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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.

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

Agencies have started to send client satisfaction surveys, too. It’s a great opportunity to receive valuable insights on how the agency can improve its work and relationship with clients, creating a foundation for a productive conversation about agency strengths and areas to improve.

Unfortunately, many agencies send client satisfaction surveys so they can check that box, instead of learning and improving. Some agencies rationalize and refute the results as soon as they get them. Their responses include:

1) “The results only reflect the past few months, not the entire year.” That may be true. An agency might earn a positive review in the first part of the year, and then after some staff changes, missed deadlines, or errors, receive a negative review. It may not seem fair, but if it accurately reflects how the client feels now, it has to be responded to as the way things are.

2) “The negative feedback is from junior clients. The senior clients love us.” All clients are important, and all client feedback is meaningful. If the junior clients are unhappy, they will tell their bosses—who eventually will accept the feedback or let them explore other agency options to reduce the noise. Even if senior clients protect the agency, eventually these clients will move on, and the junior clients will take on more responsibility, and likely decide to change agencies. Every client, no matter how new/young/inexperienced, matters. And you may be interacting with them a lot longer than a senior client who may move on, up, or retire.

3) “I spoke to the client. We are good.” Sometimes agencies react to reviews by meeting with clients and explaining why their feedback is wrong. Often, the clients may appear to understand and even agree with the agency. Don’t be fooled. Chances are, the client is not in agreement, but has decided not to get into a debate with the agency, since it probably won’t matter—after all, the agency asked for feedback and rejected it. Think of it like going to a restaurant and having a bad experience—poor service, bad food—and when the waiter asks how everything is, you say, “fine.” Not because it is fine, but because you are not coming back to the restaurant and are not emotionally invested in their success. I once saw a fantastic sign behind the counter at a department store famous for its outstanding service. “Nobody ever won an argument with a customer.”

4) “This is ‘as good as it gets.’ The client doesn’t give positive reviews.” It’s true that reviews can be subjective, and some clients are easier graders than others. And some clients will never give a perfect score for fear that the agency will become complacent. However, in most cases, the less-than-perfect reviews come with real, actionable feedback on how to improve. Ignoring that feedback and assuming your agency is being graded on a curve is a missed opportunity.

5) “The client doesn’t get it.” Certainly, agencies can highlight completed work, awards won, and even sales results, as evidence of their outstanding performance. While these metrics are necessary, they are not sufficient for success. Client reviews reflect the way the client experiences the agency. While it includes the quality of the work, it is primarily a reflection of the way the agency behaves, in both critical moments and everyday interactions, that can earn the clients’ loyalty, trust, and confidence, or whittle it away.

If you accept the feedback and respond openly and sincerely, the client who is invested in the agency’s success (or even one who isn’t) will be impressed and feel that the agency is invested in them. Ignoring or rationalizing client input is a signal to clients that the agency is not interested in learning—or the relationship—and is often a precursor to losing the business.

These behaviors can also be applied when clients conduct their reviews of the agency.

So listen calmly. Respond graciously. Discuss ways to improve. Then take action. The next feedback you receive will have a much more satisfying outcome—for both clients and agency.

Stacey Singer is a Client Retention and Growth Specialist. You can reach her at (908) 313-6539 or stacey@staceysinger.com.

Stacey SingerJune 27, 2019