Commentary

The Root Of The Problem - Communication and Expectations!

"What we've got here is failure to communicate" -- Captain, Road Prison 36 - Cool Hand Luke

Never were truer words spoken as it appears last week's column touched a nerve. I listed off some of my pet peeves about our industry and many of you replied about what you felt your "favorite" issues were. This spurred some more thinking on Sunday afternoon centered on our inabilities to communicate to one another.

Communication is based on two sides expressing their issues to one another, and is necessary for progress to occur. Growth is dependent on two sides being able to interact in an open, efficient manner and building something that is stronger than the sum of its parts. As I see it, the communication issues that we foster on a daily basis are at least partially to blame for our issues, and there seems to be one core miscommunication in our industry...

A Strong Campaign Cannot Be Developed In Two Weeks.

Our industry has been shooting itself in the foot for the last couple of years, reacting to any potential budget by responding with, "We can do that"!

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I was taught a long time ago that you could have things "Good, Fast, or Cheap... Pick Two". This is true of the Internet as well, but we tend to forget this fact. I think it is time our industry as a whole started to accept and foster the idea that good creative and effective media strategies need time to be developed. The planning cycle for online should not be two weeks. I am against the concept of an upfront in the online space for many reasons, but one of the reasons that it would be good is that it would start people thinking about planning online on an annual basis. There is no reason the online planning cycle cannot have a base annual budget and continue to have opportunistic funds throughout the year. There are certainly some elements that will not be cancelled through the year, so why not lock them up in the beginning.

The two-week planning cycle is, in my eyes, the major reason why we are not able to communicate effectively. When the Agency team is under the gun, it is harder to return calls and emails promptly. It is harder to do follow-up on proposals. It is harder to take cold calls from companies we have never heard of before and give them the time of day. When faced with the choice between listening to a sales rep you have never heard of or staying an extra half an hour (when you are already planning on being in the office till 9 p.m.,) the planner will always choose to get off the phone as quickly as possible. This is not something to take personally, but this is indicative of the problem.

Cheap, Fast or Good. Pick Two.

For communication to improve, we need to find the time. The time will come from realistic expectations, all around. The Agency is probably the most important part of this equation since we typically control the timetables, but the Clients are the ones who exert the pressure and are the ones who need to know what is realistic and what is not. By the same token, when a Sales Rep tries to go direct, do not undermine the Agency's role in setting the timetable. Do not over promise and set yourself up for under delivery. This only propagates the problem and makes things worse in the long run.

It does fall on the Agency to communicate openly to the client, and in turn we need to communicate with the reps. I will stand up and take the majority of the blame for these issues as part of the Agency side, but we will need to work together to set these expectations moving forward.

Don't you agree?

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