We Need to Talk

About a week ago we had the privilege of hearing some wisdom from a wise gentleman that we would be selfish not to share with you.

Do you work in an agency? Creative, advertising, digital or otherwise? Are you especially young and enjoy the privilege of wearing everything you want but suits and wearing your hair in ways that make your parents wonder whether you’re really employed?

Please have a seat. This will take a while.

We’ll dive right in and begin with this one;

YOUR CLIENTS DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOUR PROCEDURES.

You are a creative or digital agency and that’s fine. You’re also a business and every business that has been around for a considerable amount of time has structure.

The one thing that people {who don’t work in agency} take for granted is the time it takes to get stuff done. However, to spin this around real quick, they take it for granted because you haven’t taken the time to explain to them how you do things in-house to make sure the job you do for them turns out as great every time.

So the next time your client flips on you about something, don’t start labelling them as mean. Be bold and make time to explain why things take the time they take to get done from the time you receive their brief. More often than not, most clients will appreciate the work you put in for them and might even have a recommendation for you!

Of course, emergencies don’t count.

CLIENTS CAN BE MANAGED

How you look at your phone when that client calls

Granted, there are clients you will deal with that will keep you alert and not in a good way. Most of the time, you might be contributing to the problem. The solution to this is quite simple and might need you investing a little time to study your client.

Learn what is important to them. Is it having things in good time? Is it dope content? Is it well explained reports? Is it sales? Whatever it is, make sure you satisfy that first. As long as you do this, they will start trusting you.

Don’t ever let your client manage you.

Are you foreseeing a delay? Call them and let them know.
Have you had a moment of inspiration and want to change something up? Call them. Then follow it up with an email.

INITIATIVE vs IRRITATING

Now there’s a fine line between taking initiative and bombarding your client with cool proposals.

So how do you balance this at the end of the day?

Find a problem that your client can solve and create a specific solution for that.

For as long as you’re creating value for your client, you can keep going. But if your concern is about executing something that would just be cool and you’re not getting a response from your client… it’s because you’re irritating. Change tact.

YOUR CLIENT HAS OTHER THINGS TO DO

Ouch.

This may be hard to hear but your client’s job is not to sit around and wait for your proposals to approve.

As much as you can, try to figure out how as an agency you fit into your client’s ecosystem.

LOOK TRUSTWORTHY

If people look at you and think you’re cool, this is for you. We know you can do your job. We also understand that your job can be time-consuming and might require seeing things in a way that no one else sees.

Your clients also get that you’re young.

But remember, people see before they hear.

Please don’t walk into your client’s meeting with your torn jeans looking like you can’t be trusted to do anything responsible with 1000 bob.

 

Ni hayo tu kwa sasa.