Before leaving Dell to be the CMO of Bazaare Voice, Sam Decker was my boss. I learned a lot from Sam, and continue to do so from his blog deckermarketing.com. His online work gives me the opportunity to keep a solid marketing mentor…without the annual performance reviews. Recently on his blog Sam gave some advice to ad agencies. It's a good read and the advice is right on point. But it made me think about the other side of the relationship between agencies and clients.
What makes a great client?
The impact agencies or marketing consultancies have on your business is all about the specific people who work on your account. Treat them well and you get the superstars who will make a major impact on your business. Treat them badly and you get people who require a lot of hand holding for a mediocre result. When it comes to creativity and great ideas some people are just more talented than others. The best people at an agency get to pick their assignments. Ideally you want them picking you.
So I conducted extensive research on this topic (asked a few agency friends) and present:
The 5 Best Practices for Great Clients:
1. Regularly update your agency team on strategy and business objectives. When possible, invite your account service leaders to be part of major planning sessions and business updates. Your agency team will deliver more relevant work for you when they understand the context and objectives. Ideally your account service leaders feel like an extension of your team.
2. Co-develop a thorough creative brief template with your agency, and require your staff to use it every time they submit a project to the agency. Unclear requirements ensure unimpressive results.
3. Conduct regular performance reviews with senior leaders at the agency and from your organization. Be sure they understand how you are evaluating their work. Equally as important, take in the feedback they for your team is working with them.
4. Treat agency contacts with respect. The most common negative client stories are being berated over something minor or similar anecdotes that will take a very long time to fade away. Ensure your team knows you expect agency contacts to be treated with the same respect they would any co-worker.
5. Don’t fight over the small stuff—and you don’t have to win everything. Creatives are going to be more engaged with your objectives if they feel they had input in the process. While it is your job to ensure the work meets business objectives, arguing over whether the line should be red vs blue usually does not matter much. Let the agency feel some ownership in the work and you will get more out of them in the future.
Matt and his teams not only believe in the above, but they live by these guidelines. Matt is a model client partner. He comes to the table with his business problems defined, he participates in the solution and he gives the agency the freedom to do put their best ideas on the table without the fear that he will reject them.
Posted by: Michael Schneider | July 16, 2008 at 09:42 AM