Keeping Sight of the Big Picture in Agency-Client Relationships
My dad always tells me stories from the days when he managed small businesses. One of my favorites is about his former boss and the many women in his life: wives, ex-wives and girlfriends (in no particular order). The way my dad tells it is that when his boss knew that a relationship was coming to an end, he would pause, look the other person in the eye, smile wide and deliver the line, “Remember what brought us together.”
I’m not sure how that line went over (I can only imagine), but the story is burned into my brain. “Remember what brought us together” is good advice, actually, though it might apply better to the relationship between marketing agencies and their clients.
What brings clients and agencies together? Typically, the client is trying to make money. They want to sell more product or more services, get in front of the right people, charge higher prices and stay ahead of competitors. These are all great goals, of course, and good marketing can help clients achieve them.
But when long-term agency-client relationships aren’t yielding these results – when strategy devolves into a string of tactics, and then tactics become monthly emailed reports, and the entire relationship is reduced to a monthly phone call – clients and agencies can lose sight of the relationship’s bigger purpose.
When you’re bogged down in the polite, day-to-day business rituals, it can be hard to stop and ask yourself, “Where did it go wrong?”
You could say it’s the agency’s fault. They’re down in the weeds and have gotten caught up in creating assets for the latest marketing push. They’re stuck in a cycle of making, sending and responding to client feedback. They aren’t providing new ideas. They don’t have time to.
Or you can blame the client. (Gasp!) They started with goals and strategy in mind, but now they’re only committed to solving the latest marketing emergency. The fastest, easiest thing to do has been to repeat the same work over and over again, adapting it only slightly to address the latest crisis.
The answer, like in most relationships, is perspective and communication. People need to share a vision, know what the goals are, and have a clear scoreboard to know if they’re “winning” or losing. If you’ve reached the “Where did it go wrong?” stage, having a meeting to talk about what can be accomplished in the next six months to a year will help reset perspective, and might bring some new energy into the mix.
Clients and agencies both have a lot of time, energy and money invested in their relationships, and neither wants to see it fail. Taking some time from the daily grind to meet in person and realign goals is a great and easy way to get everyone back on the same page.
And if it’s all somehow past the point of no return, just look the person in the eye, smile wide, and say it: “Remember what brought us together.”
