ValueTrack:

The idea behind ValueTrack is to provide agency managers with a simple, comprehensive, consistent and inexpensive way to assess their agency’s performance with clients. The five principles on which ValueTrack is based are:

Agency benchmarking should focus on the agency’s ability to add value to the client’s business. This is the sole reason why agencies exist.

Clients should also be benchmarked on their ability to help the agency add value. Clearly, the more skilled the client is at giving direction and constructive assessments the more likely the agency is to add value.

The benchmarking process should differentiate between those activities with great potential to add value and those that have less. Pareto’s principle is at work here; no doubt 20% of agency activities result in 80% of the value created. It’s critical to zero-in on this vital 20%.

The benchmarking process should enable the agency and client to gain insights from a comparison of self-assessments with those of their counterparts. Often, unrecognized perceptual gaps are the underlying reason for large discrepancies in performance ratings.

The benchmarking process should be affordable so that agencies can use it consistently with most, if not all, of their clients.

During the past two years, Ignition has worked with the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers to gain a deeper understanding of how clients expect agencies to add value to their businesses. Based on this research, we’ve developed four assessment tools to help agencies identify just how satisfied their clients are.

ValueScan is the simplest, quickest to implement and least expensive of the group. It measures agency performance on twenty factors that have proven to be the major drivers of client satisfaction.

ValueTrack Plus is the most extensive. It’s a custom designed assessment and measures not only how the agency adds value, but how the client enables the agency to do so.

All assessments are done on-line at a secure web site. After an initial meeting, all administrative work to implement the assessment is done by Ignition. Here’s a brief description of each tool:

ValueScan

Purpose: Assess agency performance on key factors proven to add value to client businesses.

Scope: Quantitative ratings of agency on twenty factors in four categories (Strategic, Executional, Project Management, Interpersonal).

Who participates: Client personnel only.

Report: Summary and analysis of ratings overall, by category and for each factor.

ValueScan Plus

Purpose: Assess agency performance on key factors proven to add value to client businesses. Assess client on key factors that enable agency to add value. Reveal perceptual gaps between client and agency assessments.

Scope: Quantitative ratings of agency on twenty factors in four categories (Strategic, Executional, Project Management, Interpersonal). Quantitative ratings of client on fifteen factors in three categories (Direction, Assessment, Interpersonal). Qualitative responses to 12 open-ended questions.

Who participates: Client and agency personnel.

Report: Summary and analysis of ratings overall, by category and for each factor. Graphic comparison of client and agency ratings. Summary and analysis of qualitative feedback.

ValueTrack

Purpose: Custom assessment of how a particular agency adds value to a specific client’s business. Determine which value adding factors are most important to the client. Reveal perceptual gaps between client and agency assessments.

Scope: Custom design can include up to 50 value adding factors. Selected participants decide which factors to include then place them in rank order of importance (Four categories: Strategic, Executional, Project Management, Interpersonal). All participants rate agency on these factors. Qualitative responses to 12 open-ended questions.

Who participates: Client and agency personnel.

Report: Agency ratings summarized and analyzed from the perspective of their stated importance to the client. Graphic comparison of client and agency rankings and ratings. Summary and analysis of qualitative feedback.

ValueTrack Plus

Purpose: Custom assessment of how a particular agency adds value to a specific client’s business and how the client enables the agency to do so. Determine which value adding factors are most important to the client and the agency. Reveal perceptual gaps between client and agency assessments.

Scope: Can include up to 50 custom selected agency value adding factors and 30 client enabling factors. Selected participants decide which value adding and enabling factors to include then place them in rank order of importance (Four categories for the agency—Strategic, Executional, Project Management, Interpersonal. Three categories for the client—Direction, Assessment, Interpersonal). All participants rate agency and client on relevant factors. Qualitative responses to 12 open-ended questions.

Who participates: Client and agency personnel.

Report: Agency and client ratings summarized and analyzed from the perspective of their stated importance. Graphic comparison of client and agency rankings and ratings. Summary and analysis of qualitative feedback.

	ValueScan	ValueScan Plus	ValueTrack	ValueTrack Plus
Design	Standard	Standard	Custom	Custom
Scope	Critical Factors	Critical Factors	Broad Assessment	Broad Assessment
Assesses	Agency Only	Agency and Client	Agency Only	Agency and Client
Respondents	Client Only	Agency and Client	Agency and Client	Agency and Client
Qualitative Feedback	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reveals Perceptual Gaps	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Analyzes Factors In Terms of Importance	No	No	Yes	Yes
Base Price	$1,200 For Two Clients	$1,600 For Two Clients	$2,400 For First Client	$3,000 For First Client

The ValueTrack report is presented in four sections. The first section, or Summary, identifies the overall Value Score for the agency and client, their mean scores for each category and a listing of their primary strengths and weaknesses.

The second section, or Quad Analysis, plots the mean ratings for each Influencer in each category on quadrant grids (three agency and two client) which enables us to differentiate between:

Under Achievers High Potential Low Performance	Value Drivers High Potential High Performance
Irritants Low Potential Low Performance	Secondary Contributors Low Potential High Performance

The third section, or Gap Analysis, compares the agency or client’s ratings in each category (their self-assessment) with the ratings of their counterparts.

The fourth section details Ignition’s Conclusions and Recommendations based on the preceding analysis.

The ValueTrack Action Plan almost writes itself:

• Fix the Underachievers: This is the quickest way to add incremental value to the client’s business.
• Leverage Value Drivers further: As always, capitalize on your strengths.
• Review Secondary Contributors: Make sure these positive but secondary Influencers do not consume resources disproportionate to their potential.
• Neutralize the Irritants: Have a plan to fix these over time but not at the expense of immediate attention to the Underachievers

 

ValueTrack gives a marketing firm a simple yet comprehensive way to benchmark its performance. A ValueTrack assessment requires minimum administrative involvement by the agency or client; it quickly identifies how each can add more value to the business; and it can even lay some of the groundwork for a value-based compensation agreement.

And ValueTrack is affordable. Agencies can reasonably implement ValueTrack assessments with most, if not all, of their major clients.

To learn more about ValueTrack or to begin the ValueTrack process, please contact Norm MacMaster at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 914-708-7821.