What Clients Really Want From Your Agency
We like to think we know what clients want from us, but often what WE think is important is completely different from what THEY do.
Why does any company hire a design or marketing agency?
Of course, because they need a new website, or a marketing campaign, right? But that’s kind of like saying someone goes to a restaurant because they feel hungry — there’s obviously a lot more to it than that.
It’s ironic that many branding experts seem to have a really difficult time understanding what their clients really want and an even harder time articulating what makes their agency different from the competition.
Here’s a real example of website copy for a design agency I came across:
This agency does really nice design work, but would this copy entice you to hire them?
I’m not just picking on them — we have all been guilty of this type of buzzword-filled fluff at some point in time. I used to run a web agency before selling it to focus on my startup, and I have written this very same type of copy before, thinking it sounded professional.
Since leaving the service business behind, I have had the rare opportunity to be on the other side for a change. Now I’m the client who hires designers and marketers, and it’s given me a wider perspective on what clients actually want from their consultants.
I also spoke to a handful of my friends and colleagues who have hired agencies and asked them for their comments and feedback, which I’ll share here.
Be proactive and act like you care
In a 2008 survey of 184 marketing executives from large brands, 38% said that the reason they were unhappy with their past agencies was because of a lack of proactivity.
Clients want you to care about their business. It’s like that scene in The Breakup, where Jennifer Aniston’s character says to her boyfriend, as he begrudgingly agrees to do the dishes, “I want you to want to do the dishes”.
There’s nothing worse for a client than feeling like the professionals you hired are just squeezing your work into a time slot and slamming it out as quickly as possible.
It can be hard to execute someone else’s vision, but it’s impossible to create your best work if you don’t feel passion for it.
Pretend that you’re a business partner in your client’s company and you’re both sharing the rewards for a job well done — which in many ways is the truth.
Besides keeping clients happy, being proactive actually helps your agency earn more money. How?
When you’ve built a strong relationship with a client by offering them value outside of the scope of a project, perhaps ringing them up on occasion to chat about new ideas you’re thinking about for their business, they are going to be more a lot more likely to reciprocate by hiring you for more projects.
Take the lead
Often when clients start offering prescriptive design feedback, it’s because they are afraid. After all, it’s on them if the project fails, whereas you get to go on your merry way to the next project.
If you act like you’re just taking orders, clients will get nervous and take over. It’s your job to take control and reassure your client that everything is going to be OK. Clients need that sense of security.
I spoke with Peter Moreira who runs the startup news blog, Entrevestor. He explains:
“Agencies need to understand just how foreign the online world is to a lot of their clients who didn’t grow up in the digital age. When we hire a digital agency, they really have to hold us by the hand and guide us through it. We count on them to keep us up-to-date on design best practices and the latest technology, which can feel overwhelming at times. I need my agency to take the lead in guiding me on what I should be doing rather than waiting for me to ask for it.”
That doesn’t mean you should keep plowing ahead if you’re unclear of the direction the client wants. After all, asking questions is essential to understanding your client and providing the best possible solution.
Taking the lead means knowing the right questions to ask while also being confident in your expertise so you can guide your client down the right path.
Be reliable
This sounds really obvious. Of course you’ll be reliable.
And yet, the times I was most frustrated as a client was when my agency didn’t follow through on the little things. In the end my projects got done, and done well, but the steps to get there could have been smoother.
For example, when my account manager told me I’d see a revision come through by Wednesday, the day would pass with no email. Thursday would roll around, and by the afternoon I would send an email asking what the status was. He would email back apologizing for the delay and say the team needs another day.
Things happen and we all get busy, but I as the client should never have had to email on Thursday asking for a status update — I should have gotten an email on Tuesday explaining why the team needs more time.
It’s project management 101, but this kind of thing happens a lot more than you might think. It happened to me with two different small agencies I hired, and I’m sure I’ve been guilty of it in the past.
Sometimes we think that the client has a lot on the go and doesn’t care if a deliverable slips by a day, but it means a lot. The deadline wasn’t that important, but the lack of communication meant to me that they didn’t care about my business.
Being reliable isn’t just about getting projects done, it’s also about providing a great customer experience which includes communicating with your clients and making the process enjoyable for them.
Be authentic
I asked Christina Carew, who has worked as a marketing manager at a number of enterprise companies over the years, what qualities she looks for in an agency. She told me:
“I ask myself a number of questions about the firm:
Are they authentic — do I believe that they have really done things that they said they did? Do they answer my questions, and suggest things I hadn’t thought of to ask? Do they speak to me like a person or do they talk above my head, using jargon I don’t understand? Do I feel a positive vibe when I meet with them? Can I trust them?”
There’s another aspect of following through, which is to not be guilty of “the bait and switch”. Giles Crouch, a consultant I spoke with who has hired several agencies over the years explained:
“It’s when the CEO or a senior member comes in, does the pitch, then hands you off to the junior team members who actually work on your project. I have learned to stipulate in the contract that the client must have access to the senior creative/executive as promised in the proposal.”
Clients don’t want to feel tricked, so be upfront and show them in the pitch who the actual team working on their project will be, and make sure you as the owner make yourself available to clients throughout the project even if you aren’t the one leading it.
Include them
Clients should be heavily involved in the design process, and yet what often happens?
- We meet with the client before the project to go over requirements.
- We may meet to show them designs or wireframes, but sometimes we just email them JPGs with a typed-up rationale.
- Then we wonder why clients give us late/bad/silly/irrelevant feedback.
This is where technology becomes a hindrance and design projects start going off the rails.
In a post about including clients in the design process, Christopher A. Gee writes:
“Clients need to know and see that ideas don’t just magically appear. Merely showing them the brilliance of the Wizard is not is insightful as revealing the workers behind the large curtain. We speak all the time about getting clients to include US as partners but never of including them.”
I agree with this, because my most effective projects, the ones that turned out the best and where the clients were happiest with the results, happened when we had regular collaboration sessions during the design phase.
I would show them what I designed and we would sit in a room for an hour or two talking about what needed to change with the existing designs or what the next round of designs needed. It felt like we were colleagues collaborating together to get the best work possible, not just me presenting a finished product to the client.
I’ll add a caveat that I’m not recommending you meet excessively when there is nothing to discuss, or that you blow your entire budget on meetings.
What I am saying is that during critical phases of the project, especially during the design phase, a meeting can accomplish in one or two hours what would take days or even weeks emailing back-and-forth.
In other words, you need to make the client feel a part of the team and not shut them out of the design process.
I spoke with Jennifer Punch, a marketing manager in a media company, who said:
“There are many key factors in choosing an agency, but most importantly; Is there a personality fit which allows for easy, unguarded flow of communication, and meaningful discussion about your company’s challenges, opportunities and proposed solution without egos getting in the way?”
Understand their customers
Hiring an agency who doesn’t ‘get’ your market is kind of like hiring a babysitter who doesn’t like kids.
Don’t be afraid to specialize in a vertical or niche instead of generalising your services to anyone who will hire you.
The benefit of this is two-fold:
- You as the agency owner will have an easier time closing new business because you’ll stand out from a sea of generalists.
- Clients will be happier because you understand their audience on a deep level and have years of experience in their industry.
Conclusion
Naturally, clients come to you because they need websites, logos and marketing campaigns. But to stand out from the crowd and retain clients long term, you need to offer more.
Become a trusted advisor they rely on. Make them feel like a partner by including them in your process. Take the time to truly understand their industry and market. Finally, avoid the buzzwords when marketing yourself and let your value proposition ring loud and clear, so you can attract the best clients.
What other ways do you make your clients happy?
