Ghost jobs, ethical service recruitment and the cost of ideas

I have lately found myself putting aside requests for proposals and tenders. The reasons are generally the understanding that the advertisers are in existing relationships, and that the ‘opportunities’ are ‘window shopping’ for ideas.

When I take on a pitch job, I commit time to it. In the initial pitch phase I need to research the field, devote time to understanding it, and develop and execute the pitch, including the arduous business of querying and quoting. Only once in the last year did I spend less than a week on a pitch. I do not throw ink at paper and expect results. Only two relationships have materialized.

Shockingly I got ghosted on a number of those pitches: I got no positive or negative response. Another pitch, an intense three-week exercise in developing strategy and documenting it yielded the brazen response that the client was ‘just looking for ideas’. I don’t give away ideas for free.

The undervaluation of marketing and branding is endemic, and a recurring topic in the industry. Weigh this up against the fact that the field requires a business degree, professional development and accumulated experience. If the counter to the valuation (and quote) is that the job is too expensive, bear in mind that one third of the quote will be reduced by tax, another third will go to expenses and only the final third will be income.

My strategy for business acquisition has subsequently changed to approaches based on clear gaps in operations of potential customers, my ability to add value and / or potential products that I can replicate for economies of scale.

There are, however, four guidelines for ethical service recruitment.

Firstly, and most importantly, become familiar with the field and develop a clear understanding of processes and ‘who-does-what’. If you see a campaign or body of work that stands out, consider what makes it successful and who did the work. Social media will help you, but so will a direct question to the company that commissioned the work.

Secondly, research the communicator’s EEAT: experience, exoertise, authority and trustworthiness. Without those ingredients in place and relevance to your field and need, any relationship will be fruitless. The information that you need can be established with an email and a word of thanks. You should also ask for a profile and a portfolio if necessary.

Thirdly, establish a nursery or stable of suppliers. Spread the work that you have on hand between suppliers. Given the fragmentation of sales, marketing and branding tasks and the degrees of specialization within those fields, there is ample opportunity to do so. However, don’t just consider task performance, but also take into account responsive service delivery.

Finally, if you have followed the process and if procurement demands it, call closed pitches in your stable of suppliers. Bear in mind that a range of suppliers may be enough to counter the objection of supplier familiarity.

In the nineties, with just a handful of larger agencies, pitch fever began to emerge. The learning in agencies at that point was that repetitive pitches came at a cost in terms of lost productivity and poor service to existing customers. Some of the agencies began to ask for pitch fees on that basis as well as bearing in mind the IP they were developing. It was an unsatisfactory solution.

By engaging in ethical procurement it is quite possible to preserve the value and goodwill of the supplier.