The Perfect Fit

New Retained Search: President of Marcom Agency #10075

We're thrilled to be starting a new retained search for one of the region's premier marketing communications firms.  This is a very special opportunity for those who are the elite leaders of our industry.  Please apply through our website at Bishop Partners.

Marketing Communications Firm President #10075
Location:  St. Louis

This position of agency leadership in St. Louis is a result of succession planning efforts on the part of the agencies’ principals.  Those principals are interested in identifying and recruiting a marketing communications leader to take the helm of a well established marketing communication resource with a superior reputation.  The position includes all the responsibilities of a functioning President.  The ideal candidate will feel comfortable and driven to provide the strategic and tactical leadership, vision and inspiration so necessary to compete and win in today’s Marcom market.  The client base is composed of premier national and regional clients.  The staff is smart, hard working and passionate about doing the finest work possible in support of their clients’ needs.

Primary Responsibilities:

•    Lead the agency’s vision, goals, creative and account identity, ongoing excellence and insure growth into the future.
•    Be accountable for the ongoing profitability and revenue growth of the agency.
•    Lead, oversee and approve all budgetary efforts including operations, marketing and employee retention and growth.
•    Be the final decision maker, after consulting with the Executive Team on those issues relevant to the culture, operations, stability and growth of the agency.
•    Analyze, characterize and identify markets, potential clients, and expanded geography by assessing the market size/growth, business models, dynamics, and key players/organizations.
•    Lead the strategic client acquisition planning process, including the lead generation process and actively manage and track efforts to guide the marketing strategy and engagement with various potential clients.
•    Consistently and successfully lead the new business development efforts, utilizing existing client contacts,  experience and industry position, for the benefit of the agency.
•    Unsurpassed presentation and negotiation skills and an ability to communicate to a variety of audiences, both externally and internally.

Experience:
We’re looking for smart, charismatic and successful marketing professionals who have a degree and a track record that leaves no doubt about their being an innovative marketing communications leader (B2B, B2C and B2E).  We think a minimum of 15 years’ experience in an agency, design firm, or interactive agency is a minimum.  You must have run a company.  You must be fluent with the language and methodology of “modern marketing”.  “Traditional” experience is less important than innovative, or even experimental marketing efforts.  You must understand and be able to articulate those elements that separate effective creative and design from the frivolous.  You must have led teams and have had a positive impact on those team members and the clients served.  It is essential that your clients will enthusiastically testify to your commitment to their satisfaction with your work.  It’s also essential that they be thrilled with the success of the work you’ve provided for them.  We’re looking for that special person who’s a creative leader who’s comfortable with and successful at new business development.

Compensation:
Our client is interested in recruiting premier employees, the compensation package reflects that desire, and will be custom designed for the candidate.    A relocation package (if necessary) and a competitive benefit package are also included.

About Our Client:
Our client’s a mid-sized agency and over 30 years old, with a superb reputation for smart strategic thought coupled with spectacular creative design that consistently succeeds for their clients.  They think of themselves as a “hybrid” . . . they’re proud of delivering strategy like an agency, with the creative of a design firm. 

The client base is composed of premier national and regional clients, including institutions and non-profits.  The staff is smart, hard working and passionate about creating the finest work possible in support of their clients’ needs.  They have literally scores of awards, both local and national supporting the quality of thinking and execution.  There is a pride in providing unsurpassed client service . . . and beyond!  They have been named one of the best places to work in St. Louis.  EOE

Make New Employees Feel Welcome To Succeed!

God Bless These Internets!  There a great snippets of information all over.  Without the webs, we'd never find most of them.  This is from an article by Michael Crom, EVP of Dale Carnegie Training (Yes, the Dale Carnegie approach is still around, and just as valid as ever!).  This article was in the Fort Myers (FL) News-Press!

Question: I'm a small-business owner and I have been looking to hire a couple of new employees. My company has been quite successful in the past year, and I am looking to expand. I want to make sure that the culture of the company remains the same even after adding several people. How I can make sure my new employees fit in? As your company expands, don't forget what has led you to this success.

Make sure you embrace your company's history and that your new employees do as well. Your employees will see the success that you have previously attained and will look to fit in and add to that success.

Include these five elements in new-employee orientations:

1. Introduction: Give a brief opening to your new employee, providing that person with any meeting times for that day. Introduce him or her to all other team members. Make sure the new employee understands the role that each worker plays so they can receive any necessary support.

2. Logistics. Show your new employee the location of the company's other departments, as well as the lunchroom and the bathrooms. Make sure that he or she has any phone numbers, extensions or maps they might need.

3. Company basics. Provide a history of the company and include an organizational chart. Give the person time to go over the company's vision, mission and value statements. Your past success is why they have chosen to join your team. They are looking to embrace it.

4. Procedures. Go over the company's e-mail and communications guidelines. Also, if it hasn't already been discussed, go over all human resources' policies, including holidays, attendance, sick leave, personal time, standard of conduct, performance appraisals and insurance.

5. Inspiration. Give your new worker some customer testimonials, company videos and advertisements to become more familiar with the company. You also could relate a personal story on the effect of your work on the organization.

It's surprising to me that employers assume that new employees will "figure it out".  It's essential to take the time to provide some training and background for new employees.  Help them succeed and they'll help you succeed.  It's really simple!

Bishop Partners Celebrates Nine Year Anniversary!

I am very pleased to let you know that today is the 9th Anniversary of Bishop Partners!  I'm thankful to have survived some extremely trying times:

You'll remember:

• The summer of 2001, the beginning of the dot.com implosion and advertising expenditures (and employment) dropping off a cliff!

• 9.11 and the ensuing wholesale firing of Senior Marketing Executives (and entire marketing departments!)

• 9.11 additionally almost extinguishing the entire trade show industry, with it taking years to recover

• 2008-2009(!)  Without question the worst year for the economy we have ever experienced (or thought possible).

Since July 1, 2001 I've worked very hard to start an entirely new career, based on an amalgam of the strengths of my previous experience.  I'm thrilled and thankful to have worked with some of the best clients and candidates on the planet.  I'm proud of having helped both my clients' enterprises and my candidates' careers grow.  It's very satisfying . . . and it's fun.

I'm fortunate to have been able to become acquainted with an abundance of new candidates and colleagues, many of whom have become my friends.  It's hard not to become friends when you spend hours and hours on the phone with someone who ends up trusting you with their career path and growth.  The worst part of the business is calling a candidate who's become my friend, to tell them they didn't get the job.  Fortunately, those feelings are more than offset  by the excitement of telling someone that they did get the new job, and in so doing catapulted their career forward.

I'm thankful to have been trusted by my clients with proprietary information and the belief that my company could help them find a candidate with unique qualifications, to help their business.  When I started, I didn't realize that there are a lot of companies that feel they've been previously burned by recruiters, and were hesitant to engage in that sort of professional relationship again.  I'm proud that many of those initially hard to win clients, are now my best sources of referrals to new clients.

I'm thankful to all of you who have trusted me for advice, support and help in different ways.  I appreciate that more of you are reading this blog, than I ever dreamed of.  I'm lucky to feel trusted by so many of you.  I'm proud of the fact that so many of you are so willing to refer colleagues to us.

I'm happy that my business is starting to offer additional services, as a result of client needs and requests.  I've had clients talking with me about helping them with Mergers and Acquisitions.  I've started making a concerted effort to learn more about that area and get more involved.  I'm working with a client right now that could lead to a merger or acquisition.  I expect more in the future.

I'm also working to become much more involved in helping clients with succession planning, as evidenced by a couple of my most recent postings, "Succession Planning Is Serious Business", "Succession Planning Is Essential for Growth and Stability" and "Succession Planning, Or Getting Out Alive?".

Thanks to all of you clients, candidates, colleagues and friends!  You're our foundation.  Thanks especially to my wife Barbara who has been incredibly supportive from the very beginning, and through some tumultuous times.  Without her, this wouldn't have worked.

I hope you have a specatacular 4th of July Holiday weekend!