| Me | Hi there, I‘ve got a client that I might like to refer to you. |
| Agency | Excellent. Tell me more… we love a good referral. Do you want a bung, sorry I mean some commission? |
| Me | No referral fee is required. To answer your question, they spend £10,000 a month on AdWords. |
| Agency | OK… no need to go on… it’ll be £1,400 per month fee with a minimum of 6 months. |
| Me | Right, so what do they get for the £8,400 |
| Agency | Well, it’s our standard package. |
| Me | So, what do they get? |
| Agency | Our standard package. |
| Me | Which is…? |
| Agency | Our standard package. |
| Me | Don’t like to be rude but I can’t just tell them to give you £8,400 so what do they get? |
| Agency | I don’t like to be rude, but it should be obvious. Tell them to look at the website. |
| Me | OK. I’ll let you know if they are interested. |
Unfortunately, this type of conversation is not unusual.
My objections and why I would not make the referral: the use of the word ‘bung’, the lack of thought about who the client is, what might be required, the client’s objectives, my role, why the client might want a new agency…. The list goes on.
Suffice to say such conversations get people struck off my Christmas list and our CRM.
The good news is that as long as there are so many despicable agencies, then the nice guys will stand out. The bad news is that the cowboys and charlatans give everyone else a bad name.
If you are reading this you’ll be one of the nice guys, I hope.