Look Whose Stirred Up a Hornet’s Nest!

Well we appear to have stirred up quite a debate on the approach to new business so what better than to bring this out into the wider arena for further thoughts.

The old or shall we say traditional approach to retainer led outsourced activity appears to create a divided camp. On one side there appears to be the thought that a retainer tends to bring an outsourced partner closer to the organisation. The other side of the argument appears to be lead by the belief that retainers tend to lure a partner into a comfort zone that removes the urgency prevalent with partners that have to deliver, otherwise they see no return on their efforts.

So let’s look at this clearly based on feedback to this point. The vast majority have tried and tested the retainer led approach with approximately 65% finding results disappointing. The main frustrations have been failure to hit an agreed target and the quality being poor – majority being unqualified without an immediate need.

With the non-retainer led approach the findings are quite startling. The quality has been far better in terms of opportunities, realistic targets have been achieved and both parties are satisfied with the approach. The new business arm is hungry to perform far better and the client more willing to offer flexibility where the quality is to a high standard.

This is quite the hornet’s nest and does offer up some lively debate. Whatever your approach always be mindful that, in this new age of intelligence driven new business, motivated and targeted new business arms work far better than retained ones – we live by delivery alone. We fail to deliver we do not get paid. And with no other source of fee the quality has to be high to ensure our clients are happy and that we both get a suitable reward.

That’s our thoughts and approach – more along similar lines to follow in the coming days.

Thanks as always for reading

www.mintconsultancy.co.uk