And Why I Chose To Work For One.

I spent the past 10 years of my career at Kohl’s Department Store, and during those years, I worked with a lot of agencies, marketing communications firms, “partners.” Many were remarkable. Others, not so much.

Which is why the decision to move to the other side of the table and join a marketing communications firm like Versant was a very considered move for me. I carefully evaluated the Versant culture and approach before making the leap. I had to be sure Versant stood for everything I loved about working with an outside partner.

So where did I start with this decision? I made a list, of course: the five things I hated about agencies. And then I evaluated Versant against those criteria. Enjoy.

1. The vanishing superstars.

After hours and hours of RFP responses, capabilities presentations, “ideation” sessions, a suspicious trend emerged: the world-class talent agencies would bring in to present and wow leadership had a way of mysteriously vanishing once the project was sold.

On to the next pursuit, no doubt. However, a key part of our choice as clients was the caliber of the team, and whether we felt a connection with the folks in front of us. We would sadly ask week after week, “Is Joe coming?” only to be told that we had a “new” team assigned to us.

I have never seen that happen at Versant, not once, and I’ve been here a year now. The team that shows up at your door to share capabilities, help you brainstorm ideas, and lay out a strategic plan will be the same team that manages your project, answers the phone when you call, and responds to your email.

2. Innovation for innovation’s sake.

I get it. You are an agency, and part of your raison d'être is to be creative and push the envelope. I even appreciated that insight into industry trends and the snap, crackle and pop that happens in the middle of a great brainstorming session. But too often, agencies presented creative ideas just because they were new or sexy or cutting edge. As someone responsible for helping to grow the business, I always expected – needed – an outside partner to keep one foot on the floor and stay grounded in what we were trying to accomplish as an organization. Innovation was welcomed – as long as it laddered to our strategic objectives as a company.

Philosophically, Versant approaches innovation very differently, mostly because Job 1 is understanding your business. That means everything is grounded in the idea of a strategic partnership and is conceived with the goal of helping you accomplish your objectives.

3. A tool should be something that makes my job easier.

You would think this would be fairly straightforward. But some of the “tools” I ended up with were more obstacles and impediments than ways to make our jobs faster and easier. Even worse, I often ended up with the sole responsibility for training my staff and making sure they were versed in the new software, even though I had only learned the software myself a few days earlier.

Versant uses a variety of tools to help clients, but my personal favorite is Sitefinity, the content management system we use to build and maintain websites. The first time I used this tool, I was astounded. I could change navigation. Move images around. Control the metadata that feeds search engines. This level of control was vastly different from other content management systems I’d used, where I would need to call my IT partners just to change the color of a button. It was a breeze.

Plus, Versant always trains the necessary staff to be sure they can use the new software and is available for questions at any time.

4. Less razzle-dazzle, more skin in the game.

At the beginning, it can be hard to tell who’s in it to help you succeed, and who’s worried about the next sale. The razzle-dazzle works on us clients, because – at its best – your show makes us feel important and supported by a raft of gifted, articulate superstars. But, the minute you tell a vendor, “We need to hold off on new projects for a bit,” you find out who’s really your partner, and who’s just chasing the next fee.

Having skin in the game and being invested in the business are characteristics that can’t be underestimated, because they elevate you from vendor to partner. But that level of investment takes work and energy and time, valuable commodities in an agency environment. Which is what makes Versant’s commitment to relationships even more remarkable. I’ve watched the genuine interest in clients’ businesses and personal lives, and I’ve come to understand that relationship-building is really a way of life here. Versant can definitely give you the ol’ razzle-dazzle, but the company is also there when you need them, fee or not.

5. Project management? What project management?

Let me be clear: as a client, we are paying you to fill a gap we can’t address internally. We want you to take care of things for us. Which means you need to undertake the glamour-free task of managing a project. Pushing us on deadlines. Making sure you get the information you need, and that you’re clearly communicating with us. We won’t bite. In fact, we appreciate your professionalism and commitment to delivery.

Project management is a particular passion of mine, so it’s been fun to join a culture where deadlines matter and project plans are a critical first phase of every initiative.

I spent a lot of time evaluating Versant before I chose to change careers, and I can honestly – and happily – say I now work for a marketing communications firm that embodies everything I loved about working with a partner, and none of the things I hated.