Fast Company recently came up with 10 ways to fix the agency pitch process. They probably could have made it 20 or 25 without too much additional effort.

My biggest problem over the years with the whole process has been a lack of respect on both sides of the table. Agencies feel they’re being part of a cattle call, so they often don’t respect the company enough to do anything other than call it in, or they take an approach that begins with the assumption that they know far more about the company’s business than the company.

Meanwhile, companies don’t respect the agencies enough to thank them for putting in an RFP response effort that requires many thousands of dollars in billable time, and they take the ideas of the agencies they don’t hire and implement them internally or with the agency they do hire.

Either way you cut it, pitching sucks.

Which is why, in my humble opinion, there’s only one way to respond to an RFP: with your best effort, or not at all. If the agency doesn’t respond to your best work, well, you don’t really want to work for them, do you? If the agency receives your RFP response and you never hear from them again, well, you don’t really want to work for them, do you? If the agency steals your ideas, well, that’s the risk you take … and you don’t really want to work for thieves, do you?

Yeah, pitching sucks. That’s why it’s called work.

And by the way, if you’re one of those companies that calls in agencies and puts them through hours and hours of presentation work, makes them travel, listens to their presentation, then ignores them ever after? You suck, too, and it’s no wonder decent agencies don’t really want to work for you.

(Hat tip to Erik Hauser for the heads up on the FC piece.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Rants 'n' Such.