Like you, I’m busy spinning a plethora of project plates, while flitting from one meeting room to the next. Even if you find out there’s no reason at all for these bad decisions, that may be a sign to stick to your guns and steer your client back on course. You may think that it’s not your problem, but if it’s preventing you from producing great work, you need to find a solution. Try digging a little to find out what’s actually going on. There can be all sorts of factors of which an agency may not be aware: budget concerns the opinion of another exec or board member a conflict or crossover with other creative initiatives maybe even something personal. If you find yourself confused by some decisions that seem to actively contradict the creative brief or something I’ve said previously, there may be an underlying reason. Ask me if you’re not sure which is which. Just remember that sometimes what sounds like my opinion may actually be a specific directive – there may be a particular reason we can’t do something. Ultimately, I hired you for your expertise so it’s OK for you to tell me when I should listen to you. In fact, sometimes I want you to tell me why I’m wrong. But just because I express an opinion doesn’t mean that ‘the client is always right’.
Like anyone, I have knee-jerk reactions to things. I’ve never seen a design, piece of copy or video that I didn’t have an opinion on. Distinguish between my opinions and my directives Then try and guide my feedback by asking more precise questions like, “does this effectively communicate your brief?” or “will this accomplish the goal of the campaign?” That approach will help ensure the creative direction is on-target and subsequent rounds of feedback will be much more productive.ģ. Instead, tell me why I should be excited about the direction you’ve taken. Such open-ended questions often veer into a discussion on the details of a concept, rather than whether the concept itself is right. When I’m first shown a piece of creative, a common mistake agencies make is to simply ask: “what do you think?”. Most unsuccessful projects I’ve been involved with failed because the initial creative direction was wrong. Get me excited about the direction not the details Not only did it show me that she was listening, but hearing how she interpreted the information often helped me correct or clarify important issues.Ģ. One effective tactic to counter this came from an account manager who would listen intently and then recap what I said.
Too often, they either interrupt in an attempt to complete your every sentence as if they already know what your business is about, or just effusively agree with every statement without questioning anything you say. There’s nothing worse than feeling your account team isn’t really listening. (Aside from consistently producing award-winning, revenue-raising campaigns on-time and under-budget, of course.) So here are my six tips for handling clients like me, shared from experience. After all, dealing with clients is their bread-and-butter so you’d assume that they’d know all the tricks for making them happy.įrom a client perspective, I believe there are some simple best practices that any agency can fairly easily do to ensure their engagements are successful. Yet, over the course of hundreds of projects with dozens of external agencies, I’m often surprised how few manage the client relationship very effectively. I am acutely aware that there have been times when I’ve ticked the bad client cliché box by insisting on impossible schedules, suddenly changing my mind or giving feedback like, “I don’t know what I want but I’ll know it when I see it”.Įarlier in my career, I worked on the agency side so I appreciate how difficult it can be to manage clients.
#Hightail express fails tv
I am one.Īs head of marketing for Hightail and a founder of several startups, I’ve spent most of my career partnering with agencies, filmmakers and designers to create all manner of creative content, from digital display ads to TV commercials. Demanding, deluded, irrational, ignorant, unreasonable, unrealistic and, above all, convinced of their primary importance in the schedules of your agency.
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