We Don’t Want More Clients
Our business doesn’t scale. No private equity firm will come knocking on our door. If you want to work with us, we may say “no.” These are some of the reasons why clients want to work with us.
Let me explain…
The world is in radical transformation:
Depending on what part of the world you operate in, you may still be wrestling with the impact of COVID-19 or navigating the post-pandemic world
Dramatic government intervention into the U.S. economy will create thousands of winners and losers
Consumer media consumption and social media behavior is dramatically evolving
AI is transforming all we do
So how do you best navigate these turbulent waters?
Experience shows it takes innovative thinkers and focused energy. Organizational change agents must conceive breakthrough solutions and execute them effectively. It’s much more efficient if your innovators and executors can be one in the same. As the former head of a major global agency network and a leading marketing trade association, I can tell you there are too few of these people.
It’s fabulous if you have this level of talent internally, but many organizations benefit from an outsider’s expertise, either on a temporary or continuous basis. If your organization requires business/marketing innovation, where should you turn?
If your organization is a global behemoth, the right solution may be top-tier executives from a global agency network – but remember, you’re not really hiring an agency; you’re essentially hiring a select group of individuals who work for that firm. Don’t be fooled by who you meet in new business discussions; insist that you spend time with who may become your dedicated team.
Yet 99% of for-profits and nonprofits are small or medium-sized organizations. For them, we find time and again that less is more. Less people doing more is a better way to right the ship. Usually that is senior people who can 1.) understand the strategic imperatives confounding an organization, 2.) conceptualize viable alternatives, based on rigorous analysis, and 3.) partner with you to ensure that any grandiose plans become real, effective solutions.
Which gets back to why our agency doesn’t scale and private equity hasn’t come calling. We don’t work with more than a handful of clients at any one time. We apply C-level talent to all of our clients, and we get immersed in the strategy and see it through successful implementation. This doesn’t mean that we never take on new clients. We usually work with two or three new clients each year, as we complete assignments to get organizations back on track or rebuild their brands. Still, chances are, we may not work together, so my message to you is, if you want to go big, go small.
Lawrence M. Kimmel is CEO of Rung-UP, the only agency custom built for C-Level executives at mid-sized organizations. He can be reached at Hi@Rung-UP.com.