| What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency? | |
|---|---|
| Melanie Lowe, COO | Primarily connecting and networking with previous clients from my past agencies. I am normally brought in during the contracting phase just as we are working out the final details with new clients. |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Communicate pipeline status to executive team members. Liaise with technology partners. Advisory to marketing. Attendance at conferences for prospecting. Oversight of Business Development Associate who is charged with outbound prospecting / lead gen. Primary client-facing liaison during initiated sales process. Introduce agency, services, reference projects via phone and in-person. Host qualifying discussion to understand opportunity and ensure it's a fit (scope, budget, timeline, industry, etc.) while also capturing initial client interests. Develop questions necessary to scope an opportunity. Manage proposal development process, including team communications, writing proposal, and expectations alignment. Manage pitch team in pitch situations. Solicit feedback from client. Negotiate contract. Handoff to account/project delivery team. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | I'm new to the agency, starting in April, but I work with Joel and Chris (our new business team) to create content, marketing and PR initiatives to build our visibility. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | I am primarily focused on cold outreach to clients we have identified as prospects. I also field and qualify some inbound leads. I assist in ad hoc fashion with preparing sales presentations and responding to RFI's and RFP's. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Participating in new business pitches; assistance with creation of new development of new business proposal packages/pitches |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Involved in virtually every pitch. Role is to share case studies and to expressed potential strategy for a prospect. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | I represent our technical capabilities to prospective clients. I partner with my peer(s) in the client organization and I assure the smooth delivery of Extractable's (and our technical partners') work. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | I used to spend 100% of time on it. Now, I manage the team that does it. I stopped going to pitches about 4 years ago to focus on raising my kids. I began to feel that the team had better chemistry without me there so stepped back from it and focused on other aspects of the agency. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | This has changed over time and continues to change. I have written SOWs, contributed to SOWs being written by others, delivered pitches, contributed to pitches, helped develop questions for prospects during the sales cycles, attracted leads at speaking engagements at conferences, attracted leads through articles written for trade publications. Most recently I work with Joel to pitch our analytics work both as a stand alone offering and as component of bigger projects. I often work with prospects to fully understand their business KPIs, research forecasts, and develop ROI models that are used during the sales cycle. |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Melanie Lowe, COO | Various roles at digital agencies (12 years since 1999) + client-side (10 years). |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | 12 years at Extractable, head of new business for 9 years 17 years in digital space (USWeb/CKS, Scient) |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | I have been in marketing and PR for 20 years, focusing on B2B marketing the last 15 and specializing in agencies for the past 8 years. I have worked in technology on the client side, and most recently was at Razorfish and The Marketing Store. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | I have 3 years of work experience. I was previously an account manager for an online marketing company. This is my first experience in the agency world. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | I have worked on the agency nearly all of my 20+ years in marketing and advertising. I previously co-owned my own award-winning agency in the Portland, OR area (with two other partners) from 2000–2007, so I have experience with all aspects of agency business. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | 23 years in agencies around the world. Started in PR, then marketing (Ogilvy) then digital agencies. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Ten years leading technical work at BBDO. Prior to that, 4 years leading technology at a B2B agency, then before that started and sold my own agency. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | I have an engineering background. Started my career in R&D at Sony focused on internet technologies. Then joined USWeb/CKS in the dotcom boom, where I met Mark Ryan (co-founder). We left to start Extractable with intention of doing web technology architecture engagements. We ended up doing web design for some clients and found it a nice opportunity to use technology to impact client's business goals. So we build around it. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | In my 16 years at Extractable I have worked with over 100 clients including all of our top clients. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Melanie Lowe, COO | Extractable is an award-winning digital experience design agency headquartered in San Francisco. We focus on providing results-driven work for Fortune 1000 companies primarily in the financial services, healthcare and the B2B technology space. |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Extractable uses data insights to create powerful digital experiences that drive results for financial services, technology, healthcare and green tech clients. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Extractable is a digital strategy and experience design agency, specializing in designing transformative digital experiences for financial services, healthcare, and B2B technology industries. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | We are a digital strategy and experience design firm focused on using data insights and a user-centered design process to create personalized, branded digital customer experiences that support target business objectives. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Extractable is an award-winning digital design and experience agency focused on finding insights from data to drive business results. We have deep experience in financial services, healthcare, B2B technology and green energy services, and foster long-term relationships with our clients. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Digital strategy and experience design agency. With a focus on financial services, healthcare and b2b technology. Leveraging data to drive insight that produces business outcomes for our clients. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | We are a user experience design agency focused on helping our clients make a measurable difference in their businesses. We combine top shelf business acumen with world class user experience to make your digital properties work for you. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Extractable is a digital strategy agency that uses data to inform and builds customer experiences that achieve improved results. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | Extractable utilizes data from web analytics, customer relationship management platforms, salesforce automation platforms and original research to drive a metamorphosis of web sites, web applications, and mobile applications. We are able to create industry leading results for our clients be being experts in tracking, interpreting, and acting on web behavioral research. |
| The New York Times decides they are going to write an article about your agency. After spending a day at your offices, and then going back to write the piece.... what would the headline be? | |
| Melanie Lowe, COO | Best kept secret: the little digital agency that could! |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Worth the Spend |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | San Francisco Digital Agency's Health and Wealth Depends on Yours |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | Firm Combines Strategy + Design to Help Companies Understand Digital |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Extractable proves you don't need a big name to get big results. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | How the new wave of digital tools is transforming financial services (or healthcare) |
| Sean Brown, CTO | "Why All The Brits?" I'm kidding. How about, "Small agency. Huge impact." |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Data helps next generation web designers build sites that achieve dramatically improved results. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | As agencies are buzzing the words Big Data, Extractable improves corporate marketing with Big Analysis. |
| Now bring the agency to life. You have certainly been through this exercise, however applying it to your agency agency can be quite revealing in understanding more about your "DNA". If the agency were a car, what kind would it be? What color? Why? | |
| Melanie Lowe, COO | Mini Cooper S - British racing green - because we are a bit different and have a smart, diverse group of people either from other countries or with international experience. |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Tesla S, black. We have been told we "lead with intellect over ego" and I think this car/color combo epitomizes this statement. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | A black Tesla, because it's fueled by future-thinking, focuses on the user and ongoing data feedback, and where we may have traditionally blended in at first glance, we are breaking out of the pack. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | It would be a Porsche, perhaps silver. The agency is capable of strong performance, and has a moderate ego, but it's still not a Ferrari or Lamborghini. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | A Volvo XC60 in silver. We're safe and reliable. We might not be the fanciest car out there but we deliver enough bells and whistles to make you feel good and comfortable. We offer new technologies that have tangible benefits and we're good looking. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Jenson Interceptor. British racing green. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | I went back and forth whether to answer this question aspirationally or honestly. I've decided on honestly. I think we're like a Audi. High quality, higher priced, and want to be considered among and compared to the best, but we're not there (yet). |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | The agency would be a BMW M5. Cream colored. It's comfortable, attractive, and engineered to perfection. You can feel the road and enjoy the spirit of great craftsmanship. It has a button on the steering wheel called "M" -- When pressed just like the agency it is able to achieve incredible performance around the achievement of your goals. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | A completely custom kit car developed to the drivers goals. |
| What agencies do you most admire? Why? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | NuRun, Effective UI, HUGE, Work Co., Big Spaceship, AKQA, Method Exceptional work samples and case narratives. Outstanding websites. Strong industry recognition. Strong talent. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Edelman--ingenious PR move for Brand TrustBarometer 72 and Sunny--Their work is consistently interesting--and I thought their Samsung Wallhuggers concept was brilliant. Razorfish (with caveats)--the fact that they fund (and monetize) an emerging media team and lab. Rosetta--I don't know much about them. I just love their site. FROG design--always coming up with something at SXSW that melts my brain. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | Truthfully, I do not know a lot about other agencies, so I could only name the big guys like RGA, Huge, AKQA, Razorfish, etc. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | I guess I see agencies for what they are and I know too many people at all of them–each one with a not-so-flattering story. As a result, there's no agency that I look up to as being the pinnacle of the industry. The closest was probably Adaptive Path but they're no longer around (for the right reasons). I admired them for their smart thinking, thought leadership, community involvement, pure passion for the medium. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | I don't. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Huge. Razorfish. Mostly because they both manage to work with some of the best brands out there, and their technical chops always seem to shine through. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Landor. AKQA. Huge. Odopod. --> Because the present an image of extreme craftsmanship. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | Possible, Axis41 |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often. | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Effective UI, Razorfish |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Still learning. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | Digitas, EffectiveUI, Universal Mind. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Razorfish, Huge, AKQA |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Ask Joel. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Not sure. I'll let Joel answer that. My guess is that for Bay Area prospective clients the list would be one set, and the national clients would have another. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Razorfish Nurun Huge McKinsey Deloitte |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | Razorfish, not sure |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Analytics focus is repeatedly mentioned; though I do not believe this is a determining factor in clients' decisions. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | We are highly specialized in digital experience design and three industries--that share many similarities. As a result, we can quickly get to the heart of the problem for clients who need to go beyond a simple website redesign, and are embarking on a digitally-fueled transformation of their business. And because we are a senior-staffed smaller agency, clients know who is handling their accounts--and that they are in good hands. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | It's been said that Extractable's team "leads with intellect over ego" - meaning that we have very smart, experiences talent on our team that is capable of applying that intelligence to the project without complicating things with drama or personal issues. This is advantageous because the client will get very high-quality work in a responsive package. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | We are truly data- and strategically driven. We take the time to find the insights and use them to guide our thinking. From what I hear, most everyone else is just going through the motions. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | We approach most things strategically and hence challenge them more as to why things are being done, and hence doing them better. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Real data analytics. Senior level attention. Deep strategic insights to their business. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | I ask this question to our clients often. The most common answers are that our ability to perform research, provide analysis, and translate the analysis into actions is unique amongst other agencies. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do your competitors provide of value, that you do not? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Larger size, more locations / global reach, lower cost. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | The lure of a large holding company agency implies a network of support. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | Many main competitors are larger, and can offer more dedicated resources. Many have more clearly communicated their industry-level experience up front for clients and so they have already internalized the experience they bring whereas we would have to work more to communicate and convince them of this. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Until recently, our competitors were really beating us on visual design. Bringing Gordon on board should really help us in that regard. Other agencies also have better client brands, and we all know that big names want to be where other big names are. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Scale. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Size, breadth of work. Nationally recognizable clients. Depth of results. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Size/scale Media Buying. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | engineering, cost effective maintenance, quick turn around, relationships |
| Which agencies do you find the toughest to pitch against? Why? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Effective UI, |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Still learning. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | I am not involved in pitches, so I can't accurately answer that. I do know that EffectiveUI has beaten our pitch team previously. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | I can't really speak to that too much but I suspect it's the bigger agencies like Razorfish and Huge. These are agencies that also do advertising campaigns/media, which gives them so much more leverage than we have. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Lager ones with more direct experience in that specific sector. So, more case studies to choose from. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Not sure. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Huge -- Better creative and put more into the pitch. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | not sure |
| Are there any negative perceptions that prospects might have about the agency that could hold you back in new business? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Too expensive, no in-house technology offering, too small for budgets we are seeking, resources spread too thin. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | We're a boutique agency, but size can sometimes have a great impact on perception. We don't have a list of "flashy" clients--many of our clients are in B2B or in localized industries - major health systems - regional banks or financial brands that may not have broad brand awareness--to provide that immediate affinity and implied expertise well-known brands provide. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | It depends on the timing in which those perceptions are formed. If, early on in conversation, we don't succeed in accurately framing our experience and how we can add value, then i believe that harms their perception of us. If we are able to generate good conversations and develop rapport, I haven't seen anything that would trigger negative reactions that far down the road. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Our size and the fact that they don't know us. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Size. Some history of not delivering from years back. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | I don't hear these directly from the prospects, but Joel tells us that we're seen as expensive. And small. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Size? |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | small, not global, no relevant industry expertise, dont want the work bad enough |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do your presentations back up the agency’s recommendation with an irrefutable logic trail? In other words, how well do you typically build a strong argument for the agency’s recommendation? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | 7 |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | 8 |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | 8 |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | 8 |
| Sean Brown, CTO | 6 |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | 10 |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | 9 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations around a new and unexpected strategic consumer insight vs. a predictable consumer insight? In other words, how well do you always have something brand new to share about the client's target audience? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | 3 |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | 5 |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | 7 |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | 6 |
| Sean Brown, CTO | 2 |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | 6 |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | 9 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations around a new and unexpected creative/concept/program/tactical idea? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | 3 |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | 5 |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | 6 |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | 3 |
| Sean Brown, CTO | 3 |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | 10 |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | 8 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you demonstrate the business impact of your recommendations? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | 9 |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | 8 |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | 8 |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | 8 |
| Sean Brown, CTO | 7 |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | 8 |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | 9 |
| Overall (and as you consider the questions above), what do you believe most holds back the effectiveness of your client and new business presentations? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | To note: we generally do not issue a strong recommendation in a new business presentation. I'd say we play it safer in this area, proposing thinking, but deferring to the project to generate strong recommendations. Otherwise, flow can be slow, lack of creative detail in decks, lack of associating similarities of previous work to client challenges at hand, lack of target audience insights, lack of breakthrough spec concept. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Can't speak to this yet. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | As I'm not involved in the pitch process, it's a bit hard for me to answer this question. On some intro/team calls, I think we could do a better job of soliciting a conversation from the prospect. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Sometimes our success measurements are more general than we might like them to be. Or we don't have the depth in a certain area that we might like to have |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | The questions are hard to answer, as every presentation is different, and the goals set by the client is different. The biggest issues are 1) a clear understanding of their actual needs (ability to engage with them) and 2) time to do a good job thinking about it. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | That the same 5 people, with the least amount of time to dedicate, put together the decks. And the fact that our client service organization seems completely separated from the pitch. They offer nothing in terms of strategic recommendation/support. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | A stronger translation of data to customer insights. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | I think our pitches are very impressive to moderately sophisticated clients. I think sophisticated clients see us as not-specialized. Unsophisticated clients might see us as unnecessarily expensive. Large clients might see us as too small and local. |
| If you’re able to answer, what has been most effective at bringing business in the door to date? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Organic search. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | In my 1.5 years here I have seen the most warm leads come from conferences/trade shows. However, we have not closed a significant amount of business out of these efforts. From what I've seen, the most effective has been referrals from clients, partners, or employees. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | When we can clearly articulate our success on strategic engagements that are closely aligned with what the prospect is seeking. |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Ability to engage with the client, see real data, and focus on business outcome. Typically when we focus on just beauty parade or spec creative we don't differentiate. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Finding challenger brands that want very good work but don't have the budget for the bigger agencies to care about. The level of sophistication at organizations like that tends to be less than that of top shelf clients and are therefore more impressed/enamored with our thinking. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Our people and social networking. |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | - Professional Relationships from Previous Employeers - 3rd Party Sourcing Contractors Hired by Prospective Clients to Find Agencies - Personal Relationships - Technology Partnerships - Conference Speaking Engagements - Trade Articles |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| Joel Oxman, VP Business Development | Proactive prospecting. |
| Heather Gately, VP Marketing | Bottom line, we need to raise our profile and demonstrate our thinking through unique content and primary research. |
| Chris Corriveau Business Development Associate | For me to successfully prospect, I need a website and digital content that accurately reflects the quality and level of work that we do in order to validate my outreach in the eyes of the type of people we want to work with. Additionally, we need to build brand awareness so that people begin to associate Extractable with our main verticals. |
| Dana Larson, Chief Content Officer | Not sure, that's why we have you! |
| Simon Mathews - Chief Strategy Officer | Clearer sense of what we can do for them and understanding of their business. Less presentations. |
| Sean Brown, CTO | Client service organization needs to have far greater involvement in pitching and then nurturing clients. Not just rallying other people to put together decks but owning the strategy as well. And we need to do a far better job of targeting the right prospects. |
| Craig McLaughlin, CEO | Start Doing: Actively prospect Robb High Email Strategy Launch new web site Get messaging right. Be relentless Keep doing: Email Newsletters, social, speaking, writing, blog, articles. Stop Doing: Waiting for someone to call. Weeding out for budget before setting the hook |
| Mark Ryan, Founder | We have a decent close rate on leads that we actually want to work with. We need to figure out lead generation for qualified prospects. |