Today’s musings are inspired by this evening’s viewing on Channel 4.
First up was Property Ladder with the amazing Sarah Beeny. Apart from the obvious Property Porn, the real joy of the show is watching the invariably clueless and over confident DIYers set about ignoring the advice of a woman who has literally made millions from property developing, only to regret it later.
Brilliant TV and not dissimilar to the situation which can exist in the client agency relationship – but with two critical differences. Firstly our advice and expertise is not being offered for free. Secondly when Beeny’s warnings are ignored and the project goes tits-up as predicted, she’s not the one that gets all the blame anyway.
It’s the same story with the show that follows, Gordan Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Again the advice of a Michelin starred chef is ignored because the near-bankrupt proprietor thinks he knows better. However, crucially unlike Beeny, Ramsay almost always gets his own way eventually. He’s persistent, doesn’t give a toss about the other guy’s ego, doesn’t roll over at the first sign of trouble and above all remembers he is the Expert. And despite the initial rows and fisticuffs by the end of the show the owner usually worships him as a saviour. I think there is a clear professional lesson to be learned from the Ramsay approach, don’t you?
All of this reminded me of some fantastic rules developed by Ogilvy’s Rohit Bhargava on how to be a better client and therefore get better results from your PR agency. Please read his seven great tips below. I know seven rules may be nowhere near enough, but for me two key ones are definitely No. 4 - Take the advice you are paying and No. 5 Know what you don’t know.
As always would love to hear your suggestions on what should be added to the list! Tomorrow the lessons that PR professionals can learn from BBC1’s Spooks…
1. Provide clear direction - This was a clear No.1 priority for many agency creative workers in particular who have struggled to interpret vague instructions. Making something “more corporate” in look or language is not clear direction, though you may know what you mean by this. The best clients are the ones who are able to articulate what they are looking for.
2. Invite us to the table early - The earlier we learn about a campaign or new marketing initiative, the smarter recommendations we can bring to you. This may seem in contrast to the first point, as inviting your agency early might also mean you don’t yet have clear direction to offer … but at the early stage it matters less because as long as we have enough information, we can produce the best work. That comes from clear direction, or from early participation.
3. Be honest about success factors - The easy thing to say is that a campaign needs to get X number of views. Many times, the motivation for a campaign are more subtle. The smart agency guys (or gals) understand that part of your motivation is also to look smart in front of your colleagues. That’s nothing to be ashamed of - our job is to help you look smart. If we work together, we can all win.
4. Take the advice you are paying for - One of the toughest things to do as your advisors is to tell you when an idea doesn’t work. Too many agency people roll over and obey commands, but my experience with clients is that they respect you far more when you have a distinct point of view. The challenge is that once we share it, if you choose not to take the advice, we need to understand why. You don’t need to always follow what we say, but the thing we hate most of all is telling you something won’t work, being forced to do it anyway, and then getting blamed when it doesn’t work.
5. Know what you don’t know - We all have limitations in what we know and what we do. The clearest example of this comes when looking at design. If you don’t have a design background, you need to tread carefully with design feedback. Take the time to understand why a designer chose to do something a particular way rather than just sharing your personal dislike. A lot of thinking often goes into designs like this, and the most disheartening thing for a creative person is to just be told to arbitrarily change a colour or font or image that spent hours to select based on someone else’s personal choice.
6. Understand that changes affect timelines - This again is one of the common gripes from people in agencies, that clients change requirements or requests and still expect things to be done within the same amount of time. This isn’t reasonable, and the best clients know it. If you need to make a change, its ok - we get it. But work with us to get a real timeline for when we can make the change and get something back to you. We’ll respect you for realizing that.
7. Ask our advice - There is a book called The Trusted Advisor which has become the bible for many people who are in service businesses. As the title indicates, the book is about building a relationship of trust that gets to a level where you are considered an advisor even on things outside of your expertise. This remains the ultimate relationship between clients and agencies, and the one we all strive for.
