For those of you who missed Andy Baker’s session, “Don’t be an Asshole,” at The Conference 2014, he has graciously provided a detailed post below, chock full of good advice on how to be a good client as well as how to be a good agency. For more information just like this, also check out Andy’s blog, www.theclientblog.com. Andy is senior VP, group creative director, at National Geographic Channels and you can follow him on Twitter @ajbake.

Are you an asshole? Hopefully not. Now, there’s a good chance that you may not BE an asshole, but you’ve probably BEEN an asshole at some point.

Possibly you’ve worked with a clueless client that’s trying to tell you how to do your job, asked you to work on a weekend Friday at 6p, or requested a discount on the final budget – and you slid them the classic passive-aggressive “well, that’s one way to interpret the work” asshole comment.

Maybe you are the client and your agency ignored your feedback one time too many, or you got the hundredth call from that one agency that won’t leave you alone and you finally told them exactly what you think of the work they sent you on that cheap USB drive emblazoned with their logo.

It can happen to the best of us, but it doesn’t need to. I recently moderated an industry panel on the subject of agency/client relationships, and we conducted an anonymous survey of both clients and agencies dishing their biggest grievances about the other side – and more importantly, took a look behind the curtain so each side can better understand the other’s processes, pain points, and perspective.

THE THINGS WE HATE ABOUT CLIENTS.

It’s extremely important to understand the issues before going about solving and strengthening the agency/client dynamic. Hearing from the agencies, first, the top annoyances were pretty familiar:
Each of these issues is fairly self-explanatory - it’s about clear communication and respect. Clients need to realize that agencies aren’t in business just to make art - they gotta pay the bills and their employees. Saying that out loud is the first step to making them aware that you can’t ask agencies to work harder and longer than the initial scope of work called for - then ask it to cost less money.

  1. Lack of clarity from clients on approval process. Timing, who approves things, general steps of approval.
  2. When an agency is called a “vendor.” Vendors sell cotton candy. Agencies provide creative work.
  3. Being disrespectful when giving notes.
  4. No advance warning about project challenges. Be upfront when you know a project will incur late nights, weekend work, etc.
  5. When the client asks for freebies, discounts or other budget issues.

In some cases, I believe these budget queries are a ‘learned behavior’ on the clients’ part because too often agencies will find ways to cut budgets and reduce overages - but those favors given can quickly be abused. Having a healthy, honest dialogue along the way and respecting that your agency needs to make money to continue to be successful and help you is critical.

AND WHAT DO CLIENTS HATE MOST?

Some of the complaints were related to the actual creative process, but many were focused more on the process of how agencies secure business. We heard in the survey that the biggest complaints are when agencies pitch the “A” team and the client gets the “D” team. Also not addressing notes, and having attitude when given notes can also be frustrating. But by far, the #1 complaint was cold-calls and solicitations from agencies.

What we found in the survey was that the #1 biggest complaint was over-solicitation for work by agencies or reps for agencies. But an interesting paradox surfaced when we looked at the responses from agencies in the survey. 34% of creative shops say that their #1 method of landing new business was…cold calls and emails. So what can we make of this? If the number one complaint of clients is the #1 way that agencies get business…no wonder issues arise. Which is why it’s important to remember that it’s all about forming relationships. That’s a huge deciding factor, and once agencies are fully aware of it, perhaps the solicitation style and methods will change. Ultimately, it’s a buyers’ market. There are more agencies than clients, so you’ve got to find ways to distinguish your product as well as your method for selling yourself.

Another subject that came up often in the survey was the in-person pitch. If you DO get that opportunity to showcase your work directly or in person to the client, how should you handle it? That is a huge chance to show your work, display your company’s strengths, and build a relationship. And we heard some more great feedback from clients who sit through so many pitches about what works and what doesn’t.

Those include ditching the sizzle reel, and making a more customized presentation to that potential client. If you’re pitching work to a team that works on comedy promotion, don’t showcase your dramatic series efforts. And perhaps most important: don’t tell a client you can do everything well. That could actually hurt your chances of landing business. Focus on what you do best, and lean into that.

I hire a lot of different agencies to work for Nat Geo - and I am more inclined to hire specialists because the end result will always be better than a generalist who does everything pretty well. So ask yourself when pitching your company, agency or even yourself: What are you good at, and what are you BEST at? That’s an important distinction to make to potential clients.

THE ELUSIVE ‘GOOD’ CLIENT.

We’ve all heard that phrase before “So-and-so is a good client.” But we’ve also all wondered: “What makes one client better than another?”

Of course, there’s the all-important and seemingly obvious “don’t be an asshole” advice. But drilling down a bit more, what are things that agencies admire in their own “good clients”?

Turning again to our survey, we asked agencies to list out their favorite things and rank them in order.

#1 – “Clear Communication.”

#2 – “Creatively Tough – but pushes us to do good work.”

# 3 – “They’re just friendly people.”

That first point cannot be overstated enough. Clarity in your communication, whether about your internal approval process, in your creative brief (assuming there IS one), in your notes, feedback, everything. Be clear, and direct. Don’t dance around tough criticism - agencies we heard from more often than not want to hear it so that they can nail it for you. Not just for the obvious reason of wanting to do a good job, but the secret of many successful agencies is repeat business. And they’ll only get to that point by delivering great work.

CONCLUSION.

Ultimately, agencies want to help the clients and to do a good job. And of course, all clients want to produce effective work, and be respected in turn. Build relationships, communicate clearly, and be mutually respectful. These are all somewhat obvious when you take a step back, but it can be tougher in the throws of that day-to-day creative grind. If you want to read more about this survey we conducted, and take a deeper dive into this sort of content, please visit my blog at www.theclientblog.com - and always remember – Don’t Be An Asshole.

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