Reflections on the new business process

Here’s an interesting insight from Neil Christie of W&K

“I suspect that browsing of agency websites has to a certain extent replaced the part of the new business process known as the ‘creds meeting’. It used to be that the new business director of a large agency would be expected to arrange two or three creds (credentials) meetings a week, at which the agency would present examples of its work and approach to potential clients, whether or not they were actually reviewing their business at the time. These speculative meetings just don’t happen any more. Clients don’t visit agencies unless they’re actually putting a pitch list together. Partly because they’re too busy and partly because the competitiveness of today’s new biz environment would mean they’re liable to be torn apart by desperate agencies if they started just ‘popping in for a chat.’ It’s easier for them just to have a look at the agencies’ websites – no commitment and no feeding frenzy.”