Ask For The Sale.

There's an old, and possibly anti-Semitic joke that despite its fraughtness, I think about.

It goes like this: 

Q: "How do you say 'fuck you' in Yiddish?" 
A. "Trust me."

As I get older, which I'm told beats the alternative, the more I feel like I no longer live on a planet ruled by immutable Newtonian laws or common-sense.

A lot of people are trusting the congenitally untrustworthy. In politics, at work, in relationships.

I'm hearing a lot lately by people in what used to be the ad industry giving away their brain-power for free and asserting that they'll make it up in 'production.'

That behavior has a lot of my aforementioned Yiddish joke in it.

If you're so desperate for business that you'll give away what you do for free in the hopes of subsequent compensation, you're in the wrong business. 

Not only that, I'll say this: I think you have self-respect issues. 

You're behaving toward clients like people behave toward abusive partners. Maybe they won't punch me this time, because I did everything they asked for.

Guess what?

Anything you'll give away you wind up paying for.

The trouble with the agency business isn't anything inherent in its efficacy or even efficiency. The trouble isn't related to data or AI, or pay scales, or understanding culture.

The trouble with the agency business is that the four or five men who control 75% of the business no longer believe in the value of our industry. They're no longer willing to say to a recalcitrant cheapskate of a client as my mother said to a pants salesman on the Lower East Side 55 years ago. 

"It's still my money and they're still you're pants."

"It's still my know-how and it's still your 'no one knows you.'" I can get people to know you, like you, want you. But that costs.

In other words, if you won't get me unless you give me what I need. And you--the person who does the actual work--have to have the courage, conviction and confidence to walk away from people who want something for nothing.

You can't lose money on everything you do and make it up in volume.

Giving up your integrity as never gained anyone anything. But its currently the diseased currency of our business.

We'll do it for nothing and make it up next time, or in exposure, or you'll somehow feed our egos.

Damn.

If a plumber won't do it, why would you?

This ain't the easiest course to follow.

It's easier when playing a game with a kid to always let that kid win. If you don't, they might cry. They might say some harsh words. Their ego might appear bruised.

A lot of parents always let their little kids win.

That results in nothing but spoiled brats.

I see the same thing in advertising today.

If you don't give it to us cheaper, we'll cry (or go elsewhere.) So work gets cheaper and cheaper and less and less effective. We proffer puerile panacea in the place of working hard and sticking to our guns. We'll do it cheaper! We've got juniors, and data, and AI! 

Then we go to China for cheap trophies meant to assuage our cowardice.

What we've created is devalued, commoditized jun .

I've off the last K for "what are you 'krazy?'

Since the beginning of humans on earth something for nothing-ism has never worked.

A handshake is nice.

So is trust.

But as Samuel Goldwyn once said, and my brother reminded me, "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."