{"id":1501,"date":"2016-07-26T12:07:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T16:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acaweb.ca\/en\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2017-11-03T11:34:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T15:34:30","slug":"procurement-perspective-save-time-money-with-whiteboard-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acaweb.ca\/en\/2016\/procurement-perspective-save-time-money-with-whiteboard-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Procurement Perspective: Save Time & Money With Whiteboard Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"

MDC Partners’ Donald Lee is not new to the Procurement Game, but the 15-year veteran is relatively new to the agency side of the equation. With his first piece for ACA\u2019s blog, Lee aims to start a conversation about how procurement, the client and agency can work better together.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Business<\/p>\n

I do not believe marketing is a commodity, and one should not treat this category like one would procure logistics, MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) or resin. <\/p>\n

The same rules do not apply and you can\u2019t simply go to the next supplier to get the same results. <\/p>\n

Doing more with less is a saying we have all heard, and marketing managers\u2019 budgets are no different. The issue is that some of us carry this saying to agencies. We expect these agencies to manage the same scope and deliverables with less money, and it\u2019s perpetuated because some agencies do it at their fiscal detriment. <\/p>\n

Agencies will either suck it up for a short time or give their junior talent a shot. With a reduction in creativity, some client side managers will then move to review the business with the smaller budget and push for deliverables within the original scope.<\/p>\n

That may be a solution for a year with a top-tier agency, but that same agency will ask for a price increase or give you the Junior talent squad the second year. Often, the time and money it takes to review the business, onboard and bring a new agency up-to-speed are lost costs (in the pain of change) to an existing marketing manager\u2019s budget, which is already tight in money and time. <\/p>\n

A more cost-effective and strategic way to work with agencies and marketing managers is to review the original scope, figure out what is mission critical vs. nice to have and what is discretionary. Agencies can be very innovative at finding creative alternative solutions at lower cost points. <\/p>\n

The challenge is finding a way to meet procurement\u2019s objective to reduce costs, client goals to tell a complex story and get a compelling ROI, and the agency\u2019s desire to do great creative. All three are not always possible. <\/p>\n

I will address one way to get there today, and discuss other methods in future posts:
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\nScrap the old-school 7-step RFP process and use whiteboard sessions instead. <\/strong><\/p>\n

What is a whiteboard session? It\u2019s when the client has an idea of where it wants to go and introduces it to an agency with procurement in the room. All three parties sit down and work through building a scope with projected costs to meet the required deliverables.<\/p>\n

This saves time and money that would have been consumed by an agency responding to an RFP and a client going back and forth requesting additional information and\/or several pricing models. <\/p>\n

If a client uses a whiteboarding session to flush out scope with a potential agency, several things happen.<\/p>\n