You’re A Tool (But Not In A Bad Way)

One thing (of many) they don’t teach in college is in order to be successful in media planning you need to have good relationships. Trust is something I never realized was going to be so important and can make (or break) just about any client situation.

On a recent pitch for a client in the architecture and design (A&D) market, it was my relationships that allowed me to say: “Here’s what we’re trying to do, what can you do to help me make this work? Are there any ideas you have that would be cool that this market would glom onto?”

Not to mention the fact that I needed that information at that exact minute. And in the instances where I had good relationships with reps, they really pulled through for me. Together we were able to come up with some great ideas, that the client loved.

On the flipside, a bad relationship and/or lack of trust can be brutal.

Keeping it within the A&D market, I recently had a situation where  a new rep asked why we did not include them in a recent buy. When I gave my reasons, that person became upset and went to the client touting how amazing his properties were.

And you know what, his properties are good, and I told him and the client that. But so are his competitors. It just didn’t make sense to go with his properties with the rates he was giving me. It still has to make financial sense.

Fast forward a couple weeks: I received information about the past year’s performance of one of those properties, and it was down almost 25% year-over-year. Once I saw that, it all became clear. The property is hurting for customers and the rep was trying to go over my head to get the client’s sign off on a campaign. This situation was a tutorial in what not to do when trying to build a relationship.

Luckily, the majority of agency/rep relationships fall within the good column, but occasionally someone does something to make you question their intentions. It’s because of this that I’ve learned to play 20 questions pretty well. And if something still doesn’t seem right, I’ll just keep going. For the most part I think reps respect the questions and that only helps me stock my toolbox with good, strong relationships. However, I did have a rep complain once that I asked too many questions. My response: “I’m just doing my job.”

If you’d like to take advantage of my good relationships, or just play 20 questions with me, contact us.

Flickr photo courtesy of sgrace