In a recent Ad Age article Michael Bush writes about new consultants popping up that claim to be more ethical and less shameful than agency search consultants that exist today.

Quite the battle brewing.  And happy to have them brewing it.

In my opinion, as long as their model is the same, their behavior will be the same.

If you’re looking for a new agency, and you pay someone to help you find that agency…and this person has a pool of firms that they have either required to “pay to play” or they are “cozy” with, then you aren’t getting the best from that agency search consulting firm.

If you’re looking for a new agency, and you pay someone upfront to help you find an agency, and they have no other stream or source of future revenue in sight, they are going to be motivated to start looking for that next search assignment even before they finish yours.

Our model is different.  We work primarily with mid-tier to small marketers and we don’t take money upfront from marketers.

It keeps us in a more neutral position.

We don’t take anything from agencies until one agency wins – then we get a small finder’s fee.

Our pool of potential talent is also much larger.  We communicate with 100’s of agencies every week personally and reach out to 1000’s every week through agency newsletters just like this.

We know where the talent is and how to find the right match for you.

So let them battle.  The lines have been drawn between them and they will fight among themselves.

Have at it!