** Tig's weekly column fields questions from and for marketers. Got a question for Tig? Email him by clicking here. **
Dear Tig,
I sell media for a vertical publications company, where I handle most of its online sales. My problem started when a long-standing client of the company (he accounts for about 5 percent of our revenues) started asking me to dinner repeatedly. Normally this would be a great thing. I'd love to start him into the online area. But it quickly became clear at the first dinner that he wasn't interested in my online banners, if you know what I mean.
I stuck to my guns, hoping that a Powerpoint presentation I brought might cool him down (it seems to cool down everyone else, after all), but he persisted in trying to get me to tell him more and more personal details. I want nothing to do with this man, aside from his business. I'm not sure that my (male) bosses will be very supportive if I tell them of the problem. What can I do?
Chased in the Midwest
Dear Chased,
You need to nip this in the bud very quickly. To do otherwise could lead to worse misunderstandings with the client and reduce your credibility among your colleagues.
Definitely discuss this with your manager. Try to take the tone of informing your boss, rather than asking him. Don't let them be unsupportive. Your management may want to put a different rep onto this account to prevent a confrontation that could lose your firm business. This may or may not be the best scenario for you, depending on whether or not it leaves you with lost commissions and responsibilities. Be sure to voice any such concerns.
If you decide not to switch representation, you need to address the issue directly. You did not say that you told this client of your lack of romantic interest, which makes me assume that you've merely tried to avoid the matter at hand, perhaps trying to prevent a confrontation. But you need to accept that he is confronting you, and answer that with a polite and direct response.
In the face of continued harassment, your management will need to talk to his management.
Dear Tig,
I work for a large consumer goods company in the marketing department. My boss tells me that our company doesn't start making money on new employees until they've been with the company for 5 years. Is this true, and even if it is, do I owe it to them to stay for a certain amount of time?
Wandering Eyes
Dear Wanderer, In most cases this is a fib managers tell young employees to stave off pressure for raises and promotions. I was told this in my marketing job. But when I was later responsible for bottom-line profits at that same company, I found it to be completely untrue.
In fact, as a general rule, the newest employees are generally the most profitable, especially in ad agencies, where their time is billed at the same rate as older employees with higher salaries.
Decades ago, many large companies had years-long training programs that may have actually caused them to lose money on new employees, but this was an age where people expected to stay at a company for an entire career. With the “social contract” of long-term employment long abrogated, you should feel no compunction at all in considering better offers.
Dear Tig,
I run a small ad agency account team for a client based halfway across the country. The problem is that they want us to travel to their facilities just about every week. This wouldn't be so terrible, if the meetings we held there were more useful than conference calls, but they are not.
They pay for travel, but the time wasted on shuttling back and forth has the practical effect of wasting 25 percent of our time, not to mention enormous personal inconvenience.
My management seems reluctant to confront them on the topic because when they pitched the business just last year, they made all sorts of assurances that the distance wouldn't be a big issue. Is there anything I can do?
On the Run
Dear Runner,
Many clients (and agencies for that matter) have the too-many-meetings dysfunction. But instead of this situation being the run-of-the-mill variety, where people seek that false sense of accomplishment from merely conducting meetings, you have a tougher problem.
In my own anecdotal experience, the most productive account teams are the ones that conduct very few in-person meetings with the client. If there develops sufficient trust, the account team can spend that greater part of their time working on the account, rather than preparing for meetings and--my own pet peeve--writing meeting reports.
The confusion here seems to come from the client's misunderstanding the agency assurances from when it won the account. Distance doesn't have to be “a big issue,” but traveling constantly usually isn't the answer--in fact it's usually part of the problem. Instead, distance becomes neutralized with clear and frequent lines of remote communication.
The best way to address this is to broach the topic directly. And in those discussions with the client, focus on the benefits they will receive by not requiring so much travel. They will save a lot of money, and they will effectively get more account resources for their fees. You are not contradicting what was sold to them in the pitch; rather you are clarifying how you can deliver that productivity.
As an old boss of mine used to say, “A meeting is not an accomplishment.”
