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You Get The Agency You Deserve

You Get The Agency You Deserve is the only book focused on helping client side marketers get the most of their agency relationships. Let me share what inspired it's creation and how the idea formulated.

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The Reviews

Are In!

Marina-MacDonald-Red-Roof

"Jared is an excellent writer, and this book is unique, smart, and needed in today's landscape…this is just a little bit more than how to be a good client…it’s about being a good human too."

Marina MacDonald
Chief Marketing Officer | Red Roof Inn
ellie-doty

"Many executives want to have a more productive relationship with their agency, but don't know where to start. This book provides practical take home value to get you started. Jared is a leader with many years in the trenches both on the brand and agency side, and he skillfully brings lessons forward for clients to consider in order to get the most out of their agency relationships. Its a must read for any client-side marketer in my view. "

Ellie Doty
Former CMO of Burger King and Chilis | Current CMO of Dolphin Entertainment
Diahann-Young

"Jared brings his years of expertise as both a brand side marketer and an agency executive to help clients understand how to get more out of their partnerships with agencies. As a client-side marketer, I see the need to better train on the ways to best leverage agency relationships from the development of a thorough SOW, to navigating agency conflict, to motivating and getting the best work possible. Jared breaks this all down into useful, bite-sized chapters that can drive immediate value in what might be one of your largest investments."

Diahann Young
Marketing Director at Pulte Homes and Former Brand Executive at Coca-Cola

You Get The Agency You Deserve

Over the past few years, I have asked over one hundred marketing heads, CMOs, CEOs, and various business leaders one very simple question:

"Did you ever train on how to be an effective client for an agency or services partner?"

I chose this question because it provided no space to hide. This question was purposely worded not to judge their intention (i.e., Do you care about your agency and consultancy partners?), but to honestly ask them just that. The question is also powerful because it provides a lot of room for introspection.

Just about every colleague replied, after a brief pause, some version of ”nope, I did not.” After contemplating my question, sometimes staring awkwardly into space, similar versions of these three answers kept getting repeated.

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First

they were never mandated to be great at managing agencies.

In other words, regarding their own goals or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), not once had their boss evaluated them on how they handled their agency relationships. If the old adage is true that “people respect what you inspect,” there was little to no inspection in this area. Therefore, there was little to no incentive to improve if their manager was not watching or expecting them to focus on nurturing these relationships.

Second

they never were trained in how to be great at the art and science of managing an agency.

Literally, not a single person in over a hundred interviews shared that there was dedicated training regarding how to manage this sort of relationship investment. Think about how profound that is for a second. The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies have media or creative or consulting agencies with annual retainers that can be as large as $50 million per year in fees, with as much as $1 billion in media investment under management, yet leaders are asked to sort of “wing it” in the management and stewardship of that investment. I would challenge you to think of an equivalent.

Third

which was the most honest and telling answer, they felt there were “zero repercussions to not being great.”

The C-Suite in certain situations can be short-sighted with agency dynamics because it is easier to fire an agency than deal with their routines and processes that might be broken or need significant improvement. It’s easier to hire a new agency than address their product issues. In short, not being great at managing the relationship with your agency partner was not viewed as a failure in the hallways of most companies, even if and when you actually fail your agency. Instead, it gets spun as though the agency is always to blame, and so, you run yet another RFP.

This lead me to realize a book was necessary to dedicate to all the client-side marketers out there looking to improve their relationship with their agency and get better results.

I hope you will consider buying this book, “You Get The Agency You Deserve.” If however, your goal is instead to learn how to be a better client partner, than please consider taking a read of “The Great Client Partner” which teaches how to grow your soft skills related to best-in-class client management. I care deeply about moving our industry forward and if clients would learn a bit more about the other side and agency folks would better understand clients, our industry would be in an even better place.