As a creative shop we’ve gone through the agency selection process a few times.  I always find it interesting, because it always provides good information about what clients think is important.  And, as a rule, if they think it’s important then so do I.

Still, rules are meant to be broken.  One instance when I’d like to see some changes is when agencies are qualified primarily based on their technical ability.  To me, selecting an interactive firm based on their technical ability is like buying a toaster based on whether or not it can make toast.  Every decent interactive company should have the managerial and/or technical skill to deliver a website that lives up to your functional requirements.  That’s really the minimum requirement for getting to call yourself an interactive company.

Where they differ is in their ability to deliver online experiences that can do something for your business, and that’s the information clients should be looking for.  It’s not a simple issue of good vs bad, it’s more about which companies are the right fit.

So in my continuing buyer’s guide series, here are some hot tips for agency selection (and, for the record, Proxonic is not always the right choice….but we are sometimes).

1.Does the Agency Understand Your Business

A good agency, interactive or otherwise, is going to be looking to help you achieve business objectives.  You can tell the good ones because they’ll start asking you questions, and they’ll be good questions.  They’ll be curious about how you deal with certain kinds of problems, who your sales come from, and how your competition is positioned.  They won’t ask you how you want your website built, they’ll ask you what you want to get for your investment.

2.Does the Agency Care About Your Business

As a rule it’s a good idea to go with an agency that’s the right size.  If you have an online budget of $200K-$300K and you take it to some giant agency they won’t necessarily turn you away, but you’re not going to get their top people either.  Similarly if you bring a $35 million broadcast account to us we’ll certainly do our best to put it together (you insist, right?), but that’s not really what we’re built to do at this time.   Going with an agency that’s a fit for your kind of account is a good idea, because it means your going to get the kind of service you want.

3.Does the Agency Care About the Outcome

The main reason you’d be looking at an agency is to achieve a business goal.  The main reason that agency should be working with you is to achieve that same goal (as opposed to getting a bunch of money, winning some creative award, or having a good portfolio piece).

Sometimes design-driven companies lose sight of this, and stop evaluating creative against an outcome.  Once an agency stops designing with a purpose, they aren’t actually designing at all.  They’re making art.  Probably for their own satisfaction.  Like finger-painting.

Make sure that you and your agency have the same goals for your investment.