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Agencies: Hate Project Work? Act More Like an AOR.

Most agencies hate project work because it’s less predictable and harder to manage and staff. What’s more, agencies believe project work negatively impacts the agency-client dynamic, with agencies treated more like vendors than partners, and their contributions focused on tactics rather than strategy. The relationship can feel transactional and shorter-term.

Will COVID-19 Destroy Your Agency Culture or Reinvent It?

Culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that agencies have. After all, most agencies produce the same types of work the same way—and often with the same people (we all know it is a small industry). That is why an account, strategy, or creative person can move from one agency to another and immediately contribute. Culture is one of the most important differentiators—it makes one agency succeed and another fail.

Zurprise and Zelight: Surprising and Delighting Clients in a Zoom World

In the old days (about 12 weeks ago), agencies focused on surprising and delighting clients. They understood (the good ones, at least) that delivering work on time and on budget was the price of entry. Client retention and growth required a higher level of thinking, service, creativity, and connection.

Agencies Are Great at Creating Narratives. Now They Must Write Their Own. Carefully.

Agencies sometimes create aspirational ads and press releases as a tool to help clients envision a successful, alternate future. Now we can imagine headlines like, “M&M’s redefines retail in Times Square,” or “CVS takes a stand on health by eliminating cigarette sales.” But before these were realities, they were possibilities—and research suggests that seeing a possibility makes it easier to achieve.

To Have A Big Impact, Agencies Must Sweat the Small Stuff

Self-help experts have long instructed people not to sweat the small stuff. The basic philosophy is that by not focusing on life’s little annoyances, we can reduce stress and improve our lives. This might be true for individuals but not for agencies. For agencies to succeed, they must do the opposite: they must sweat the small stuff. Every client interaction—every phone call, email, invite, estimate, and meeting— must be as error-free and on point as possible. Why? Because the small stuff has a big impact on clients’ perceptions of the agency.

Let's Make Agency Meetings Great Again!

In the last few years, there has been a movement to reduce the number of agency meetings. Many internal meetings are considered a waste of time, energy, and money. The trend has also extended to client meetings, aided by the ability to meet online rather than in person.

I agree with the need to eliminate bad meetings—whether they are live or online, internal, or with the client. However, I think agencies are missing an opportunity—that is, to encourage great meetings.

Client Feedback: When No Response Is a Response

There is a saying that “no news is good news.” When it comes to client feedback, this is not true.

Many agencies send surveys regularly to get client input. Done right, these surveys can generate critical insights about the agency’s work and relationships. Done wrong, it is easy for the agency to misinterpret the data and focus its efforts in the wrong places.

Clients Are from Mars. Agencies Are from Venus

I am often asked to act as an intermediary between clients and agencies. It is the advertising equivalent of the old Ladies Home Journal column, “Can This Marriage be Saved?” I am usually called upon when the relationship is near its breaking point in a last-ditch effort to salvage it. Much like “Can This Marriage,” I start by speaking to the agency and the client separately to try to understand each one’s point of view and then bring them together to find common ground and a way forward.

What Your Email Style Communicates About Your Agency

I work with agencies to help them keep and grow business. My work requires a deep understanding of an agency's culture. I rely on all sorts of data to get to know an agency, including employee and client interviews, satisfaction studies, HR and financial data, and believe it or not, emails. Granted, email practices and patterns can be a bit more subjective, but I find them highly indicative of how an agency works.

Goldilocks and the Secret to Breakthrough Advertising

In psychology, the inverted U theory is used to explain achieving optimal performance. The theory states that there is a relationship between performance and pressure, and the ideal performance occurs when there is just the right amount of pressure—too much or too little can reduce performance. A similar theory is used in economics and sports. The axes are different, but the “just right” Goldilocks’ principle is the same. To create breakthrough work, agencies should consider the inverted U.

"Yes, and" or How to Say No and Make it Sound Like a Yes

An irate client called me from the floor of a convention. He hated the convention panel we had produced and said, “it looks like an impossible-to-read eye chart full of small type.” I promised to investigate and get back to him. I told him we would try to redo the panel, and also identify what went wrong so we would not do it again.

Psst! There Are No Client Secrets

Unhappily married couples often try to hide their marital issues from their children. They believe that if they spend lots of time together, or don’t argue in front of the kids, they will never know the marriage is troubled. If you talk to their children, most will say the secret was out. Some heard their parents fighting behind closed doors. Others noticed their parents only spoke to and through the kids and not each other.

Client Satisfaction Surveys: 5 Ways to Blow Them. And How to Ace Them

Client satisfaction surveys have become SOP for many businesses. Every call to my bank or stop at my Starbucks is followed up by an automated survey. (By the way - if a visit to Starbucks is the “best part of my day,” I consider it a pretty bad day).

Dear Client: I Am Not Your Partner

I have been in advertising for a long time. Somewhere along the way, clients and agencies started referring to each other as partners. I don’t remember the month or year, but I feel like the use of the phrase increased as the business became more transactional. I assume this was supposed to make the agency feel better about our changing relationship with clients—the equivalent of renaming second mortgages home equity loans to reduce the stigma of borrowing.

What the Bachelor Can Teach Us About Client-Agency Relationships

I admit it. I watch a lot of Reality TV. I cry at Say Yes to the Dress and restage half my house after each episode of The Property Brothers. However, I draw the line at The Bachelor. I am clearly in the minority, as the show has run for 23 top-rated seasons.

What Your Email Style Communicates About Your Agency

Is your agency full of email non-responders? Commentators? Forwarders? If so, your agency probably has employees that are very busy but don't get much done. It does not bode well for staff, clients, or long-term success. Here’s how I know:

I work with agencies to help them keep and grow business. My work requires a deep understanding of an agency's culture. I rely on all sorts of data to get to know an agency, including employee and client interviews, satisfaction studies, HR and financial data, and believe it or not, emails. Granted, email practices and patterns can be a bit more subjective, but I find them highly indicative of how an agency works.

These six email personas are a sign of trouble:

1. The non-responder: Does not reply to emails. I am not talking about responding to your long-lost cousin in Nigeria who needs your bank account information. I’m talking about not responding to colleagues and contacts (the non-responder usually treats clients differently). More junior non-responders are often poorly trained or over-whelmed. Senior-level chronic non-responders want to control attitudes, activities, and accountability. By not replying to emails, the non-responder is communicating—that they are busy and in-demand, that your request will have to wait. They put the burden on the sender to follow up. And because non-responders allow a decision to pass, they have no accountability. If someone else makes a decision, one can only hope it goes well because the non-responder will remind everyone that they "never approved that."

2. The late responder: Takes days or even weeks to reply. I am not talking about someone offsite or knee-deep in a presentation, which could explain an occasional lapse in timeliness. I am talking about chronic late responses. This behavior could be due to lack of organization or discipline—or, as with the non-responder, a control issue. And don’t be surprised if this practice reflects a larger agency concern, because behaviors spread. If the late responder is never penalized, or worse yet, gets promoted, people figure out: this behavior is acceptable.

(A word about prompt responders: I’ve found that well-run and successful agencies usually have leaders who are highly responsive to email.)

3. The forwarder: Unlike the non-responder, the forwarder replies to every email, explaining that they can’t help but will forward your email to someone who can. The forwarder has little authority. They can't decide or advise. Sometimes the forwarder isn’t the problem, but a sign of a bigger problem—a hierarchical, bureaucratic agency where only a few people can make decisions. And if the forwarder’s emails end up with the non-responder—you guessed it—nothing gets done.

4.The cc’er: The cc’er includes lots of people in an email, and everyone is confused. Is everyone required to respond? Is 100% agreement needed? Does not replying equal agreement? I am all for soliciting different points of view and keeping the team in the loop. Broad email distribution requires thoughtful writing—addressing key team members, so everyone knows “the decider," “the advisor," and, most importantly, the person who needs to act next. Unreformed cc’ers can delay decisions as various people weigh in. Excessive cc’ing is often a sign of CYA. Agencies with many cc’ers will claim they are a family, and I agree, a dysfunctional family.

5. The attacher: The attacher likes to cross things off their list without considering the impact. Ask the attacher for a budget update, and you will get nine project estimates, four revised estimates, and three emails on the merits of the original budget. Except you requested an update, not the information needed to prepare the update. Rampant attachers are a sign of team members who are either overworked or poorly trained and an agency that is not client-centric.

6.The commentator: The commentator is usually a very senior person. They reply to all emails to appear engaged, except their comments don’t add to the discussion. Instead of offering advice or help, they respond with statements such as "interesting," "too bad," or "disappointing." The commentator leaves recipients wondering what they mean or how to respond.

To sum it up, these email personas are not conducive to success. If you are considering an agency exhibiting them, think long and hard before joining. If you work in an agency and recognize you or your colleagues in these personas, start by changing the email etiquette with your team. Establish clear guidelines about sending and responding to email (such as a 24-hour rule); call out staff who don't comply. After a while, the email behavior will change, and the shift will have a positive impact, keeping people and projects moving forward. And movement is what emails are intended to accomplish.

Stacey Singer is a client retention and growth specialist. She can be reached at stacey@staceysinger.com and promises to respond to all emails.

Stacey SingerOctober 15, 2019