Companies need to hire a direct marketing consultant for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they face a situation where they need some advice that they don't have internally to grow. They may need advice from a guru in a specialist field such as data analysis. In cases like this, you should look for the companies with the best, blue-chip experience that you can find. People in larger organizations are highly trained and they are exposed to extensive specialist techniques and knowledge. In other cases, there may be several marketing alternatives facing a business, and no clear agreement about which route is best. If this is your issue, then an external advisor can take an objective view of the alternatives and then come up with a rational recommendation about which choice will deliver the best results. Make sure that the direct marketing consultant that you choose has enough consulting experience to do this type of work as it requires a lot of human skills as well as technical knowledge. The third main type of direct marketing consultancy engagement is where the business is facing a large project and does not have enough resource to manage and drive the project to completion. Your primary consideration in this type of project is to find advisors who have a strong track record in delivering projects like yours. This will usually equate to them being willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved at every stage.
Direct Marketing advisors usually have an unusual combination of skills. They have the creative flair needed to produce good communications, but they also have the mathematical skills to analyse a customer database. A good direct marketer will be highly numerate and will also be very focused on results. I would look for someone who works to deliver something now rather than in three months. I would avoid someone who tries to paint a mental picture of the customer in the way that a brand manager would. Direct marketing is about getting this picture from the data and not from research or intuition.
No matter what your reason for hiring a direct marketing consultant, there are some things that you should always look for:
1 The consultant should be able to quickly understand your direct marketing problem and to begin to talk in terms of solutions.
2 Ask for practical examples of where they have solved similar issues.
3 Ask for a proposal and expect it to be delivered in 2-3 days.
4 In the proposal, how long does it take for the companies to get working, and are you paying for this warm-up time?
5 Will you be working with the consultant that you have been talking to or will a junior team take over?
6 Is the work broken into stages, with breaks at each stage? If you are not sure whether to proceed or not, ask for preliminary stage with an early review. That way, you can sample the work of your direct marketing advisors, and make sure that you are happy before you proceed to a full commitment.
The single biggest mistake that I see is that consultants and clients think they know what the end game is. If this is assumed, then there is a good chance that what the client wants is not what the consultant will deliver. Be explicit about the results that you are looking for.
No matter how important hard business results are, you also need to take account of soft leadership issues as well. Is there some way that your direct marketing advisor can help with staff morale, either by taking on some of their work when they are under pressure, or by helping with communications. There is little point in losing a key member of staff just after you recruit you ultimate direct marketing consultant.