Comments on: “Will You Kick Ass For Us?”

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:41:42 +0000

Thanks again, all, for the great comments!

@CS – re: “How do you know that is really the client’s question. What if the real question is “are you big enough to handle this job for us?” or “what other large/small/retail/national chain [insert variation here] have you worked for?”

This is where Emotional Intelligence needs to kick-in. I try to figure out the question-behind-the-question, and while I am not confrontational, I do sometimes ask outright, “Are you trying to figure out whether we’re big enough (or experienced enough) to handle this?”

But I also assume that anyone who’s invited us to the table has done a basic search on our credentials, since they likely don’t want to waste their own time talking to an unqualified firm! So, if you assume that the Credentials Check has ALREADY been passed, you can move to the questions about Bandwidth (or similar concerns).

By: CS Thompson

CS Thompson — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:56:36 +0000

So Todd, how do you suggest that you put it to the client. Do you actually say “we have the bandwidth to kick ass with you/for you” or whatever local variation of that.

How do you know that is really the client’s question. What is the real question is “are you big enough to handle this job for us?” or “what other large/small/retail/national chain [insert variation here] have you worked for?”

Do you just guess what you think they mean? Do you confront, call them out on it? Do you just answer the question and hope it matches with their expectations?

I’m asking seriously cause I deal with this feeling often.

By: Michael Allison

Michael Allison — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:44:56 +0000

I agree with Adam.

From my experience in another industry, the bandwith-account-backfilling-hiring-poor-training issue isn’t exclusive to PR firms. I think many businesses based on the client/consultant model suffer from the same malaise. Is that the right word? Dysfunction?

By: adam cohen

adam cohen — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:31:36 +0000

Todd – Great post. This holds true for any kind of services firm. As a small company, the concern becomes billable hours. When the company is growing, it’s hard to justify carrying a bench of talent, so what happens? Hire to sold work. It’s dangerous since no one’s recruiting process is a) bulletproof or b) predictable.
It’s important to have rigorous pipeline management as well. If you suddenly have a bunch of client opportunities that turn from speculative to sold overnight, you can be strapped by resources and risk pulling people from current client work to get through the crunch. I’d make the same recommendations to prospective clients, with the addition of taking time to work with your service partner to make a realistic schedule that everyone can commit to.
Adam

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:51:49 +0000

Susan – ugh, you just made me sick to my stomach with those examples. While I expect some SHIFTers will sometimes make mistakes in their outreach, despite the training, I *hope* they are not the type of LAME errors you’ve offered up! (Sigh.)

By: Susan Getgood

Susan Getgood — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:32:27 +0000

Training is a huge issue, and agencies — like SHIFT — that make the effort are unfortunately going to be lumped in with the ones that don’t.

You linked to one of my recent examples of sloppy outreach. Here are a few more, all of which have been received by me or people I know in the last few weeks.
- Pitches addressed to the wrong person
- Pitches that have multiple fonts, font sizes and even colors, making it clear that the pitch was created by cut and paste.
- Pitches with the little >> symbols before each line. Duh! A forwarded pitch.

And the favorite: A pitch for an event featuring the Dalai Lama that spelled his name wrong –as Dali Lama. Please, get the client’s name right

These aren’t necessarily bad content, though some did suffer from that as well. It was sloppy work that might be avoided with a little more training in the tools. Use spellcheck. Learn how to use the email editor.

By: Mary H.

Mary H. — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:48:23 +0000

How do you mention employee bandwidth? Is that a measure of hours?

By: Brian Block

Brian Block — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:52:26 +0000

That’s constantly something that comes up at our firm. Thankfully, we can plan ahead for these things with the right people for the right job. One idea is evaluate everyones’ availability on certain accounts to determine what extra time, if any, they have to give to new clients.

By: Rodger D. Johnson

Rodger D. Johnson — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:40:43 +0000

This is a fascinating post. And I love your social media news release and website templates. While we’re not using all the features, we are using some.