"When You Got Money, You're Funny…." - Steve Grubbs - MediaBizBloggers

For years I have listened to those in the media sales community whine about their frustrations with the media agencies They39ve pointed to canceled meetings and unreturned phone calls They39ve complained about being shuffled off to junior level personnel who are not empowered to make a decision or worse yet they were subjected to that old Three Stooges routine where each of the three Stooges just point at the other two and nobody makes a decisionSome of this complaining I39d write off simply as quotsour grapesquot The agency wasn39t buying what they were selling and probably for sound reasons but they didn39t like it However until you walk a mile in someone else39s shoesamp8230 you don39t really appreciate their predicamentLast week I participated in meetings with three different media agencies where weamp160pitched some branded content projects in partnership with one of the top TV distributors At two of the three agencies our reception was very professional They offered constructive feedback They seemed truly interested in seeking out new ideas for their clients They were generous with their time and very professional in their demeanor We39d love for them to buy our projects but if they don39t I39ll respect that decisionThe third meeting was very different The agency team showed up ten minutes lateamp8230 not a big deal Their most senior group leader canceled at the last minuteamp8230 disappointing but it happens We opened the meeting by respectfully asking how much time we had for our presentation we had scheduled an hour The terse response quotYou39ve got 20 minutesquot HuhLet39s discount the callous reply Let39s ignore that we traveled a great distance from NY to meet this group Let39s overlook that this response was directed to the President of Sales of a significant and growing network Let39s postulate that this person was having a bad day or she was a last minute substitute in the meeting for her boss because she clearly didn39t want to be there If this were an isolated situation then I39d write it off as an unfortunate experienceHowever now that I am on the outside peering in I will tell you that this type of experience is unusual but increasingly common All agencies are understaffed and time challenged these days They are inundated with requests for meetings and presentations And given the quality of many sales presentations it39s no surprise that a certain level of ennui and frustration sets inBased on some rudimentary calculations in my previous life the First Act I probably sat through more than 5000 media sales presentations over the course of three decades Less than 5 of these were truly exceptional Maybe another 20 were a complete waste of time The majority of them just plain sounded alike after a while Yawn There were several times when I wanted to throw an illprepared or particularly grating salesperson out of my office Through it all I always tried to be respectful of them and hear them outamp8230 even when I was having a very bad dayGood manners and respect aside and they should never put aside there are important reasons why agencies should be cognizant of how they treat salespersons First media owners won39t stop selling If you don39t hear them out you cede your role as quotgatekeeperquot They will either approach your client directly or knock on the door of one of that client39s other agencies They will circumvent you and your behavior has given them permission to do so Second agencies never know where the next big idea will come from They will likely never see it if they treat media sellers shabbily because they39ll go to your competitors first Third the salesperson calling on you today may be your client or your boss tomorrow Yes I39ve seen it happen Or in my case I might be friends with your client or boss today Finally when clients are in the hunt for new agencies partners they frequently ask salespeople for their point of view on agencies It takes a long time to build a reputation but it can be blown apart very quicklyYears ago an old bartender told me quotWhen you got money you39re funny but when you39re broke you39re a jokequot Some agency personnel need to remember that it39s their client39s money and not theirs Without it the agencies aren39t so funnySteve Grubbs is President and founder of Second Act Media consultancy Second Act Media is an advisor to companies working in the media marketing entertainment and sports industries Steve can be reached at stevegrubbssecondactmediacomRead all Steveamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at My Second ActCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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"When You Got Money, You're Funny…." - Steve Grubbs - MediaBizBloggers

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