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I think we may have just grown up a little as a new communications agency. Here’s the back story. I would very much appreciate your thoughts.
Our company – Vehr Communications – started in early 2007. Our focus is strategic communications and, although new and clearly in an “eat-what-you-kill” mode during our start-up, we want to be strategically engaged with our clients in figuring out how communications can help to address their business challenges and opportunities.
A week or so ago we received a Request for Proposal (RFP) from a prestigious non-profit with a great Board of Trustees and an important community mission. We were up against some other local agencies. Our competitive juices were flowing and we wanted to win.
As we dove into preparing our response to the RFP it became clear to us, rightly or wrongly, that the prospective client was not really looking for a strategic partner, but a vendor to implement what they predetermined they wanted and needed.
They sought quick answers – in about 3 weeks – to what we felt were very complex issues and the entire length of the engagement was 3 weeks. They were clear there were prospects for additional work, but that was not a part of this RFP.
We felt in our heads and hearts that it was unwise for them to move so quickly. We were not comfortable that the substantive advance work they had done and shared was as complete and comprehensive as was necessary to achieve the stated objectives for the program of work.
We decided to respond and we decided to tell them what we thought. We said that their accelerated timeframe was not advisable and provided a timeframe that was still compressed but more realistic, from our perspective.
Of course, we didn’t get the account. The money would have been great and I am certain the prospect for longer term work was real. I am convinced, though, that we made the right decision.
I told our team I was proud of them and the substantial work they put into the RFP response. More importantly, I told them I was proud that we submitted what we thought was right.
So, that’s the story. Have you been through this professionally? Any suggestions for a better way to deal with such situations going forward? Should we have simply not responded and spent the time preparing the RFP response?
Fascinating column in today’s NYT written by blogger Choire Sicha, co-founder of TheAwl.com regarding some new FTC regulations for online endorsements.
I don’t even know what the new regs are, but I loved this column! Just read this line:
“That every consumer is now a retailer is capitalism’s ultimate and most logical evolution. Regulating every last one of us in our tiny imaginary boardrooms (in my mind, mine is mahogany-paneled and has a Haagen-Dasz fountain) is as ludicrous as not skipping past the advertisements on one’s DVR.”
Creative, extremely well-written and, right on.
No libertarian, me, but a realist. The article shares some somewhat satirical, or maybe real, examples of how impossible it would be to regulate a medium that is, almost by design, unregulatable (if that’s even a word). It’s a must read.
Government is much too late, if they even had a role in the first place, to put this jeanie back in the bottle.
I also can’t pass up the irony, or the ironic new reality, of a celebrity trend/fad blogger placing a column in the NYT which will undoubtedly spike his popularity in, you got it, the blogosphere.
Someone once said that having 2 ears and 1 mouth was the right ratio – we all need to listen more and talk less.
This, of course, is the key to good community relations – a critical component of any integrated, strategic, public relations strategy.
This blog post from William de Worde sums it up well:
“Public relations and community relations really work hand in hand, without one the other becomes much harder. If you take the time to develop good relationships with your community – whoever that is – you may be able to do better public relations than any standard ‘PR Plan’ can come up with.”
From political candidates to ballot issue campaigns, from land-use plan development to major infrastructure repairs and improvements, from new capital projects to business incentive awards – good community relations can build new relationships, strengthen existing ones or repair ones that have been damaged.
Of course, community relations is more about listening (2 ears) than talking (1 mouth), if you are sincere about it. Your target community deserves to be heard and you should listen.
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