For the last 11 years, I have been running agencies…first with Ariesnet, and then with Starr Tincup. Since graduating b-school in 1999, I have run a web development shop and a full service marketing agency.  I’ve managed HR, operations, professional services, sales, marketing, business development, finance, accounting, and I’ve even taken out the trash once or twice.  More than I could ever articulate, I know the ins and outs of running an agency.  Conservatively, I’ve probably had 1,000 client experiences, 300 of which were with HR vendors.

I co-founded Starr Tincup in November of 2000.  My role over the last two years has been the management of sales, marketing, business development and operations. I’ve been responsible for building the Starr Tincup brand that most people know (and, ahem, love), including the website, book (Try Not To F&ck This Up), direct marketing, email marketing, event strategy, social media strategy, etc, etc.  If you liked our marketing, you would enjoy conversations with me.  In 2009, sales for Starr Tincup were flat (the new up!) under my stewardship.  In fact, I sold a year’s worth of marketing services in Q1 of 2010 alone.  Accolades and applause aside, lately I haven’t been a pleasure to be around.  I knew something wasn’t quite right with me but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it….

Have you ever fallen out of love with something you helped create?  Well, I did.  After owning and operating an agency – specifically, an outsourced marketing services firm – I came to realize that my heart just wasn’t in it any more.  Quite frankly, I’m not sure I believe in the outsourced marketing services model.

Let me explain…. Think about how we view outsourced accounting services.  With accounting, the provider usually has a degree and usually has some sort of certification (CPA, CFP, etc.). We (Joe general public) don’t think twice about outsourcing tax preparation work or audit work or getting advice from a CPA.   However, with outsourced marketing, it’s NOT the same. Outsourced accounting is well established, whereas outsourced marketing is not. There are NO norms in place – it’s like the Wild West.

Anyone can say they are a marketer – charlatans and hucksters abound on the internet.   Degrees and certification in marketing are, for the most part, laughable… from the point of view of both the profession (read: agency people) and clients.  Plus I don’t think we know what “should be” outsourced and what should always be delivered internally.  In my opinion, it’s not so much that a paradigm is shifting…one doesn’t even exist.  When it comes to outsourced marketing, I think clients are confused as to what to buy, from whom, how long things should take, and what things should cost. In fact, I see the same kind of confusion with all my colleagues that own outsourced marketing service shops.  Who knows…maybe in 20 years the market will determine what should and shouldn’t be outsourced.  Meanwhile, my belief is this: outsourced marketing services are new… and when a service is new, it has all kinds of growing pains.  Living on the frontier equals lots of arrows in your back.  (This is kind of insensitive, given my heritage and all, but by now you get the point.)

In particular, one struggle stood out for me.  On the one hand, I would argue about how critical marketing was, yet on the other hand, I would argue that outsourcing (to us of course) was best for organizations.  Kind of hypocritical.  Either marketing is core to the business and thus should be done internally or it isn’t.  This quandary led me to think more and more about the outsourced marketing services model.  On a daily basis, I would find myself giving away strategic advice so we could win transactional or tactical marketing gigs.  For example, I would find myself routinely talking with prospects about show strategy, product roll out strategies, analyst relations, etc. in hopes of “winning” their email marketing business.  I would think to myself…how retarded is this?  The truth is…I believe most clients would just like to be taught how to do things and/or the logic and best practices of how to get things done.  I believe most marketing leaders would prefer to have internal people own “critical” marketing initiatives.  I think back to all my conversations where prospects asked for advice – not a full-bore retainer relationship, but just advice on what to do, why to do it, how to do it, when to do it, etc. And that kind of conversation makes complete sense.

So now you understand why I fell out of love with the model.  Three things actually led to me getting out of the game: the concept of leverage, the concept of maximization, and “no one says thank you anymore.” Please file all of these in “the things we think but do not say” folder…details to follow….

As much as an outsourced marketing services provider would like to think of himself as being a “partner” with the client, the truth is, he is not.  Not at all.  Clients are always trying to leverage the “relationship” they have with their partners.  This is the real grind…every day is a new negotiation.  Didn’t call me yesterday – the account is in jeopardy.  Broken link on the email campaign – the account is in jeopardy.  The white paper didn’t include the “right” quote – the account is in jeopardy.  The wrong boilerplate was used in the most recent press release – the account is in jeopardy.  WTF?  If any of these “critical” mistakes were made by an internal employee, no one would know or care.  Truth is…these “mistakes” happen every day in marketing.  But when you are an outsourced marketing provider, these are the things that get your firm fired.  More often than not, these things are used to kick your ass, or whip you into shape, and/or as a leverageable moment.  Yep, leverage – that’s the game and that’s just one reason I had to get out.  I grew tired of stupid shit causing me pain.  Honestly, I think ALL clients that purchase outsourced marketing services think about leverage.  They think about it differently and they draw down on it differently, but they ALL find a way to leverage vendors.  And, maybe they are supposed to…meaning maybe that is the role of the client…to be overly demanding.  Dunno.

So, as I said, the second thing that kicked my ass about running an agency was the concept of maximization.  Agencies are unfairly held to an unattainable standard.  As an example, an internal employee can create a white paper in about a month, yet an outsourced marketing services firm is somehow expected to create the same white paper in five days.  Why is that?  Well, on the one hand we (all outsourced marketing service providers) are partly to blame because we sell based on some mythical cost savings or employee replacement model.  The other reason is tied to the concept of all clients wanting to maximize their investment in marketing.  If they are paying your firm $15,000 a month, they want to receive $20,000 worth of stuff.  If your firm creates two press releases in a week, they want you to create three.  Part of this issue is because no one knows what this stuff really costs or the time it really takes to create it.  No one.  I also believe that clients are always thinking about the age old concept of “make versus buy” and how they should and/or could get things done internally.  And, truth is, maybe that is how they should think.  But, I can tell you that after managing this stuff for 10 years…that grind really wears at your soul.  As an outsourced marketing services provider, you are only as good as what you did yesterday, last week and/or last month.  No one really thinks about the great stuff you did last quarter…clients don’t have that kind of memory, and, once again, maybe they shouldn’t.  Dunno.

This is going to seem completely trivial but the straw that broke my back was the realization that over the course of 10 years in the game I might of been told “thank you” seven or eight times.  I (read: my firm) changed lives, changed destinies, built lasting brands, created market share, created real value, got people promoted, etc, etc. Yeah, I know – payment for services rendered was my thanks.  Yeah, well, that wasn’t enough.  Rarely do clients say thank you to a provider and in my opinion that wasn’t going to change.  So they say…change “the” situation OR change “your” situation.  I chose the latter.

In terms of my exit from Starr Tincup, well it happened fast but extremely gracefully.  Although I fell out of love with “the model” I helped create,  I loved the people I worked with, in fact, they’re the greatest team I’ve ever been affiliated with.  I absolutely love, respect and trust my (former) business partner Bret Starr.  But I needed a fresh start and I needed to get out of the outsourced marketing services game because it was killing me. I knew it, but I didn’t know how to get out of my own firm.  Then it happened.

Bret threw me a life preserver.  He purchased my equity in Starr Tincup via a promissory note.  So in essence, I don’t have to work for several years.  We agreed to the business valuation in 15 minutes.  The payment terms took us 10 minutes to nail down.  The actual legal agreement took only 9 business days to create and consummate. That’s what happens when you have business partners that love each other.  I cleaned my office out on a Thursday; we told our employees on a Friday; I went back to work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; then I promptly went on vacation for a month.  There’s no doubt that I will miss the agency world. I’ll miss my friends and colleagues at Starr Tincup and mostly I’ll miss my daily conversations with Bret.  That said, I am relieved to be out of the game.

If you are reading this website and wondering if I compete with my former firm, the answer is “No.”  They deliver things.  Other than sage advice, I don’t deliver things.  In addition, I don’t have a non-solicit, non-compete or non-disclosure agreement with Bret Starr or Starr Tincup.  I’m free to do whatever my heart tells me to do.

I am excited about the next chapter in my professional life.  I created it based on everything I have learned, my passion for the work, and what I am great at giving people, which is solid advice.

Think about the last 10 conversations that actually meant something to you.  If you peer beneath the surface, you’ll see that those great conversations didn’t just happen; they were orchestrated.  Chances are, you had at least two willing AND engaged parties at the proverbial table.  Notice the emphasis on willing and engaged – one without the other is like a salad with no dressing.

At 42 years young, I want to have great conversations all the time with willing and engaged participants.  Truthfully, I feel that most people fake their way through conversations.  They kind of listen…they kind of care.  I would say many people rely on their ability to wing it, or worse, bullshit their way through an important conversation.  I feel this way because I was one of those people, and admittedly some “great” exchanges did happen, but what if I had actually prepared for those “wing it” conversations?  In hindsight, they could have been life-changing events.

I want to give each conversation its proper respect.  I enjoy listening and I enjoy responding.  I love giving actionable advice.  I love to hear what professionals are going through and give them sage advice based on my experience, education and instincts.  Many people in life have not discovered what they are good at.  I am fortunate that I have and I have built my life around it.

I strongly believe that a great conversation has several ingredients:

• expectations,
• preparation,
• listening (to what is said and not said),
• formation of insightful questions,
• frank dialogue, and
• a review of action steps.

These are the basics and without these, conversations are left to happenstance.  Think of it like this: great conversations are a combination of art and science, and both are essential to reach a satisfactory result.  In terms of my particular conversation style, those who know me know that I don’t mince words…I say it like it is.  In my business, it works well; no one has the time or money for someone who is not brutally honest.

If you would like to know more, or if you’re ready for a great conversation, schedule some time to talk with me and you’ll see what I mean.

It’s just me and my experience in the space.  I believe that a few hours of time with me can save you tens or hundreds of thousands dollars.  I can give you advice on what to do and what to avoid (read “what” as activities, events and/or people).  I know marketing HR services and products better than 99% of people in the world, and I co-authored a book about human capital marketing.

I love the space; I love the HR vendor community – and I believe I am now putting my skills to much better use.

Conversations with HR vendors can range from strategic to tactical.  Some examples are:

• Go To Market / Launch Strategy
• Marketing Portfolio Planning
• Segmentation / Positioning Strategy
• Branding / Re-branding Strategy
• Message / Re-message Strategy
• Lead / Demand Generation Strategy

I can bring to the table sound advice on how to market effectively to a particular buyer.   I’m a great guy to have in the room or on the phone as I can truly represent your interests without serving any other agenda – I have no additional products or services to sell you.  I also believe that my pricing is completely affordable by all of the approximately 50,000 vendors (my estimate) serving the HR buyer.

What I am really excited about is the thought leadership I am building in regards to User Adoption Marketing.  I believe this will be a true intersection point where HR and vendors that serve HR can come together and build value with each other.  (More on that later.)

If you are a vendor and your firm serves the HR buyer (regardless of title), contact me to schedule some brainstorming time.

As part of climbing that mountain, I want to write and publish an amazing book about User Adoption Marketing – part best practices and differing working models and part case studies.  I also want to be involved with a ton of HR software user conferences – planning them, attending them, and speaking at them.  In the short term, I want to talk with 1000 HR leaders and 250 vendors regarding User Adoption Marketing.  I plan to conduct numerous surveys and talk with the analyst community (read: analyst, bloggers, thought leaders, etc) regularly about the subject.  I’ll find interesting and compelling ways to work with the HR software vendor community to partner with HR to create bulletproof user adoption strategies.

And most of all, I’ll find a way to have fun while I’m at it.  Trust that.