Page 341 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

MARKETING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 319

Finding an Agency in Eight Steps (continued)

Step 6—Ask your trusted corporate partners. They may know something
about the firms on your list. They may also know of firms outside your
area that are doing good work.
Step 7—Have a short list of agencies provide proposals. The sort of things
they’re going to want to know are your budget and what, at a minimum,
you’d like to accomplish with the budget. Try to give them tangible goals,
such as “I’d like to generate fifty tenant prospects in two months.” Ask
them in the proposal to answer the following:
1 How do they operate? What is their process? Do they utilize creative
briefs? Signed estimates? How will they keep you informed?
2 How will they bill you? By project? Progressively? Do they expect a
retainer?
3 What are their rates? They should be able to give you a rate sheet.
4 Who will be your point of contact? You will want a single point of con-
tact. They will expect the same from you.
5 How much experience do they have with development? You will prob-
ably want to work with a team that understands real estate develop-
ment.
6 What is their position regarding sustainability? Have they worked with
FSC-certified projects? Soy inks?
7 Are they aligned with your sustainable orientation or are they simply
mouthing platitudes in order to garner business? Have they turned away
potential business because a possible client did not square with the
agency’s values? Would they serve as a valuable resource in research-
ing alternative and innovative ways of doing things?
8 How well does the agency communicate? Judge by how they listen as
well as by how they talk and present.

Step 8—Based on their proposals, narrow down your short list to one or
two. Meet with them offline. Go to lunch. Have drinks. Get to know them.
The partnership between you and your agency should be tight. Used prop-
erly, it will be a critical asset.
You get the idea. There is no set formula for an agency request for proposal
(RFP). You can do as much due diligence as you deem necessary. In the end,
however, what really matters is the quality of their thinking and of their work
and, perhaps most importantly, their capacity to be a collaborative partner in
your mission to be a green company.