building relationships
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PAYING FOR SI OF TH
e’ve all taken over an account where the board was convinced that the outgoing management company had failed to uphold their contract. Example after example of their failures is spouted over the phone, in meetings, or basically to anybody who stands still long enough to listen. Marketing interviews are filled with questions and statements that revolve around past real and/or perceived transgressions and present the outgoing firm as a bunch of doofuses. It’s very difficult, especially during the marketing period, not to automatically side with the disgruntled board and ooh and ahh and shake your head at the incompetence of the current management company. After all, you want the account, and agreeing would give you that edge over the competition. Seasoned managers or executives typically attend marketing interviews, and we can usually determine the real culprits a mile away, and quite often it is NOT the outgoing management firm. Playing into the hands of these types of boards does a disservice to our industry as a whole and the newly assigned manager. In siding with the disgruntled board – especially when you know the failure lies with the board – you are setting unrealistic expectations and making promises that outweigh the time commitment you as the manager will be able to put into the oncoming account. The Board is going to assume that your company will solve all of their issues within the first month or two of the contract, and the manager will be viewed as an indentured servant rather than a professional manager. He/she will be micromanaged to 20
Vision Fall 2015 | www.cacm.org
