Process Alone is not a Differentiator

Too many agencies market their “unique” process as a primary selling point, even though most agencies follow some variation of the exact same process. That process typically includes:

LEARNING – PLANNING – DEVELOPMENT – LAUNCH – OPTIMIZATION

• Learning is a discovery process where the client gathers intel from the client.

• Planning is a strategy process where the agency formulates their plan/thinking.

• Development is a “doing” process where the agency builds something for the client.

• Launch is where the client approves something so the agency can deploy or deliver it.

• Optimization is a post-launch monitoring or reporting phase where the agency looks to optimize what was done. A process that is often shown as a circle, indicating how the agency can push the client back into more work ;)

There is nothing unique about this process, regardless of what you name the process itself, or the components within the process. If you ever find yourself walking clients through this process or framework in a sales meeting – please stop.

It’s good to have a process. But process alone is not a differentiator.

In addition to spending a decade agency-side, I also spent over 9 years client-side, working with some of the best agencies in the world. I would actually credit my expertise in agency new business more to the understanding I developed from the client perspective, than to my long tenure as an agency new business leader.

During that time client-side, it was a common practice, in each company I worked at, to make fun of the agencies we worked with. Specifically, to make fun of their unique “shtick” as it related to the terminologies they used to describe what they do. We would have an absolute field day.

I once remember ending a call with a UK agency who told us that they needed to “take this up to the nest” to “have a think.” I should note that they did literally have an upper floor in their office called “the nest” that was full of bean bag chairs, and was actually a really nice little area for brainstorming. But man did we find that funny.

To this day, when I speak with colleagues from that time period, we still end calls by stating that we’re going to “head up to the nest to have a think.” We then die laughing. It never gets old.

I share this story as an introductory point to the idea that clients are smart. They know every agency has the same basic process, and they are probably laughing at you behind your back for trying to assign that process some fancy nomenclature.

I remember one agency that called their process “The 360 Client Matrix.” It was a circle that said “Learn, Plan, Grow.”

Riveting stuff, really.

I also remember how our first call was structured around them walking through the steps in this process. I remember putting the phone down and running to the kitchen to grab a banana, getting back, putting the phone back to my ear, and hearing that they were now moving from describing the “Learn” phase into the “Plan” phase.

How wonderful and unique.

We didn’t opt to work with that agency in the end.

At the end of the day, what clients really care about are results. And your process is only important when it shows your dream client how you are going to get them those results. When it shows that you have a unique mechanism for doing so.

RESULTS & THE UNIQUE MECHANISM

What key result do you produce for your clients?

Sadly, most agencies lack a clear answer to this question. In fact, of all the agencies I’ve worked with only a few were able to answer this question, with limited hesitation, from the outset. And those answers were still somewhat vague. For example, saying “we help our clients grow” could mean any one of a hundred different things.

Clients want an agency that helps them achieve business results. They want an agency that takes them from where they are today – to where they want to be tomorrow.

To hook your dream clients, you will need to tell them a story centered around two key components:

1. The big end result that you will help them achieve.

2. The unique mechanism you will use to help them achieve that end result.

The end result should tie directly into a known measure of company performance such as revenue growth, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, etc. Doing this will help you make a compelling case for the economic buyer within your dream client’s organization.

The unique mechanism is a framework, model or – yes, even a process – that shows the client you are organized and have a proven system to help them get their desired result.

The problem is that most agencies lead with (1) a vague positioning statement; (2) a list of commonplace services; and (3) a non-differentiated process of some kind.

I will illustrate with a two-part anecdote.

Anecdote Pt. 1 - The Agency Search

A prospective client is searching for a new agency in her free time. She ends up on an agency’s homepage and reads their leading message, “We Deliver Big Ideas That Matter.” The client has no thoughts or feelings about this. She clicks through to the services page to find a list of commonplace services such as Marketing Strategy, Brand Identity, Website Development and Social Media Management. She reads on to learn about the agency’s process that includes the following phases: Discovery, Strategy, Development & Deployment. She clicks over and glances through a few case studies with some decent looking brands, websites.

While reviewing these pages, she finds herself pre-occupied, thinking about what she might make for dinner tonight. She closes the website tab, leans back in her chair and sinks into a deep yawn-stretch as she thinks to herself... maybe I’ll make a stir-fry tonight. Oh, wait, maybe I’ll use that frozen shrimp in the back of the freezer. Yes, a shrimp stir-fry! Perfect.

She gets up from her chair and wonders over to the kitchen to get some more coffee. Looking at those agency websites sure made her feel sleepy, and she could use a pick-me-up. In fact, she can barely remember how many agency websites she just looked at or what any of their names were. They were all so similar, seeming to blend together into a soup of nothingness.

Mmmm, soup.

She turns toward the pantry, wondering if there’s anything she can snack on before returning to her desk.

I know this story because this was once me. In my 9+ years client-side, I put out countless RFPs, researched countless agency websites, reviewed countless proposals and so on. The experience described above is the typical experience when researching an agency. In fact, I would say at least 90% of agencies fall into this category.

Anecdote Pt. 2 - The Well Positioned Offer

She returns to her desk, hot cup of coffee in hand, and takes a moment to scroll through Instagram before getting back to work. Within thirty seconds, she’s confronted by an ad that reads, “The Hub & Spoke Strategy: How one blog article per month can 20X your qualified leads.”

She thinks to herself, “That sounds pretty good. But what is The Hub & Spoke Strategy? Sounds interesting.”

She clicks through and is taken to a landing page with a free eBook that walks through The Hub & Spoke Strategy. She enters her contact details, downloads the eBook, spends about 10 minutes scrolling through it, sort of half-reading each page, and is impressed with the ideas.

She decides to do a little research on the company who put this out. She can see that they’re a full-service marketing agency who has a variety of interesting strategic offers that are all centered around producing results. She reaches out through the contact page, books a meeting, interviews them, and a few phone calls later, decides to hire them on a project-by-project basis to start.

The difference between these two experiences is in the first, the client is reviewing the typical agency website. A vague positioning statement, commonplace set of services and standard agency process.

In the second experience, the client is reviewing an offer that specifies a clear end result and a unique mechanism for helping the client achieve that result.

In a study from The Corporate Executive Board Company (CEB), the research indicates that B2B clients are 70% more likely to purchase a service where the seller has shown a clear model for how they will help them – and the likelihood increases another 20% when the seller communicates a “specific and measurable result.”

The key is in the defined result and the unique mechanism used to achieve that result.

It’s good to have a process. But process alone is not a differentiator.