• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, September 11, 2014

Generally, when you sit through about a 40-slide deck in a darkened room, it is all you can do to keep the lids from drooping, or sneaking looks at inbound email,  especially when it is a tech company presentation. But this one had almost nothing to do with how this company's technology was better than its competition, nor even a single slide on how wonderful its results are for clients. Instead, it was all about how this company is perceived in the marketplace by its vendors and customers.

Although it was an early innovator in its space and is widely considered the best company at what it does, what matters to its customers is the quality of its human interactions. One of the customers went so far as to say something to the effect of "At the end of the day, I don't really understand all of that technology, how it works, or why it’s better, but your people are fantastic." That was a consistent theme throughout, the hot button: the quality of the tech company's staff. "They go the extra mile to really understand my business and help us well beyond the assignment," said one customer. Another said that the staff was constantly teaching him about developments in ad tech that he could use in other parts of his business. Interestingly, a company with remarkable technology, producing remarkable results, was being judged by its remarkable staff.

It is considered a cliché to say "Your most important assetsgo down theelevatorevery night.” But in an age where fast tap has replaced high touch, perhaps it ought to be reconsidered, especially in the advertising and media business. While technology has given us faster, more efficient ways of communicating, it has also spawned a generation of buyers and sellers who never learned that face time is as important to getting the business as speed and the newest bright shiny thing.

Look no farther than the allegedly tired old TV business, where millions upon millions of sales are made over a slice of pizza and a beer. Not just because the buyers and sellers are in the same room, but because they have known each other for decades and have a bond through trial-tested trust. This "old boy" network is frustrating for sellers who think they don't get the consideration their bright shiny thing deserves. Still, like a lot of media buying and selling for the past five or six decades, the sale is as much about the person sitting across the desk as it is what they are selling (or buying).

Meanwhile, ad technology wants to make it all automated, programmatic, free from human influence or interference. Let the machine sort thought billions of possibilities and tell us which is the best way to go. No bias, no mistakes. No human contact.

Truth be told, media buyers are drowning in a sea of ad-tech options, each promising better targeting, higher response rates, more conversions, better brand lift, more engaged consumers. After a while, the noise becomes deafening and often maddening, to the point where the buyer defaults back to the tried-and-true, sold by someone he or she likes and trusts. Perhaps ad tech ought to focus more on the quality of its people than on the sizzle in their reels. I know this is paying off big time for one of my clients.