Commentary

Build A Great Client/Agency Relationship: Ask Why?

In the relationship-heavy ad business, we often see people go to great lengths to deliver on urgent client requests, which should not have been made in the first place. All too often, clients ask their agency to deliver sooner. Without asking why, the agency launches into an all-out effort to meet the compressed delivery date. Had they asked why, they could have understood the reason for the request and offered a cost effective, alternative solution.

There are several reasons why a client may want to scrap a previously agreed-to delivery date for an earlier one. A manager wants it sooner is common. Or the CMO has a big meeting where work will be shown. Or a competitor has launched a campaign, and we need to hit the market sooner.

For these scenarios, there are feasible, alternative solutions that will not waste or blow your advertising budget. Unfortunately, you will not know what they are until you ask the question: "Why?"

Some ad agencies believe that they must work overtime to meet any client request, even if the request is a budget waster. To add insult to injury, the client may blame the agency at year end for blowing their budget.

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One agency was in this exact situation. The client blamed them for being wasteful. Because it didn't manage budgets judiciously, they were ready to fire them. We assessed the situation asking why to the several relationship problems we uncovered. The root cause of the problem was that during each program development, the client was making many small changes, which added up to be a budget buster. It was like death by a thousand small cuts.

Our analysis showed that 33% of the retainer was spent making all those client requested changes, resulting in fewer-than-expected marketing programs being delivered. The agency may have had its share of problems, but the 100-pound gorilla in the room was the huge number or revisions during program development. The agency had never asked why. We showed the client that these excessive changes were consuming about 33% of their ad budget. This eye-opening insight resulted in the client working with us to significantly change their approval practices.

As a result, the agency was able to deliver more, better quality ad and marketing programs per year, despite a reduction in the annual retainer caused by to a tough economic climate. The relationship improved significantly and a very healthy, collaborative and strong partnership developed. The client was so satisfied with the agency's performance that they awarded them more business.

To build a great relationship with your client or agency, you must encourage each other to ask why. By asking why, you break the endless "do loop" that is prevalent in the ad agency business. Change for the sake of change has become the rule, with the result that we use more resources to get the same amount of work. We need to change the agency culture and work smarter so that we remove unnecessary steps and save our clients money.

Asking why can break the cycle of unnecessary rounds of revisions. It can minimize rush jobs, sloppiness, errors and rework, while reducing the frustrations caused by such demands. Asking why makes the client stop in his/her tracks to think critically about their request. By not spinning your wheels on unnecessary work, you can focus your time and budget into developing high-quality programs. Benefits of the streamlined focus and more effective use of resources include lower ad development costs, increased creative output and increased client satisfaction.

Adopt the habit of asking why, so that you can do more with less and improve your client-agency relationship.

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