Is the cult of the new-biz director on the wane?

The role of the new-biz director may not be changing, but it’s possible they’ll soon be overshadowed by the rise of an entirely new creature, says Dominic Mills. Meet the client retention director – whose job includes what you might loosely call ‘marriage counselling’…

Given that agencies set such great store on their new-business wins, you only have to see it’s the number one way they measure their year to understand its priority – it may seem strange to ask whether new-business directors are, if not a dying breed, becoming less important than they were.

In my time I’ve known many new-biz directors and it’s not my intention in any way to diminish the role they play.

Successful ones give agencies huge momentum and create a virtuous circle whereby new business generates energy and confidence that, in turn, generates more new business. Ask anyone which agencies are hot at any given time, and the chances are it’s the ones winning lots of new business.

Equally, I’ve known new-biz directors who’ve kept their employers alive; as fast as they were bringing business in through the front door, other clients were exiting through the back door. As an observer it was impossible not to ask yourself: “are these two trends connected?”

However, while the role of the new-biz director may not be changing, it’s possible that in a few years’ time they may be overshadowed by the rise of an-altogether new creature: the client retention director.

Certainly, there seems to a subtle shift in the balance of emphasis – as you can see in this blog from Richard Robinson of Oystercatchers – towards retention rather than churn.

And yes, dear readers, that’s the same Oystercatchers that’s also number one on any new-biz director’s speed-dial.

Nor is Oystercatchers alone in suggesting that the pendulum is swinging.

Kerry Glazer, chief executive of the AAR, the other big beast in the client-agency relationship jungle, tells me that her business is about 50:50 split between running new-business pitches and what you might loosely call ‘marriage counselling’ – i.e. appraising, evaluating and benchmarking relationships, all with the aim of making them last longer.

Surprised? I was. I had cynically (or naively) assumed that the business of the intermediaries was based on pitches because – as US mobster Willie Sutton remarked when asked why he robbed banks – that’s where the money is.

But no. It transpires that the action – and possibly the money too – is in fostering longer agency-client relationships through services like evaluation, best practice in working relationships and partnership coaching.

Indeed, looking at the intermediaries as businesses, this sort of work is better in the long run: it spreads their income base, they are less dependent on the vagaries of the pitch market (pitch volumes can see-saw along with the economic climate), and it gives them the opportunity to build long-term relationships with clients.

Take a look at the Oystercatchers website; number one on its list of services is Optimise, which is all about maximising the relationship between client and agency.

Robinson, who runs the service, tells me there has been a marked shift in client sentiment in the last 12-15 months. “Clients are asking themselves whether it’s worth calling a pitch – they know how disruptive it can be – and they’re asking themselves ‘isn’t there a better way to solve the problem with my agency?’.

“Of course, there are times when a new agency is the only way,” says Robinson, “but we make them work hard to justify it.”

The AAR is equally explicit about its offer – go to its agencies section and high up are details of its relationship management offer; and it is just as clear that this is run by a senior, dedicated member of the team, Vicky Bullen.

And these are proper methodologies, not just ‘here-sit-on-the-couch-and-tell-me-why-it’s-going-so-badly exercises’.

But will agencies take a blind bit of notice? After all, retention is, compared to new business, significantly less sexy.

There are large cultural obstacles to overcome; one senior account director told me how, over the course of a year, they and their team won an extra £2 million worth of income (which translates as a decent chunk of new business in billings terms) from an existing client.

Did they get an end-of-year herogram from the chief executive? Did they hell. All the glory went to the new-biz director.

And because new business is a priority, the new-biz director wields a lot of clout internally. They can call on resources when they like and pull the best people off existing business to prepare for a pitch – none of which helps in the cause of retention.

Now some would say that agencies already employ someone whose job is retention, and they’re called head of account management.

And if you look at agencies with long and enduring relationships with clients – think BBH and Audi and Johnnie Walker, Ogilvy and IBM, Leo Burnett and McDonald’s, Mindshare and Ford, Carat and Diageo, AMV and Sainsbury’s, Walkers and BT – none of them employ a head of retention, yet they are clearly doing a lot right.

So it’s clear that the culture of retention is deeply embedded within those agencies even if they don’t call it that.

But if agencies want to make a cultural shift, it may take a bit of symbolism too.

One clear way to do that would be to create a post of head of retention. As a statement of intent it would send a strong signal internally and externally. The message would be clear: we value our existing business very highly.

I can’t see this happening overnight, but I do sense a shift of mood. Let’s hope the momentum isn’t lost.

P.S. I am away so my next column will be published on November 18th.