With the world economy teetering on the edge of recession and with many organisations looking to cut expenditure, the biggest mistake is to immediately go for the lowest price.

The saying "you get what you pay for" applies in booms and busts. And while during recessions the market is more competitively priced and bargains are available, the problem is that you can also get false economy from simply selecting the cheapest offering.

The smart strategy is to negotiate on value, rather than simply price. By way of example, lets look at a retailer who is reviewing their electronic art and print management.

Continue reading "Even facing recession, price should not be the final or only criteria" »

We are all aware of the direction the world wide economy is heading. But in the past two months it appears that agency fees are going the same way during the pitch process. But the same cannot be said for agency fees when discussing the negotiations with an incumbent agency.

It appears in their desire to win, or some may say buy, business, some agencies are slashing their overheads in their retainer proposals and offering key senior staff for free to make their remuneration proposals more desirable.

But when the same agencies come to renegotiating their fees with an existing client they scream "blue murder" when it is suggested they could look at any change but an increase to their existing fee structure.

Are they that secure in the relationship that they think that in these difficult times, their existing client would not put the business out to pitch?

Continue reading "The power of competitive pressure on advertising agency fees" »

In this special audio presentation Chris Sewell, Business Director for TrinityP3 consulting services, sits down with David Crew of On Paper to talk about the explosion of marketing businesses claiming ‘Carbon neutrality’ as a marketing position while not understanding that offsets are the first refuse of rogues. Chris is passionate about reducing carbon emissions in the business he knows - advertising.

http://papertellsastory.com/2008/11/07/sustaincommworld-live-with-christopher-sewell/