Lemon Foundation

It’s becoming apparent that the digital arena is starting to pick up, certainly much more than it has year by year over the last 4 to 5 years.  Businesses are starting to look at their digital / online / technical / IT / software needs and are realising that they really ought to start improving their online presence / taking advantage of sales on the web / leveraging the advantages of online collaboration etc.  The corollary to this is that whilst there is a growth in spend, it produces an increase in competition between the vendors or suppliers that provide services to the abovementioned organisations.

The client is looking for reliable service – they want to know that their needs will be met, and if they aren’t that there is recourse of sorts.  They also want to work with good people and at the same time make sure that the work produced is not run of the mill and ordinary – sound familiar?

The agencies or vendors are looking for good clients to work for, they want to make sure that if they aren’t paid that there is recourse of sorts; they want to produce quality, industry standard work which speaks for itself and gains them new clients.

On the surface, there seems to be a good match here – both clients and agencies are ostensibly looking for the same thing.  But when you dig deeper it becomes quit apparent that without certain checks and balances, it’s not that easy to find, and more important to execute on.  Hence the paradox -

As the client, you should be looking for agencies that have done similar work in the past where they can clearly demonstrate the client problem and then their solution, and the resultant ROI for the client. 

You should also be looking for a personality fit – are the suppliers on the same wavelength? Are they in tune with your needs, or are they just paying lip service?  Do they have account people in-house that know the industry, that know the difference between XHTML and CSS, the difference between .Net and RubyonRails? 

You should also be looking for a little bit of edge – is the supplier hungry to do your work?  Do they look like they’ll really produce good results, or is this something where you feel they’re just going to go through the motions? 

Finally, you should be looking for a cost-benefit ratio – if the supplier is charging high rates, why are they doing so?  Do the agency directors drive flash cars and have 3 hour lunches, or are they heavily invested into their people, their skills and their infrastructure?  If their rates are low, why is that?  Do they undervalue the work they do, or are they running leaner so they can undercut the competition – often, paying peanuts means that you get monkeys, so it’s important to realise that there isn’t always a long term benefit to cheaper suppliers.

Ultimately, clients that demand the very best service are better off fully understanding what their needs are first, before looking at appointing suppliers – once needs are understood and can be clearly communicated, finding the right supplier will be easier and less of a lottery.