can agencies and their clients protect their relationships at this time and come out the other side raring to go?

During this webinar we will explore:

• Insights from what clients are saying and thinking right now and the impact on the agency market.
• What are the biggest challenges for each party and how can we better understand each other?
• How can agencies navigate their way through this and even grow at this challenging time?

Waypoint Partners is collaborating with Relationship Audits & Management (RAM) which will share its latest insights from agencies and brands from around the world and give advice on how these relationships can be managed as the COVID-19 crisis develops.

This 60-minute webinar will be hosted by Miles Welch, Partner at Waypoint Partners, with guest speakers at RAM, Co-Founders Simon Rhind-Tutt and Carey Evans.

Relationship Audits & Management (RAM) is the global expert in measuring key strategic business relationships and identifying the opportunities to maximise value from these.

Waypoint Partners is a leading growth and corporate finance advisory firm with offices in London, Edinburgh and New York. We help businesses in the global marketing communications sector to grow and realise value.

We will be hosting this webinar via Zoom. In order to make this session as interactive as possible, please share any questions ahead of time and of course, we welcome you to share additional questions live on the day.

Register here

The post The New Normal: what brands are currently thinking and the impact on client agency relationships | webinar appeared first on Relationship Audits.

So navigating your way through the ‘remote working (WFH) environment’ will no doubt involve trial and error not least for those organisations that have high value client or customer relationships to secure and (hopefully) grow. The reality is that there is no blueprint to which we can readily refer for guidance of what will be seen as important in this new scenario and/or how the process of engagement needs to shift; so inevitably there will be course corrections required, some of which may not be as effective as had been intended.

And for those that get it wrong, then in the days when we arrive at what is seen as some kind of similarity to what ‘used to be’, they may find that they lose out to those who got it right. In that sense, every service provider right now is already undergoing a process of (possibly unsaid but, in effect, de facto) review and thus potentially facing risks to the retention of their key client relationships and the revenue those relationships bring.

So if you are a service provider with a valuable client relationship to protect how do you identify whether there is a current risk to that relationship? Do you know, or do you think you know? Or would you like to be sure either way so that you can nip any problems in the bud and plan for a more effective approach going forward?

That’s the dilemma which a number of our service provider clients shared with us and asked if we could help them find out how they were doing in the eyes of their clients, recognising that the questions they had historically asked were not entirely appropriate for current times.

The result of these conversations was that we developed and last week launched, a brand new tool called Relationship Pulse™ which has been specifically designed to assess performance and relationships in this current remote working or WFH environment.

The response has been very positive and we already have a number of global and local communications agencies who have signed up to use it, recognising that different times require different questions about business relationship health.

So if you have a real ‘need to know’ about how you are doing with your key clients or customers and how to minimise your relationship risk, then please get in touch. Drop me a line for more details of how Relationship Pulse™ can help you better secure your future at carey.evans@relationshipaudits.com

The post Managing your relationship risk appeared first on Relationship Audits.

For eight years, I’ve been conducting the RADAR survey which measures the health of client/agency relationships and provides actionable solutions for corporate clients and agencies of all disciplines. Recently, I felt the need to present these insights and learnings to the industry and, to provide a more-global view, I also researched some of the best creative agencies globally (ie Droga5, David Miami, BBDO New York and Wieden+Kennedy) to understand what they’re doing to succeed.

Meaningful

A very meaningful quote came from David Droga, who, when asked why Droga5 was so successful, stated that they “care beyond the brief”. It’s this caring that is ‘out of scope’ and creates relationships that can weather many challenges and deliver great work.

The agencies that don’t have these trusting relationships deliver work that is vanilla. They’ve lost their courage and this has resulted in 89% of people ignoring advertising (Forrester Research).

Needs such as critical thinking, problem-solving and relevance (among others) also don’t change and there are now additional considerations agencies need to recognise in this “new normal” world: the need for more authenticity, kindness and delivering real value to clients and brands.

Changed channels

The client/agency interaction has altered and the channels have changed. Microsoft Teams and Zoom are the new meetings, and agility has never been so important. One of the benefits (and there aren’t many) that should come out of this tumultuous time is that we should move from a “selfie” world of “me” to a kinder world of “we” — a world of shared humanity where community and collaboration are crucial and where purpose has never been so vital.

In terms of client challenges, one of the biggest is the level of competency among account management. Clients feel that middle, and even some senior, account managers are too transactional. They don’t understand their clients’ business and, as a result, don’t have a point of view. They’re not providing critical thinking or problem-solving. They don’t stop and ask: “Why?”

Additionally, there’s too much reliance on emails and WhatsApp messages, which reduces the amount of talk/face-time, and this is detrimental to building a trusting, meaningful relationship.

Work closely

Every single great relationship I encounter (and there are many) are those where the agencies work closely with their clients, be it on co-creating briefs, discussing issues or simply having a deep understanding of their business.

The post Future-proof your agency — what clients will want now appeared first on Relationship Audits.

The advertising industry and agencies as their most visible proponents have thrived on the growth of the consumption class for the past 100 years. Shouldn’t the prediction that by 2025 a staggering 4.2 billion people will be part of the consuming class be great news? But instead of hearing champagne bottles pop we hear that agencies are in a “sink or swim” situation and must figure out how to do more for less without compromising quality and more.

What has happened?

The old model is broke for advertisers and agencies alike. Whereas in the past a consumer goods company might choose between brands that yield best returns if supported with advertising success is no longer this simple.

McKinsey has identified a number of global trends “forcing companies in mature markets to make tough choices about where to play and how to win. Investment in emerging markets isn’t foolproof: growth, although strong, is uneven, with certain markets and categories far outpacing others. Severe resource constraints are causing volatility in commodity costs. Digital technologies are affecting every part of the value chain and in sometimes unpredictable ways. New—and newly acquisitive—competitors are emerging. And regulatory risk is rampant as government exerts ever-greater influence over the industry.”

Add to this that the role of the traditional retail trade is continuously losing in importance. Their brick & mortar cost are becoming an increasingly heavier burden and directing traffic to buy between walls is costlier than ever before.

No surprise that the two biggest ad spenders, consumer good companies and retailers, are turning their eyes to cost-saving, new sales options or experimenting with new, mostly mobile media. Mobile ad spending alone reached $143 billion in 2017. And while the effectiveness of online communication and its pricing model can be seriously debated, contrast this huge expense with only $1 billion in net growth generated in the consumer goods industry over the last three years from traditional, large enterprise players. Much of the remaining $34 billion in net growth has come from what analysts call “lateral” companies: among them “ankle biters” which have taken full advantage of an increasingly digital economy to win substantial market share from traditional players. There isn’t just one cow to get off the ice.

Every company and hence every service provider will respond to these challenges differently and the strategic choices that manufacturers and retailers make in the next few years will be more consequential than those they’ve made in the past.

Players in the creative industry have only one choice though: to figure out how to best conceptualize marketing ideas for which its trained professionals are best equipped. This includes defining extended service skills and new payment models that reward for the lasting effect of their efforts. The demand by clients to agree to success fees is an option that should be resisted. Not because it is a bad idea but because it is driven by short-term, quarterly earning objectives and thus a dangled carrot which can disappear once eaten. In fact, few clients can or will agree on a realistic pay model which rewards for the success which creativity can truly contribute.

The fundamental truth that will transcend all changes, however, is that companies don’t work with companies, but people work with people. People quality is the one factor which sets this industry apart from all others and the one asset which must be trained, nurtured and periodically assessed. Professional auditing is the best insurance to reap rewards if results are good or to improve if responses suggest this. They can also provide often surprising insights into what is expected and thus help define the future.

The same holds for professional services and any other business where people are more important than raw materials or the shipment of goods.

The post The agency of the future – Long live the past appeared first on Relationship Audits.

In 20 years of assessing buyer-supplier business relationships, one of the constant themes we have seen is how often relationships suffer from the perception-reality gap. The implications of this can be commercially catastrophic if you are a service provider who thinks a client relationship is in fine fettle only to discover that the client is flirting with a competitor because expectations are not being met in terms of performance or relationship strength.
And because this dissatisfaction is not always clearly apparent, the danger is that if and when such is discovered by the service provider it is often too late to fix the issues in play as the dye is cast.

As in many walks of life, assumption can be the mother of all… let’s just say… mistakes!

The answer to this, of course, is to ensure that as much as possible you know that perception does equal reality. And the best way to do this is simply to regularly check out the health of the relationship. The analogy here is for those of us who diligently brush their teeth and yet still manage to get a toothache or other dental problems because they/we don’t go the dentist regularly enough to get a proper checkup from someone who knows what to really look for.

It’s often said that prevention is better than cure and this is equally valid for maintaining healthy tier one commercial relationships. And in our experience undertaking such an exercise in the right way has other benefits over and above providing reassurance on the solidity of the relationship; such as the kudos for the supplier in being seen to invest in the relationship by using a third-party specialist; or the identification of previously unknown revenue-generating opportunities, or simply that instincts/suspicions have been confirmed.

Our clients tell us that the proprietary tools and processes we use to generate actionable intelligence on their high-value strategic relationships deliver what we promise, namely a clear view of the risks and opportunities associated with the relationship. And they also say that their investment is paid back many times over having worked with us. Don’t just take our word for it. Examples of the kind of results we can deliver are to be found in our client testimonials throughout our website.

If you have strategic client/customer or supplier relationships that you want to protect and develop the first step is to seek out the perception-reality gap. Relationship Audits can help you do that effectively and efficiently. Call us or email us to see how.

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“Winning a pitch takes a lot of time and effort. Unfortunately, some suppliers seem to go out of their way to lose by lack of preparation and research.”

Winning new business takes a lot of time and effort. There are a number of ways to make sure that you lose it, including not doing enough research into the people and the business, ignoring the brief and budget constraints, and lack of preparation for the pitch meeting.

I’ve seen so many books over the years which offer foolproof ways to win pitches. But in our win/loss audit programme we have repeatedly come across examples of ways in which a supplier has shot themselves in the foot, managing successfully to do a host of things that are really the opposite of best practice.

So we thought it might be instructive to share our top ten (in no particular order) for your interest. When you consider how important every single piece of business is in this climate, it still amazes me how some suppliers seem to go out of their way to mess things up.

Here are ten of the best ways to go about it:

1. Avoid any meetings between the first briefing and the final pitch, working on the basis that everything will hinge on that final meeting.

2. Don’t bother to find out who’s involved in the final decisions.

3. Don’t research the backgrounds and experience of the client team individuals involved in the pitch.

4. Don’t challenge the brief (if you need clarification) until the day of the final pitch meeting.

5. Expose your own ‘better’ brief to the client with his/her teams and preferably boss on the day of the pitch.

6. Ignore the budget constraints and demonstrate this in your choice of solutions.

7. Steadfastly refuse to get up to speed on the client’s business.

8. Bring as many people to the final meeting as you can to outnumber the client—and make sure the team is constructed of people who don’t get on with each other.

9. Promise the prospect that they will have loads of the chief executive/chairman’s time spent on the business.

10. Forget about checking out beforehand the room you are going to be presenting in and, most of all, don’t bring back-ups in case the technology fails.

I’m sure you have more. Let’s hear them!

The post Ten guaranteed ways to lose a pitch appeared first on Relationship Audits.

Service providers should be quick to adapt their way of working according to client needs. Flexible business models can give competitive edge.

Clients increasingly want to see more flexible ways of working from service providers. A one-size-fits-all approach no longer works when clients’ business and operational structures are changing rapidly. This calls not only for changes in processes but cultural shifts as well.

Recently, we’ve been speaking to a number of clients who have been visit this site frustrated about the way that their key suppliers are structured to handle their business.

It was brought into sharp focus a few weeks ago when we met with a large well-known international packaged goods client. It had just gone through yet another global reorganisation, restructured its business and, not surprisingly, decided to review and consolidate its ad agencies.

Two were asked to pitch. The first gave a solid presentation but the second, and eventual winner, went the extra mile. It restructured the way that it would service the client and created a bespoke model to reflect the new way that the client wanted to do business.

This reflects an overall trend from clients who really want to see more flexible ways of working from services providers.

The problem for many large ‘super tanker’ types of agencies is that they continue to struggle to make themselves nimble and flexible and many only have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. It’s a great irony that the business that promotes new ideas and creative thinking is probably the most change adverse of all.

Compare this to many leading professional service firms who recognise that adapting ways of working is now a fact of life and adjusting their ways to working to fit their clients’ needs can give them a competitive edge.

Some go a stage further. They hold regular workshops with all the key stakeholders from the firm and the client to discuss how things are working and, importantly, what needs adapting or changing to ensure efficiency and a win-win for both parties.

To be fair, some creative agencies have recognised this and don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. Interpublic for example, offers clients a range of what it calls ‘relationship models’. (http://www.interpublic.com/clientsolutions).

In the future inevitably we’ll see more client service managers being skilled and prepared to work with different clients in different ways. Something that’s easier said than done. It’s going to need not only a process shift but also a cultural change to the way that account managers work with various clients.

Yet it would also be dangerous to think that whatever model you start to work with will be set in stone for a particular client. Clients’ businesses and operational structures are changing rapidly and service providers will need to create flexible business models that can profitably adapt to new needs.

While you certainly can be sure client relationship management was the last thing on his mind, perhaps we can all learn from George Bernard Shaw when he wrote:

“The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor.

He takes my measurements anew each time he sees me.

The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them”

When was the last time we all took our clients’ measurements?

The post Working with clients: “it’s not just what you do; it’s the way that you do it” appeared first on Relationship Audits.