October 13, 2010.  Our first RSW/AgencySearch post.  Still all rings true today!

In our latest study, agencies note all the reasons why they think more Marketers are moving away from using search consultants and either trying to manage the process themselves or simply not putting their business up for “bid” and picking an agency they have had a past relationship with.

Agency search firms are supposed to help marketers by making the process simpler, more objective, and in some respect, fun. It appears, based on the response from Agencies, that the search process is anything but fun – for them or the Marketer. Here is just a sampling of some of the reasons Agencies gave us as to why they believe Marketers don’t use search firms as much today as they have in the past:

– Economic pressures making the cost of hiring a search consultant too great
– Limited value (relative to the dollar spent) that search consultants provide
– Consultants have conflicts of interest
– Consultants slow the process down

Marketers need to be careful about what they’re getting into – as do Agencies. There are firms out there that require Agencies to pay to play, firms out there that make Agencies pay to pitch – all practices that can greatly skew the pool of talent presented and the leaning of the agency search firm representing them.

So ask the tough questions – find out how they built their pitch list, make sure you have some input into the process, and don’t let them just run blind. You know your business better than the agency search consultants, so make sure you get what you need…good, objective insight, a neutral party representing you, an unbiased list of agencies, and agencies that are best fit for your needs and the personality of your company.

Afterward:

So interesting to read our very first post.  All outlined in this post still holds true today.

And we at RSW/AgencySearch do all the things these other search firms don’t.  We’re transparent, objective, easy to work with, and build our target lists one search at a time to best meet the needs of you, the market.

And best of all, we are priced to meet your specific needs.  Just need a list of agencies that fit your needs, we can do that.  Want us to manage things from start to finish, we can do that too.  Something in between…that too!

Just give us a call (513-559-3101) or drop us a line (mark@rswas.com) to see how we can help.