Opinions - Closed for business. Why some agencies are their own worst enemies.

Published 19/06/2012

Last week I wrote a piece for Creativepool (which you can read here) explaining how the rubbish customer service offered by Orange ensured I would never purchase from them again, and simultaneously wasted their advertising budget.

So I was grateful to have my attention drawn to an article by Diane Young which took a similar, but perhaps more alarming, angle.

Diane is the Director of the Recommended Agency Register, a consultancy and website which helps clients find the right agency. In essence, an organisation in search of an advertising or marketing partner briefs RAR and they compile a shortlist of appropriate providers. In her piece, Diane describes how recent, challenging briefs have led her to approach a particularly broad panel of agencies, in the process exposing a truly shocking flaw in our industry: many creative businesses don't actually want new clients.

I can hear the response already. "Don't want new clients? Of course we do! We even have a new-business person for that very purpose! You're talking nonsense!."

Really? In attempting to contact agencies, with the intention of introducing them to her clients, Diane reports the following:

- Agency sites with no contact information, just an enquiry form
- Enquiry forms which fail to function
- Refusals by receptionists to give out the email address and/or phone numbers of new business staff

In one instance, the main reception number of a major network agency diverted to an Orange mobile voicemail account! And for me, the most astonishing outcome: of the web forms that did work, 100% of the enquiries went unanswered.

Let's stop right there and consider that fact for a minute. Every business Diane wrote to, using the means of communication recommended by their website, didn't bother to get back to her. And remember, Diane isn't selling anything. Quite the opposite. She wants to recommend these agencies to active clients, looking to spend real money on real creative work.

I am stunned. Were we riding the crest of a gargantuan, financial boom this would still be extremely foolish. But we're floundering. Two recessions in three years, massive redundancies, ad spend down, clients thin on the ground, budgets slashed, bankruptcies, salary freezes, inflation - in our lifetimes, the situation has never been worse. Logic and common sense would suggest creative firms are screaming for new clients, throwing open their doors, phone lines and websites to all-comers. But, for a reason I cannot begin to fathom, this isn't the case. The abiding attitude is the equivalent to a high street shop bolting the door and hiding behind the counter, wondering where all the customers are. Which is nothing short of insanity.

I run a tiny creative business. I'm a writer and creative consultant, not a business guru. Nevertheless, I always, always respond to enquiries. What's more, I do my utmost to make contacting me simple and easy. Even on the rare occasion I cannot accept a client or project, I make the enquirer feel welcome and well informed. Not only is this sound trading sense, it's respectful and polite. I owe it to the client, and to myself, to make it clear I am open for business, competent, enthusiastic and professional. To act in any other way would be to invite failure because I simply would not deserve to have clients.

The creative industry should be most grateful to Diane Young for turning the spotlight on this reprehensible apathy. Continuing with this muddled, inept complacency risks our reputation and worse, valuable jobs. New business is the lifeblood of a healthy agency, so we all have a duty to check we are the shining exception rather than the depressing rule.

You can read Diane Young's original article here.