It Can Happen To You!
A very large advertising agency lost the Mars account after 70 years of service and $70 million in annual billings.
The well-known D’Arcy Advertising Agency has been respected for over 70 years. Don’t you think there were people walking the halls thinking that this account was in the bag… after 70 years? “It is ours. We own this account.”
GONZO. Yesterday’s news. A fond memory.
Stay with me. I know you don’t care about advertising agencies. Neither do I. But the message should be hitting you loud and clear. It’s a mess out there and relationships, although having become the popular buzz-word of the new millennium, are as fragile as people’s self-esteem.
The long and the short of it is that you can’t afford losing a single good client these days. And people today are playing by a new set of rules. There are no guarantees and the sure-thing is a thing of the past.
Your future is up to you. Don’t open yourself up for any surprises.
This week, I want you to list your top ten accounts. Then, today is as good a day as any, I want you to phone each and every good account to thank them for the business … and to remind them that you are there for them. While you are on the phone, I want you to ask them if there is anything you can do for them at the moment.
This call should take no more than 3 minutes and will help prevent what happened to D’Arcy.
70 years? Go figure!