Thursday, September 29, 2005

Bait and Switch - What should be done?

One of my businesses recently lost out in a pitch to one of the ‘large’ agencies. The pitch had been a drawn out affair with lots of agencies in the fray. In the end it came down to a final two and we lost. I should say now that I hate losing so that needs to be factored in to the equation here. What annoyed me was that we lost out to a blatant bait and switch. It transpires that the winning agency brought a ton of people in to the pitch, of which only two junior people were ever going to work on the business.

I know that there are reasons why agencies do this. The best one is that the people who are good at pitching are not always the best at the work and vice versa. Other reasons are that the demands made in the pitch are rarely what a client wants once the work really starts. PLus there's the fact that the right people are either away or busy with existing client work. That said I do believe we need higher ethical standards on this issue. The client I mentioned is already annoyed to find that their new team is totally different to the one that pitched. Much as I’m skeptical about the ability of our industry to enforce codes of conduct and ethical standards I feel something needs to be done.

One way to solve this is to make resource planning a key part of all pitches so that the client can see in black and white what resources will be applied for the budget. The content here could then be an integral part of the initial contract. Another way to solve this would be for an organization like the Council of PR here in the US or the PRCA in the UK to promote a code of conduct on this issue and for them to set out rules their members agree to abide by.

Am I alone in finding the bait and switch issue frustrating? Personally I feel it does our industry no credit and only serves to re-enforce the image that PR is a less than ethical business.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Glad to see you blogging more often!

You should name these agencies ;-) then companies out there will know which agencies to avoid. Also as you say resource management should be an essential part of the pitch, so you know what you're getting.

Its the same when agencies promise a lot of time with the founder or most senior PR professional. Ask what you're really getting for your money.

Emma

Anonymous said...

I don't think you can wait for one of the official associations to make this happen (and, quite frankly, how much weight would that really carry anway?). I think you have a unique opportunity to take the lead on this (and several other ethical/process issues plaguing the industry). People look up to you, they respect you. Your agency stable sits smack in the middle of the niche firms and the behemoths. Take the lead, Tim. Set the rules and bring the other firms with you. Don't let clients get suckered into the worst our industry has to offer and don't let those in the industry get away with shoddy practices. Somebody has to own this and you are in the position to fix it.

Anonymous said...

Familiar with the situation - small community ;) I do think, as you note, this stings for you. Even with that said....

I agree this happens too often and is unfortunate. And bad for the client who already sees the writing on the wall and can't reward your company for not only their hard work in the past, as well as the good results they likely would have done moving forward. Interesting that they even bothered to share that data with you.

A standards body is only as good as the enforcement and compliance of those participating. So I don't personally think that this can be effective. Pitches need to be kept too quiet and outside of firmly identifying and sticking to the rules, which by definition won't happen, it won't work. I'd say that it is tremendously more important to gain a reputation that you are honest and ethical.

I'll leave you with this thought Tim. When it comes to bait and switch, you have to be sure that you operate in the bounds of conduct to not become like this big agency. Behaviour -- good and bad -- will get out and benefit/harm you in the long run.

Are you absolutely certain your company has never done this to a prospect? (they have btw) You are in a position to lead here, but I'd be a bit concerned that reputation and how you treat people internally and externally is your best asset, and if you don't do this well, you fail. That is what is going to help you sustain and grow -- or retard business. I'd look at that a bit more IMHO, if I were in your shoes.

Anonymous said...

i think it's probably right to be annoyed about this, but also stupid of the client to have fallen into one of the oldest traps - they've only got themselves to blame, and even more annoyingly there's not a lot of point saying 'i told you so' because they already know they've screwed up and don't want to be reminded of it.

move on, life's too short, and there's real stuff going on in pakistan

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Wow Tim, what happened to the comments here? Great post though.

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Anonymous said...

Frankly, any good company PR dept. is going to figure it out and ask the tough questions during the pitch. It's the companies that allow themselves to swim in the sea of schmooze who fall into the trap of the new business sales team. Ask the question before you sign the contract.

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