I'm Ready - How Do We Get Started?

I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Business has been so difficult to win lately between marketing directors that shop agencies based on price, clients who just aren't spending that much money, and tons of local competition. When I heard this come out of the mouth of a prospect toward the end of my pitch yesterday, I was floored.

We met with Dave Sherman at Allied Trailers yesterday (Myself, Dave Cyphers and Kimberly Putnam, our new AE). He's such a cool guy. But aside from being cool, you can tell that he truly respects marketing and advertising and what it can do for his business. It's a great feeling when you tell a client what you're going to do for them and how you're going to augment their marketing program, and they put 150% trust in you.

The first thing we're going to work on for Allied Trailers (www.alliedtrailers.com) is brand development. They're in dire need of it. They have been all over the map in terms of their brand and positioning. In some situations, they promote (and even have a logo for) ATS. On all of their trailers and storage containers, ATS is nowhere. There is just "Allied Trailers."

They also have a ton of collateral - all looking completely different. We're going to greatly simplify the collateral offerings they have into two main presentations. One large and one small, which will serve as the basic overview of their products and services.

Included in our proposal was a pretty intensive direct mail campaign as well. He has a list of about 10,000 to 15,000 prospects that he USED to mail to frequently, but he admits he hasn't kept up with this. We're hopeful that we can come up with a really solid campaign and help him implement it every 1 to 2 months.

One of the biggest projects in terms of size and scope that we'll work on for Allied Trailers is a complete redesign of his current Web site at www.alliedtrailers.com. He admits that its time has come and gone and that we should redesign it based on the newly redesigned brand. I'm pumped about this, because I think this is going to be a great sales tool for him and his sales staff. Plus, Web design and Interactive work is just plain fun.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for more as we make progress with this account.

Talk with you later,

Garret Ohm
The Cyphers Agency
www.thecyphersagency.com