For better or for worse, I have always been brutally honest.  I am hard working, I don’t know any other way. I only take on clients we can do great work for, treat people well and expect the same in return.  It’s sometimes painful being brutally honest in the service industry.

Over the past 45 days, we invested perhaps 75 hours of work pitching a major company’s PR work.  The CEO personally approached me; we held countless meetings, and were continually promised that an agreement would be forthcoming. Then came two weeks of no replies and a meek email apologizing for budget constraints (which was of course the first question I asked when we got the initial call).  Nevertheless, the CEO promised we would build a relationship and that he had plans to work with us in the future. I built a relationship with these folks (or so I thought), carried out some impressive presentations and devised a strategy for them. The work was enjoyable and I felt I learned a lot from it.

That said, today was approached by a client who wanted to collaborate on a project with these folks. I said sure, I’d be happy to call and help establish a connection. I immediately got the CEO on the phone, who quoted me a price…which was more than what we had been quoted by a sales person who was unaware of a preexisting “relationship.”  Needless to say, we won’t be collaborating with these people…and I feel they took complete advantage of us.

In the service industry, time is money, and too often we don’t receive value for our time.  It’s not fair, and it’s not good business.  All we have is time and we value it. It’s how we make our living.  Value your own time in the PR business.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Yesterday I received a call from an old acquaintance of about 10 years, completely out of the blue, requesting a meeting. We spent considerable time together in 2003 when I first started 5WPR, which I remember vividly. We have spoken many times over the years, both personally and professionally, and he’s risen very rapidly in his industry. For someone my age, he has become very high profile, tremendously successful and, other than a few yearly emails, I have admired him from afar.

We met yesterday, simply for him to say “Congratulations” to me.  Someone had mentioned me to him earlier this week, we hadn’t connected in quite a while, and he said “You should be proud of what you have built. I am proud of you.”

We ended up spending quite a few hours together, we discussed the prospects of a future business venture. It was really nice to hear from him, and for me as an entrepreneur, it reminded me to thank people who do good things and who succeed.

It’s rare for people to appreciate the success of others, and I vow to do it more. Be appreciative of people who succeed – Its much harder than it looks.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Every media training which we have recently given begins with telling our clients to assume everything they say is being recorded, in every forum.  Every public discussion they have, every speech to an obscure group can constitute media, and we direct them to ask if anyone in the room is recording their speech (and should always assume it is). Anything and everything is searchable, not deniable, and on the record.  It can be posted on Youtube and elsewhere, leaked to the media (including trade outlets), given to competitors (or family members), twitted about, and it becomes instant “media” – Leaving no room for misstep.

Last week I had dinner at the home of a friend for 20 years who has recently been elected to the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), and despite the fact that he’s one of the straightest people I know, he relayed that he assumes every phone discussion he has is taped. He refuses to make any decisions on the phone at all for fear of one’s ulterior motive.  This is symbolic of something many here, I assume, will now adopt (albeit for different reasons).

With media layoffs occurring daily, the Twittergate Affair should be examined closely by all media analysts – A major major story was leaked by an insider.  More self-reporting (which happened to be accurate this time) – It costs a lot of money for media to be instantly available to be available and respond quickly, and not many media outlets are able to adapt.

Moving forth, will people confess to crimes via these non traditional media outlets? What about marriage proposals? This is real and actual media, continuing to take eyeballs from traditional media – Television, newspapers and the like. Everyday we learn more. This Al Roker Item is also worth nothing; it happens every day, but received attention simply because it was Roker.

The world is changing by the minute (and please feel free to record that).

Ronn Torossian
5WPR

As many have noted over the years, despite the industry axiom, the customer isn’t always right. In fact, as I learned from a previous mentor, “My PR agency isn’t right for you if you always want to be told yes, and always want to be right.” We challenge clients, and appreciate debate and challenge.

That said, I was appreciative to read this piece in AdAge by Marc Brownstein, which really spoke some painful and real truths of working in the service industry during these challenging times. The following sentiments relayed in the article reflect some of my own recent experiences and accurately convey the current state of affairs in the industry…

-Individuals (client contacts) you’ve been accustomed to doing business with for years now behave in erratic ways

-Clients pushing your agency  so low on fees that making a profit is out of the question

-Just keeping the client becomes the rationale; not paying invoices until your accounting department escalates the situation, and then challenging the invoices.

Clients need to be appreciative in times such as these we also have to pay our employees, have vendors, and a business to run as well. Our best and favorite clients have always been fair people, people who are honest, keep their word, and for whom we very much want to do great work.

Clients referred to above are thankfully very much in the minority, but required reading for all staffers here (and I wish could push more clients to read) is The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Hardcover) by Robert I. Sutton.

Difficult times absolutely require harder work, and more intensity… but it can be done in a fair way (and I say this having fielded a call from 1 of my favorite clients @ 7 AM as I was leaving the gym this AM).

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Having just returned from a business trip throughout Europe, it dawned on me how dependent we in the U.S. are upon blackberries and email as primary communications tools. From my very unscientific observation, while these tools are used overseas a ton as well, they are often used more for personal use than for business.

My promise to myself having returned is to pick up the phone much more, and see many more people face to face. Random ravings from a PR Agency owner.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR