{"id":5055,"date":"2015-06-16T13:22:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T17:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/?p=5055"},"modified":"2019-03-01T21:26:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-01T21:26:19","slug":"crm-technology-for-marketing-and-advertising-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/blog\/crm-technology-for-marketing-and-advertising-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spreadsheets Stop Marketing Agencies from Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Young<\/p>\n

Emma was fuming. A four-hour round trip to meet a prospective client had proven to be a source of embarrassment and confusion, reflecting badly not only on her personally but her organisation. She was worried a relationship that she had been nurturing carefully for a year was dead.<\/p>\n

An opportunity missed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma had travelled to pitch a new communications strategy. She had been discussing details with several key contacts in the client firm for over six months. When she arrived for the latest meeting, however, there was a lack of warmth in the exchanges. People appeared to be talking at cross-purposes, and a cloud of misunderstanding hung in the air.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Emma confronted the issue directly.<\/em><\/p>\n

To her horror, she quickly discovered that a colleague from another agency within the network had been to pitch the previous week. Their proposal, which had a radically different communications strategy, had sown seeds of doubt. Which was the right approach and the best use of budget? All deals were off for the time being.<\/em><\/p>\n

The spreadsheet trap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma could not understand what had gone wrong. She had been careful to brief her colleagues in the network, ensuring reports were escalated to Executive meetings. She had recorded details of her conversations, phone calls and emails with her partners at the other agencies. This included information about forthcoming meetings, location and purpose.<\/p>\n

All this was stored in an Excel spreadsheet on the shared drive. It was easy to find and even easier to search. What could have gone so wrong that a colleague missed all of this?<\/p>\n

Making use of the train’s WiFi, Emma logged on to the shared drive and began to scan through the spreadsheet. One thing became quickly apparent. No one, beyond her direct reports, had added any information to the spreadsheet for several months. No one else in the network, no one outside her own agency, had ever entered content on it.<\/p>\n

Worse still, on talking with her colleagues, Emma found work was being lost when the team had been simultaneously editing the spread sheet and overwriting each other\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Emma resolved to investigate further when back in the office.<\/em><\/p>\n

Emma quickly learned that lack of time and competing priorities had led them to stop using the spreadsheet. They did not search it to understand relationships with customers, business partners and other stakeholders. They did not add to it either.<\/p>\n

What was supposed to be an aid was actually inhibiting collaborative work within the network. More importantly it was damaging relationships with prospective clients.<\/p>\n

Redefining business as usual<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma decided to do something about it. If this was business as usual, Emma was going to redefine the term. She pulled together an inter-agency working group to discuss ideas for improving working practices.<\/p>\n

With the working group, Emma sketched out some core requirements they wished to address. These would help them identify potential solutions. Emma\u2019s criteria list included:<\/p>\n