DON’T SCREW IT UP BEFORE YOU START
How not to sabotage the client/agency relationship from the beginning
A new client recently asked me “what can we do to be the best client you’ve ever had?”
This is quite possibly the best question I’ve ever had to field (other than “will you marry me?”)
I asked my colleagues at NORTH how they’d answer this question. Naturally I got a few flippant responses — “Don’t ask us to make the logo bigger”, “Don’t be stupid” and “Bring bagels to all meetings” were among them. But most were considered and thoughtful, the top three criteria for success being:
Trust — which has to be earned over time, naturally, and is the result of the next two criteria.
Open Communication — the more the agency understands the client and their business the more the agency will deliver good work that feels right to all parties. Further, the best relationships allow for the sharing of input and feedback in a “safe” environment, so that issues can be discussed constructively and fixed readily rather than stewed upon. We do respectfully ask our clients to critique the work by setting up the problem first as opposed to immediately dictating the solve. We’ve all had clients who mandate a solution and, to be honest, sometimes they’re right, but it is good to have the conversation.
Collaboration — NORTH’s best relationships have been truly collaborative. It pays to be a good listener and to pay more than lip service to the idea that good ideas can come from anywhere. But clients should also understand that their ideas will be stress tested and might not turn out to be winners.
In general, my colleagues at NORTH and I agree that the biggest relationship problems in our business arise from subjectivity vs. objectivity. We work very hard with our clients to establish objectives, parameters, guidelines and goals — criteria by which all the work should be measured. The onus will always be on us to make the best business case for everything we present. If we’re not making a good case, we ask our clients to call us out on it. But we also insist that they avoid dismissing work because they simply don’t like it. Successful work benefits both client and agency in the long run. We’re never just on a creative flight of fancy.
In a similar vein, we ask our clients to the keep the approval loops tight. It’s tough to get lots of conflicting, un-edited feedback from multiple sources. And we have all heard at least once in our careers that work has been killed because the CEO’s wife doesn’t like it.
As I concluded writing my thoughts on great client/agency relationships for this new client, I realized that I should ask him the same question. He was very willing to provide a practical and illuminating list of expectations. At this point I had the real epiphany from the interaction — that clients and agencies should establish clear expectations regarding working relationships at the beginning of the relationship as opposed to just figuring them out in the course of doing the work. It surely must save a lot of time and heartbreak.
