Hiring a new person or company — regardless of industry or service offering — can be tricky to navigate. Without a proper framework in place guided by a few basic and sensible principles, the journey can be costly, and even frustrating. Fruitful working relationships are akin to a dance between people than a show performed by one party.
This article details the process we use to familiarize ourselves with each other, minimizing time investment and maximizing the potential for a fruitful partnership.
Deal-breakers
The first step towards finding a fit is to look for immediate deal-breakers. We have some, and so should you. In your case, deal-breakers could come in many forms, including budgetary limits, production schedule conflicts not allowing us to meet a deadline, or an incompatible culture. Avoiding potential deal-breakers can result in a costly journey that succumbs to failure.
Below are a few high-level “rules of engagement” that may not work for you.
Let’s save everyone time and ensure the right people are in the room.
But our hearts only have room for long-term relationships.
We’ll scope out the project with you and key decision makers, through real conversations. This also means, we don’t respond to RFPs if we are unable to have meaningful conversations.
This can cover one or multiple projects.
Exceptions are possible for selected non-profits, artistic/social/educational enterprises, and friends & family.
What’s wrong with eager proposals?
YouTube search: Proposals gone wrong.
The Journey
There are essentially three phases to our journey. At each phase, our goal is to determine if moving forward together makes sense or if it’s best to part ways. We believe, and we hope you agree, that an early “no” is not a bad outcome. It helps avoid costly realizations later in the process. If you have any doubts, please share them early on, and we will do the same.
01. Introductory call
10 – 30 mins
Think of this step as the casual first call before our dinner date.
In this first call, we want to learn about the big problems you’re looking to solve and the opportunities ahead. We will discuss critical topics such as the scope of work (what are your goals and challenges, and do we have the right capabilities to address them?) and timeline (when do you need it, and can we deliver?).
If we both agree on these essentials, we will be delighted to meet and continue to the next stage of collaboration.
02. Discovery Meeting
90 – 120 mins
This is our first date, and we expect to really get to know each other. We might share stories, laughter, and a show-and-tell of relevant past work. Beyond discussing qualifications and experiences, we’ll delve deeper into vision, mission, and culture. The goal is to determine if we’re a perfect match or just destined to be friends.
A poor choice of restaurant has minor consequences, but choosing the wrong agency partner? That’s significant. So, let’s take the time to discover and explore.
If the initial discovery is going well (i.e., we both feel like we could be a good fit), we’ll extend our dinner date and order dessert. We start envisioning a potential partnership in terms of high-level scope and investment (time & money). We will want to map out the journey together. This further allows us to determine if our services and production schedule fit with your needs.
We’ll conclude this meeting with one of the following outcomes:
- No: We thank you for your time.
- Maybe: We consider this a No (at least for now), and that’s okay!
- Yes: We hash out the next step together.
03. Engagement Plan & Statement Of Work
15 – 45 mins
We’ll meet again to review an initial engagement plan and statement of work (SOW), both built upon our previous conversations. There should be no surprises in the SOW and engagement plan, as they reflect our thorough discussions. There are two common outcomes:
- Sleep on it:
You request additional time to review the SOW.
We schedule a follow-up.
- Ready to rock:
You sign the SOW.
We schedule a kick-off.
Working Together!
Official Kick-off
Before we get started, we’ll assemble a team dedicated to your project. We’ll have an internal kick-off meeting to bring the team up to speed. And finally, we’ll have an introductory kick-off meeting to introduce your dedicated team.
“Do you respond to RFPs?”
Almost never.
Many years ago, we decided not to respond to RFPs or prepare proposals without direct input from the client team. This approach prevents creating estimates or proposals in isolation, which often leads to assumptions and overlooked details. Working together allows us to develop custom solutions tailored to our clients’ challenges. We have found that non-collaborative proposals are costly and yield poor returns. In contrast, our interactive approach consistently achieves better results in less time and at lower costs.
– Mahan Khalsa, Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play
