High performing client / agency relationships – A Leadership Guide for Agencies

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We have just mentioned the central premise of ‘the high performing agency-advertiser relationship’. Let’s unpack this a bit further.

A high performing client-agency relationship:

• Takes time to build – it’s not something that can be placed into a contract
• Is based on largely intangible assets that deliver tangible results
• Is dependent on people and on integrity, above all
• Should not be financially incentivized in and of itself (the tangible results are what should be)
• Requires leadership, emotional investment and bravery from both client and agency
• Requires a cultural mindset within both client and agency organizations – agreed with and adhered to
• Is not dependent on feel-good incentives or clunky social interactions to survive or thrive
• Is single minded in intent
• Does not exist in silos, or with walls – it is based on shared information and honest interaction
• Can survive hard conversations in pursuit of excellence.
• Has no ego and has mutual, genuine respect for the contribution and skillset of both parties
• Succeeds and fails together, and recognizes that failure can happen as long as learnings are gathered and applied
• Sets ambitious goals and makes them part of the vernacular
• Is tailored to fit, rather than off the peg
• Never stands still, always learns and continuously tries to evolve
• Is transparent in all regards, on both sides

Take a look through this list and ask yourself: how many agency-client relationships does your agency have that tick even some of these boxes?

It’s likely that, hand on heart, the answer would be a minority at best. And this is why we have produced this white paper.

We believe that a greater number of high performing agency- client relationships could a significant contribution to positive change in our indus

try, across a range of macro-challenges recognized for some time.

Changes such as:

• An increase in industry morale, well-being and sense of purpose
• A move towards fairer agency compensation and a reduction in unhealthy procurement tactics
• Modernization of the way in which agencies are targeted
• Increased impact of the agency, of any discipline, in moving commercial dials
• Higher creativity and innovation (stemming from bravery)
• Better industry reputation, attracting higher-calibre talent

On the agency side, we believe that there is no better turnkey to achieving high performing client-agency relationships than the development of a client leadership mentality. You’ll see echoes of this chapter running through the rest of the document.

How Are We Defining ‘Client Leadership’?

The term ‘client leadership’ is used deliberately throughout this playbook, to differentiate it from ‘client service’.

Client leadership is not client service. It is a separate function, into which client service flows.

Client service (which we could also call ‘account management’) is, of course, critical. Without strong day to day operations, the whole account falls down.

Client service represents the stable base; client leadership is what can make your relationship stronger, more developed, strategically driven and more successful over time.

The agency team that has either a strong client leader overseeing an account lead, or an account lead that develops a client leadership approach, is an agency team with real competitive edge in the market.

And, whilst there is no failsafe way to stop an account loss or pitch, the agency team with strong client leadership will have given itself greater protection against these outcomes.

Let’s take a look at the differences between client leadership and client service. The table below profiles two account leads. Joseph is a perfectly good account lead, operating with a ‘client service’ approach. Josephine, on the other hand, is an account lead operating with a ‘client leadership’ approach.

Joseph: An Account Lead with a ‘Client Service’ Approach	Josephine: An Account Lead with a ‘Client Leadership’ Approach
Proactively manages key client relationships, gaining client trust in ability to deliver successful operations	Builds close, consultative relationships with key stakeholders, gaining client trust in ability to provide thought leadership and advice, both personal and professional
Has strong capability to present convincing work to the marketing leaders and team	Has strong capability to present convincing work to multiple client functions, including CEO and CFO, and is called into the boardroom by the client
Is focused primarily on day to day and current planning cycle	Is focused on the now, the next and the later – strategically on building into the future
Has deep knowledge of the operations of client organization, competitors and category	Has deep knowledge of the business and commercial objectives, barriers and challenges of client organization, and the client/s as individual/s
Is viewed by the client as a service provider/supplier	Is viewed by the client as not just a service provider, but as business partner/trusted advisor
Is reactive to what is being asked in a brief	Works with the client to build out what needs to be done, or has capacity to challenge what is being asked as required
Impresses the client with the work	Impresses the client with the work, and influences the client with counsel
Is seen as the go-to for anything related to discipline	Is seen as the go-to for anything related to discipline, in addition to a broader role as part of an executive leadership team
Internally leads and manages the agency team and the direct output of that team	Internally leads not just the output but the commercial growth of the agency – owns the account P&L and pivots between objective assessment of client needs and understanding of growth opportunities for the agency to build coherent business plans.
Manages the expectations of internal agency stakeholders by driving agency targets or preferred outcomes to the client	Manages the expectations of internal agency stakeholders by influencing, guiding and standing ground where necessary to ensure objectivity, whilst considering tailored to client approaches that can deliver both client and agency results in different ways
Is aware of what the agency charges in broad terms, and the correct way to apply those charges on plans and financial reconciliations	Understands in depth the contract, SOW and associated nuances, and uses the contract as one of the pillars on which to build the relationship and an ongoing, sustainable business plan.

The differences here are in nuances of approach. It is not that ‘one is good, one is bad’. It is about the fine lines between good and great. Adopting the leadership approach gives competitive edge to the agency, and better outcomes to the client.

Ultimately, Joseph is a good, strong account lead. Josephine, on the other hand, is great.

Over time, Joseph will establish trust, and Josephine will become a trusted advisor.

Joseph will work hard to maintain the status quo between agency and client. Josephine will work to shape the agency around the client, to mutual benefit.

Joseph will deliver entirely satisfactory outputs to his client. Josephine has a greater chance of delivering truly value-driving outcomes.

Joseph will successfully deliver across the life of a relationship. But Josephine is more likely to retain her client when the account comes up for review; she is also more likely to prevent a review from happening.

With these definitions in mind, take a look at the majority of relationships your team leaders have with their clients. What are the dynamics of those relationships? Do they fit more into ‘client service’ or ‘client leadership’?

If the answer is predominantly ‘client service’, and you’re interested in evolving your agency to give it a competitive edge, you need to take steps to ensure that you or your teams evolve to a client leadership model, over time.

Creating the Right Environment for Client Leadership to Thrive

Client leadership won’t happen in your agency, without a culture and set of practices that enables it.

As mentioned, some agencies actively gear themselves against a client leadership approach, in favour of an approach that has ‘doing what the client wants, in the agency’s best interests’ at its heart.

This approach amounts to an agency culture that either actively drives or passively allows a client service mentality to drive its account leads, rather than a client leadership mentality.

Let’s put an example on the table.

How about the media agency with an internal target of securing a level of dollar expenditure within its own trading desk or DSP, rather than anywhere else – or insisting on a share of spend within a particular media publisher in any channel, to honour an agency-wide trading deal.

An account lead with a leadership approach, acting in the interest of the client, would possibly suggest a pro-active vendor test to establish best results, before making an agnostic decision about where to place those dollars. She would have an internal conversation to explain the position of the client, and maybe frame a further discussion around ways to achieve broader agency targets across other clients.

This person is acting in the best interest of the agency in that she is providing a truly consultative approach that will help retain the client longer term. She’s also acting in the best interest of the client, for obvious reasons.

An account lead with a service approach would direct the dollars into the channels required of him by his agency and then, in an attempt to ensure client satisfaction, present great results of the campaign to the client.

The results would not necessarily be ‘fake’ and the client may be happy. But of course, the question of ‘could we do even better with a different vendor mix’ is left unanswered by default. Only if the client demanded it would this person run a vendor test. Furthermore, in any subsequent pitch, the agency is far less able to defend the inevitable competitive claims or promises of better performance.

Here’s another example. How about the advertising agency who wants to increase its scope, revenue and profitability by introducing new services – say, a new consumer research tool.

An account lead with a leadership approach would bring this product to the client table and have a balanced discussion about it, before making a recommendation either way based on the response of the client. The account lead with a service approach would be trying harder to force-fit the solution in via hard sell or convoluted benefit claims.

Agencies, of course, have to make money and they have to retain clients. The expansion of remit within existing clients, or the structuring of deals to ensure cheapest possible media inventory so that the client pays less, are two legitimate ways of doing this.

But the approach of the account lead in delivery has critical implications for how the agency is viewed by its client, longer term (and particularly if the account is put to pitch).

It follows that the role of the agency, culturally, structurally, in training and development and in general intent, dictates the approach of its account leads.
The agency that literally forbids its account lead to even suggest that media vendor test, or the agency who simply doesn’t care about anything other than feeding the new business pipeline, is not the agency where a client leadership approach is going to thrive.

At the same time, the willingness of the client to pay properly for the experience required in a true account ‘leader’ is also vital – as is their own culture in welcoming in and working with this person to best effect.

The problem is that none of these building blocks are the norm. There are many consequences, one being a talent hole. In our industry, there are too few account heads operating with a true client leadership approach.

The Second Step – Develop a Client Leadership Culture

In tandem with understanding status via a Practice Audit and the necessary resultant actions, consideration needs to be given to a Client Leadership Blueprint – a single source of truth defining what Client Leadership is within your agency.

This necessarily needs to be tailored to your individual agency language and style. It can form the base on which your Action Plan is grounded.

To provide understanding of what it could look like, TrinityP3 has constructed a Client Leadership Blueprint called ‘The 4 C’s.

The 4C Blueprint

No two clients are identical. However, a 4C model of client leadership can be developed and adapted to fit your client requirements.

Compliant

Commercial

Collaborative

Consultative. To the client, the agency account lead is a thought leader, an educator, a confidant, a challenger and a sounding board. If there’s a problem that needs solving, they are the first person the client calls. They are leading a group of people who have the right expertise through the line, in addition to a strong balance of focus between the reality of now and the possibility of the future.

Compliant. The account lead’s working cadence or operational working arrangement with the client has the right level of structure, clarity and flexibility. They are willing to stand up and be counted against their performance and the contribution made to their client’s business. They effectively manage, lead and guide internally across multiple agency functions. More than this, they are prepared to be a part of driving best practice in the industry.

Commercial. The account lead can handle strategic and commercial discussions at high level. They develop media or communications strategies to influence business outcomes. With vendors, they trade with the right balance of confidence, assertive power and knowledge. Their team is following their vision and can get the job done when the rubber hits the road. Equally, the focus of the account lead in commercial agreements with the client is driven by value, not just by cost, and they make no apologies for the agency being in business itself.

Collaborative. The account lead and their team are adaptable enough to thread through the client’s organisation across multiple touchpoints, including other rostered agency partners, with the appropriate amount of grace, care and conviction. Ultimately, leading to an integrated strategic approach and great execution as a joint team. At the same time, they’re able to explain with clarity and conviction their own agency’s model and adapt as appropriate to fit needs.

The 4 C’s are not mutually exclusive. If we think about how the 4 C’s can be applied to agency operations, we get the following table, split into four quadrants.

The Essence of Client Leadership

When you’re an account lead, you need to wear more than one hat – you need to be objective when considering two things:

1. The needs of your agency as a business – growth opportunities, revenue, people, client retention.
   and
2. The needs of your client as a business – what recommendation is going to work best for them?

This is a balance, and it can be difficult to achieve. It requires management and leadership internally, as well as with your clients.

A degree of internal resistance to agency opportunities that may not actually be right for your client is required.

However, you must be able to replace such opportunities with other, appropriate initiatives that are right for your client, but will also fulfil internal financial objectives.

It is very important that the interests of your agency are protected. You do not want to be viewed internally as ‘working for the client, more than for the agency’.

For example, your agency may be pushing you internally to recommend specific media vendors (TV channels, DSP’s, magazine groups or similar) in order to reap higher rebate rewards, or to fulfil trading obligations.

If these vendors are not right for your client, there are a number of steps to consider:

• Setting up a test to determine best selection and gain proof points regarding which vendor should be used
• Ensuring that in up-front planning, you make internally clear the appropriate choices for your client, so that any deals may be adjusted accordingly
• Considering other ways to drive revenue that may be more appropriate for your client, or building alternative deals

Another example could be a situation where your agency is pushing you to sell in new agency products that you know are not right for your client at the current time. In this case:

• Talk to your agency leads about ‘if not now, then when’ your client may be ready for this product, and why
• Think about how this product may be built into longer term business plan
• Talk to your agency about other products that your client could benefit from right now and focus on those
• Set up a sharing session with your client that isn’t ‘hard sell’ but enables you to both communicate new offerings and sensibly gain feedback and/or alternative ideas

The sweet spot is to build a ‘virtuous circle’ of objective transparency that helps both parties to grow.

Not All Clients are Born Equal: The Importance of Tailoring in Client Leadership

A strong client leadership approach can help to overcome numerous threats to agency relationships. But no two clients are identical.

Think about the commonalities between what different types of clients want or need, and the need for client leadership, rather than just client service, can immediately be seen.

Different types of clients have the same essential needs.

The diagram below demonstrates these commonalities based on two simple ‘client types’ in a media agency (of course, a similar diagram could be built for an advertising agency):

• ‘Transactional Clients’ – less driven by relationship, views media agency as a supplier
• ‘Engaged Clients’ – more driven by relationship, views media agency as a partner

The definition of each common priority may differ – for example, ‘best value’ is different for a transactional client than it is for an engaged client.

But the commonalities remain. The client leader needs to be in tune with this, from one client to another.

What’s more, a client-agency relationship should be treated as a living thing – continuously evolving and reacting to circumstance. It is all too easy to fall into a swim-lane at the start of a relationship and never change direction, which leaves your agency open to any competitor who decides to knock at your client’s door with something ‘bright, shiny and new’.

It follows that ‘client leadership’ therefore means different things, to different types of clients. And it is generally something that is often in flux, rather than fixed – you need to be a shape-shifter.

Steps to building a Strong Client Leadership Model

So far, we’ve talked about what you ‘should’ be doing as an account lead with a client leadership approach and mentality.

But how do you take practical steps to achieve this kind of relationship both internally, and with your client?

1. Initiate an Operations Review

An Operations Review is an in-depth assessment of all operational aspects of the relationship – working both ways, to consider both client and agency.

Sometimes, with large or complex clients, it may be better to hire an external consultant to perform an Operations Review. In which case, you may be able to go to your client and suggest it pro-actively, with a cost-share agreement.

The term ‘Operations Review’ can seem daunting, particularly if you directly involve the client. It takes confidence to initiate this kind of exercise; and there needs to be some judgement with regard to which clients to approach.

For clients that you believe should not be approached in this way (for example, if the relationship is not strong enough to withstand any negative outcomes, or if it would prove too de-stabilizing), the option is to run a purely internal review, which will also deliver some great insights.

Assuming that a full two-way approach is appropriate, the objectives of an Operations Review are:

1. Generate intricate and unbiased understanding of current performance on both sides
2. Identify strengths and challenges, such as any perception gaps or specific frustrations
3. Align on commitment to changes where necessary
4. Build a concrete action plan/development roadmap
5. Create knowledge building blocks for an Internal Business Plan

Structuring an Operations Review

Although an Operations Review can generally be tailored to fit circumstances, there are a number of elements that would typically be included, highlighted in the table below.

• Stakeholder Interviews. Face to face, individual interviews with both client teams and agency team, held under condition of anonymity.
• TRR Scoring Process. Client version and agency version, providing marks out of 10 against a number of weighted criteria.
• Perception Gap Mapping. Using Stakeholder Interview inputs and TRR scores, identify similarities and differences in perceptions of client and agency team (for example – the agency sees itself as very pro-active; the client views the agency as not pro-active at all).
• Contract and Scope Review. Re-visit the contract and scope of work and assess what can remain and what needs to change.
• Business Assessment. Current SWOT of your client’s business, identification of key growth initiatives, SWOT of your relationship with your client and identified objectives
• Output Assessment. Assessment of client briefs, and work outputs, over a pre-defined period, to identify areas of strength and weakness.
• Findings Report & Action Plan. A small, senior level group sees a presentation of findings and recommendations and agrees an action plan.
• Group Communication. Positive communication from the leadership team to the broader group, with shared Action Plan.
• Operational Summary. An operational summary is a shared document for agency and client team. It should be easy to follow and concise. An operational summary is an agreed overview of how the account is going to be run, day to day – key meetings/contact points, approach to briefing, regular tasks and reports, sign off process, etc. – with roles and responsibilities for both parties. The point of this document is to have a recording of the agreements made in the review process, easily accessible outside of the contract, that helps to avoid confusion or excessive churn around what should or should not be taking place on a day to day basis.

It is generally advisable, for bigger accounts or more complex situations, to engage a professional consultant to complete an Operations Review.

If you prefer to self-assess or perform a more limited/confidential review process, there is an internally focused Operations Review document for client leaders to complete in the ‘Useful Documents’ appendix.

If you self-assess, you always have the option to approach your client with the results of your own review, for alignment on any changes you want to make.

2. Build an Internal Business Plan

If your Operations Review is successful, it will have uncovered several insights about how your relationship with your client can be managed. It will also have highlighted a SWOT of your current operation.

Your course, and that of your client, will be clear, or at least clearer than it was before you started.

This understanding is invaluable when building an internal business plan for your client account.

Not all agencies work with individually tailored client business plans – it is often the case that all clients are rolled up into one agency plan designed to hit a single set of revenue, profitability and EBIT numbers, and a standardized set of ‘products to sell’ or ‘opportunities to deliver’.

Additionally, it is sometimes the case that whilst individual clients have targets that are rolled into the overall agency plan, the account leads are not made specifically aware of what those targets are.

As an account lead, it is good practice to not only understand the commercial targets that have been placed on your account, but also to pro-actively develop a client-specific plan designed to show your agency leadership how you plan to grow the relationship, and the business, over the next 12 months, to meet those targets.

If you have not been asked to do this, there’s no harm in offering. Pick an appropriate time – perhaps after you’ve completed your Operations Review and a couple of months before the end of the current financial review. Approach your agency lead and explain that you’d like to construct a plan for presentation.

You may also need to seek permission/access to the agency CFO, in order to obtain necessary information about agency remuneration on your client.

An example Internal Business Plan structure is as follows:

ASSESSMENT
Situation Analysis – Client	Client SWOT overview, business challenges and objectives for coming year, topline commercial results and commercial targets
Situation Analysis – Agency	Agency performance overview, relationship strength, SWOT (use Operations Review outputs, if one has been performed)
Account Financial Performance & Targets	Assessment of overall account revenue and profitability over P12M and targets over N12M
COMMERCIAL STRATEGY
Critical Actions, Key Growth Opportunities and Action Plan	In context of situation analysis, agency revenue, profitability and performance targets, overview critical actions and identified growth opportunities to explore, mapped over the N12M period: e.g. fee negotiation, recommended changes to internal resource or scope, contract review, increased digital media mix, econometric modelling, consultancy services, transversal Vivendi projects, etc.
CLIENT LEADERSHIP PLAN (can use outputs from Operations Review to guide)
Consultative Outreach	Tactics to improve Consultative account performance: e.g. client training, thought leadership initiatives, events. Outline any Critical Actions or Key Growth Opportunities that will help to drive Consultative relationship forward.
Collaborative Operations	Tactics to improve Collaborative account performance: e.g. set up of a new agency/client ELT or strategic committee, co-funded research projects, new multi-agency approach to integrated strategy. Outline any Critical Actions or Key Growth Opportunities that will help to drive Collaborative relationship forward.
Compliant Practice	Tactics to improve Compliant account performance: e.g. transparency education or initiative, contractual review, performance review. Outline any Critical Actions or Key Growth Opportunities that will help to drive Compliant relationship forward.
Commercial Opportunity	Tactics to improve Commercial account performance: e.g. evolving approach to strategic development, media trading improvements or change in approach to media trading, negotiations, channel mix or similar that will deliver mutual benefit. Outline any Critical Actions or Key Growth Opportunities that will help to drive Commercial relationship forward.

The third step to building your model is to develop your leadership proof points with your client – enabling trust to develop. This is a topic so broad that it merits a chapter of its own. Read on to find out more.

Willingness to Test, Learn and Evolve

As account lead you will often learn about just how cynical clients can be about the ‘recommendations’ made by an agency. In other words, recommendations to sign off a certain creative direction or media channel can be viewed as serving the agency (potential for awards, higher commissions, or similar) more than the client. Agencies are often seen as subjective, rather than objective, in the solutions they push.

It is always worth talking to your client about where exactly their pressure points are internally and learning from this how to build approaches and evolutions with them, rather than for them. Build trust by demonstrating objectivity in this regard – balance would should be done with what could be done, in a test/learn/evolve mentality that minimizes any risk associated with new strategies or approaches.

Have off-record or informal conversations with your senior client to gain insights. Know where the realistic boundaries are, and what internal challenges your client will face in trying to get any given idea off the ground.

And, if you believe that the best course ultimately takes money away from your agency on this particular campaign (for example, that the budget is best spent in promotion, trade or another area outside of your direct remit), make that recommendation.

An example scenario is the client who, on occasion, gives your team a brief with a budget unsustainable to complete the task.

An honest conversation with a recommendation that, if considering a higher budget is not an option, this money would be better spent on PR or CRM promotion, even if it diverts the dollars away from the agency, can work wonders for the sense of trust your client has in you. And that helps when you really do have a bigger recommendation to make.

Honesty in the Face of Challenges

Agency pitches are called for many reasons. Sometimes, they were called because of an untenable deterioration of relationship. Trust had eroded to a point of no return.

Almost always, the opinions of the client and the incumbent agency about what had gone wrong were different. Occasionally, they are diametrically opposed, with each party blaming the other for the same thing.

Often, the client’s rationale for pitching, or what they want from a new agency that they aren’t getting with the incumbent, is unclear and clouded by lack of real understanding.

Similarly, the agency often does not asked the question ‘what is it you (the client) wants from us? And why are we having challenges?’ with enough depth. And, if trust isn’t there, the client will not be likely to give an honest answer. It becomes a vicious circle.

It is very common for an agency to shy away from expressing challenges it has with a client, for fear of reprisal.

The same can apply to clients not expressing challenges it has with an agency, partly through lack of empathy, partly from an expectation that ‘the agency should know, that’s what we pay them for’ and partly from fear of confrontation.

As the account lead, you should be developing a relationship with your senior client that allows for these conversations to happen.

Of course, such conversations need to be carefully handled. They should never be in public. They shouldn’t be on email.

They should be balanced, with examples. Wherever possible they should not focus obsessively on fault, or on a specific individual.

They should not be emotional. They should be two way – considering what we as an agency may be doing to create this issue. And they should always be held in context of solution-solving, rather than problem-bringing.

You also need to assert yourself when client behaviours are unacceptable to you and your team. If the client is treating your team with a lack of respect – yelling insults on the phone, giving impossible deadlines, reducing your team to tears – the problem needs to be approached.

It is often better to initially approach informally, one on one with the senior client, or with your agency lead also present.

Make them aware of what the meeting is about beforehand.

Bring some examples of briefs with impossible deadlines and/or outcomes, or failed attempts by your team to gain more information or understanding.

You don’t always need to focus on individuals. But you need to look your client in the eye and give them the reality of what’s happening; explain that a continuation will not lead to best outcomes; ask the client for their perspective on the same issue (i.e. are there behaviors in your own team also causing problems?) and present and align on a solution.

Examples of solutions may include work-shadowing for a small number of the day to day teams, to provide better mutual understanding of day to day operations.
You might arrange a social event for people to relax with each other.

There could be some basic processes and templates put in place designed to fix the issues.

The objective of doing all this is not just to fix the problem (although if your team is suffering, that is very important). It’s also to improve the depth of the relationship; to balance the relationship by engendering a greater sense of mutual respect; and to improve outcomes in such a way as to no only avoid further problems, but to ensure things aren’t left to fester so much that a pitch is called.

Ensuring that ‘Consultation’ is Not Always ‘Selling’

As an agency lead or account lead, you will always be under internal pressure to grow the business of the agency. Which is of course appropriate – all businesses need to grow.

But when your attempts to be ‘consultative’ revolve too much around ‘selling’ new agency services, it can be counterintuitive to the success of the client relationship.
As a client lead, you need to find the right balance, read the play and know when the time is right to ‘sell’.

This comes from experience of knowing your client as an individual, as much as it does from knowing your business.

Your knowledge of what makes your client tick is essential when communicating internally about when the time is right to push a new product. It should underpin your Internal Business Plan.

The Business Plan should be your way of internally communicating your approach to the client, based on your knowledge of their character and needs.

You need to assert this internally to avoid a situation where you are being pressured to sell things that may not be appropriate, or in a way that won’t work with your client. The last thing you want to be seen as is a ‘snake-oil salesman’, or as opportunistic rather than objective.

It is always important to respect the business agenda of your agency. But, as client leader, you should be the authority on how best to execute it, as far as your client is concerned.

When Things Go Wrong, Stand Up and Be Counted

At some point, in any working relationship, something will go wrong. Sometimes it will be the fault of the agency, sometimes not. Sometimes it will be your fault, sometimes, your client, sometimes someone or some people on the teams.

What’s most important is not that a mistake occurred, but how you deal with it and move on.

Natural protective instincts often lead to defensiveness, evasion or finger-pointing. As a client lead, you need to be above this. You need to be the statesperson.
In particular:

1. 1. Wherever possible, call the client before they call you. Lead on the front foot with what’s happened, and what you can do to rectify. Don’t ever ‘leave it in your top drawer for later’.
   2. If appropriate, offer to be with the client with their bosses when the bad news is communicated. Do what you can to protect your client.
   3. If appropriate, ensure that your agency leadership is informed about the issue and the steps you’re taking, before you take them.

1. Explain the context of the situation to the client (why the mistake has happened) but don’t use context as an excuse.
2. Never try and cover things over with other third parties such as media networks.
3. Never directly blame a member of your team. You are the lead; you need to take responsibility.
4. Apologize for your part of the issue – but don’t ‘fall on your sword’ or beg for forgiveness. You’re a professional, but everyone is human; mistakes happen; it gets dealt with. There’s still lots of things that you and your team are doing right.
5. Once the dust has settled and/or the immediate issue has been resolved, pro-actively ensure that you discuss and agree any necessary changes with your team to ensure that something similar does not re-occur; and communicate this to the client.

Be the Person that ‘Always Follows Through’

A common client complaint about agencies is that ‘they over-promise, and under-deliver’.

This didn’t just refer to big-ticket items. It referred to everything from promises of new people or tools, to day to day ‘we will improve’ promises that were not followed up on.

As account lead, it is your direct responsibility to ensure that we do not over-promise and under-deliver. Doing so is one of the quickest routes to precipitate an account review or pitch.

Here are some tips to consider that will help you avoid falling into the trap.

1. Scenario plan your options before talking to your client. It is too easy to have a conversation with your client about a certain deliverable, where you find yourself pressured into agreeing to something that inside, you know will be extremely difficult or impossible to achieve. It is always best to scenario-plan two or three options of what you think your client may want and prepare your responses accordingly.
2. Always align internally before making a promise. You may find yourself in a one to one meeting with your client in which a sudden or unexpected demand is made. Often, the temptation is to agree on the spot to what you’re asked for. If you are less than 90% sure of your ground, this is unwise. You should not be afraid of explaining to your client that you will need to seek advice or have discussions before recommending the right course of action.
3. If something can’t be done – explain why, directly, and find an alternative. Senior clients generally find it very irritating when their account leads cannot or will not be direct with them. Trying to hide a ‘no’ in media jargon or long-winded explanation is confusing at best and trust-reducing at worst. If something literally can’t be done, you need to be calm and direct in explaining why. Finding an alternative may be done with your own team, or you may choose to suggest working with your client to overcome the problem together.
4. Plot accurate delivery roadmaps and communicate ‘ahead of the curve’. Projects sometimes come unstuck. Things can take longer than planned. This much is simply a reality of business. If the project you’ve promised to deliver is complex, it is always good practice to agree a roadmap with your client at the start. More importantly (and this refers particularly to senior clients) you need to explain issues or course-corrections to a project in advance, rather than once they have already happened. This allows you to manage your client’s expectations, and it allows your client to manage their own internal expectations with other stakeholders.

Communicate with Empathy, Outside of the ‘Agency Ivory Tower’.

From a pure client leadership perspective, demonstrating empathy and context is perhaps the most powerful tool in your armory.

Communicating with professional empathy involves demonstrating your understanding that there is a whole marketing world outside of what your agency does.

That your media campaign or advertising may have been a success but the sales aren’t all attributable to your great click-through rate – there’s distribution, promotion, loyalty, CRM, PR, all sorts of things that you and your team may not have been involved with.

Professional empathy involves thinking organizationally about the pressures on your client as a marketing lead.

Before you recommend that great new app that promises to gain more data-driven understanding of consumers than ever before as well as offering a whole new sales channel – take a moment to talk to ask your client about the IT implications of doing this. Or the corporate compliance/legal hurdles that may be involved. Or the tensions between digital sales teams and bricks and mortar franchisees that may be affected by the implementation of an app.

Professional empathy is all about considering internal implications on your client’s side. It’s easy to think of the CMO as having ultimate sign-off, but in fact it’s often the case that the CMO needs to convince a whole group of people about making changes or big budgetary commitments. There are almost always factions and politics involved.

For agency recommendations involving complexity and/or a lot of management (e.g. events or sponsorship), agencies often forget to consider how much resource pressure will be placed on their clients in order to execute.

Talk to your client over time to gain understanding of these pressures and discuss the best way you can help – everything from specific counsel, to how you could potentially be present in broader internal client meetings, to the language or formatting of your presentations.

It is always better, wherever possible, to involve your client on the journey via informal updates or discussions in order to gain alignment, rather than working on a big brief independently before a big ‘ta-da!’ reveal in the presentation.

Finally, use professional empathy to probe your client and ensure that they have not overlooked anything.

When Working with Other Agencies, Be the Statesman.

Other agencies. They can be the bane of our existence, right?

Problems between different agencies on a client’s roster are as old as the proverbial hills.

Intra-agency in-fighting or politicking, the need to be seen as ‘the lead agency’, the ever-increasing grey areas of capability between one agency and another, the rush to claim the big idea as coming from your team, the challenges over who presents first and which slide design to use, the endless combat over whether ‘the medium’ or ‘the message’ should take strategic priority.

Problems of this nature can be very irritating to agencies. For the client, whatever annoyance the agencies feel is significantly magnified.

As the account lead, you have both an opportunity and a duty to work collaboratively with other agencies. You need to set the behavioral tone for your team. But how do you best deal with direct conflict with the client?

The answer lies in ensuring that your behavior is statesmanlike, rather than antagonistic.

There are a number of tips to ensure that when dealing with other agencies, you project leadership.

1. Take intra-agency battles behind the scenes – always.

If you or your teams are engaging in passive-aggressive warfare in meetings or emails, the worst thing that can happen is for the client to see it.

To the client, these battles mean nothing other than annoyance; and they show the agencies up as wasting time – time that the client is paying for.

The first step to resolution is always to go direct to the other agency lead, have a private open, honest discussion, and rise above the (often) petty nature of the arguments.

And remember – the example you set will be followed by your team. The behavior you want from them should be reflected by you.

2. Attempt to involve the client and the other agencies – constructively – in steering.

As much as the agencies need to work together themselves, and avoid including the client in petty problems, a good client should also be a willing participant in fostering strong relationships.

For the right client, the joint ELT (Executive Leadership Team) comprising the client lead from each agency, and the lead clients can be a good solution.

This group has a number of functions – setting strategic direction, agreeing operational structures and ways of working to cascade to teams, discussing commercial issues of importance to the client.

A strong ELT represents opportunity to build collaboration, and if necessary it can also serve as a point of arbitration, allowing alignment between multiple parties.

It goes without saying that for you to be the person to suggest an ELT is not a bad look in terms of projecting the right image of yourself and your agency.

3. Make integration, rather than ownership, your primary objective.

It is a truth often stated that the client doesn’t really care ‘where the idea came from’ as long as there is an idea.

The client cares a whole lot more about the ability of a multi-agency team to deliver an integrated approach to a brand or campaign.

With this in mind, trying to ‘own’ the strategy is not always the appropriate solution and can be counter-intuitive if it comes at the expense of what’s best for your client.

If another agency has a great platform, idea or strategy – bring your team into line with it and do everything possible to deliver against it.

If there is disagreement about strategic direction – use the channels you’ve opened directly to the other agency leads, or the mechanism of an ELT, to arbitrate and reach a decision.

4. Project security and confidence in your own relationship.

Often, intra-agency fighting betrays a lack of security, which generally will be unattractive to your client.

It is always better to project measured security and confidence. With security and confidence comes additional gravitas that marks you out as a leader.

Congratulate or give credit to other agencies for strong work or ideas. Call out individuals from all sides for praise. Always be the person who recognizes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Understand though that ‘measured security’ does not mean arrogance or over-confidence. Patronizing other agencies is not the aim – sincerity is the objective.