I posted last week on the pitch process in part 1 of the Pesky Pitch Process.  Little did I know that this week, the 4As would be publishing their own survey report on the topic. 

Tell ya’ what, pitches must really be getting under the skin of marketers and agencies.  They’ve always proven a burden and there’s always someone out there offering advice on how to make them better, what agencies should and shouldn’t put up with as it relates to pitching.

We all knew that there was a time and cost factor tied to marketing agencies involved in a search.  The cost of talent time, the cost of travel for the final pitch, the cost of creating work to share with the marketer.

But I personally never really thought about the fact that there’s a huge cost associated with the pitch on the marketer’s side of the world.

How does $408,500 sound?

That’s how much it costs in marketer time to either run a search or hire a big global search firm to manage their search.  And even if you hire out, there are still a lot of demands that are put on the marketer’s time – that simply shouldn’t happen!

So you can do one of two things (actually three) as a marketer:

  1. Pay the price in money and/or time.  Seems like a waste given the top benefits marketers cite for running a search include “cost saving/better pricing”.  So much for those savings!  Thank you $408,500!!
  2. Work with your agency to make the relationship better.  Have that hard conversation with your agency.  Tough love baby!  You want to move your business forward and you feel like the agency isn’t equipped to do it…tell them and give them a chance to make it right!
  3. Don’t hire the big time global search consultants and hire a firm like ours that respects your time, digs deeper for better agencies, only brings firms in that have a chance of winning your business (no favorites, please), and most importantly…costs you nothing! We make our money by taking a small commission from the winning agency.

So next time you find yourself frustrated with your agency, think about the price tag you’ll pay if you run a search.

You’re too busy as it is to immerse yourself in the minutia of a search.  Letting a firm like ours manage it – a firm with 18 years of experience in this space – will make your life easier.  More time with the kids, the husband or wife, the friends!  Think how great life will be! 🙂

Want to talk?  Here’s a link to our contact form.