MBB firms response rates - too much focus on core clients?
I currently head the corporate strategy department for a major regional consumer goods company (Non Fortune 500). I recently emailed an MBB office in Korea, with a quick fact sheet about our company (to show we are a top firm within our home country) and asked them on what kind of service they can provide and got zero response.
When you look at the webpage of an MBB, it specifically says they work with anything from start-ups to fortune 500 companies.
What is the reality? They don't do non-fortune 500 engagements? Wouldn't this be detrimental to their revenue if this was a fast growing venture company?
interesting, seems like a case of demand > supply and thus they can choose their customers
If you didn't get a response from the client inquiry email, it's perhaps better to just reach out to a partner directly and see what happens. I find it strange that they would actually ignore a potential client.
Probably has to do with the question being so open ended.
I'd be interested in hearing more about this / the follow-up. Is there just an email (new_clients@mckinsey?) or something for prospective clients to send something like a cold email?
Agreed that reaching out to a partner in your industry would probably yield better results, should be available via articles / LinkedIn. PM me if you don't have any luck there.
They operate on the basis of high pay and high profile. If your company is going to supply one or both, they'll take you. Otherwise, they aren't as motivated to engage.
@greymn I was going by this user's feedback but I appreciate your thoughts.
No offense meant to UFOinsider, but that strikes me as something that someone who isn't in consulting or has no experience with the process would say. I'm not qualified to speak to it either, but I think the idea/legend that MBB is super selective about their clients is quite overblown if not outright wrong, especially in this specific situation where it seems absolutely absurd that an office would reject a client based on your initial email (and who would even be doing this rejection, an assistant?). I'm sure that an assistant just didn't get around to reading your email yet or made a mistake.
Contact a partner. They do not reject any large clients. It is just a matter of the channel you use. You can imagine the spam e-mail that must come through to that account. Linked in or call would work. I'd help you out but I don't know anyone in Korea.
I appreciate the feedback from everyone
@abacab I am giving them an opportunity to sell their services to my firm. In this particular case, I sent an email to the general client mailbox and told them that we were considering entering the Korean market, in terms of establishing physical presence as well as getting our products onto the market.
@UFOinsider As a non-fortune 500 firm I can see your point about high profile. However, even as of today (November/15/2013) they have still not responded to my email. If the assumption is, because we are not a Fortune-500 firm so we cannot provide them a large engagement fee, this is a big mistake by the person going through the general client inquiries box. They are going to lose out on quite a chunk of change I have already available for them.
@MS ICL As a client I never knew there was an expectation that I would have to contact a partner in order to get a response. To the people considering entering MBB, as least in Korea , maybe this shows you that whoever is reading the client inquiry box isn't doing their job, and that could have a detrimental effect - think Monitor Group
Maybe some dope deleted it by accident?
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