One of the great challenges of the advertising agency business is working with clients whose workflow methods—and priorities—are often very different from our own. Many clients hand projects to their agencies and promptly forget about them, including forgetting about elements of the project the client needs to fulfill to ensure timely completion and meet key deadlines. This is why account service and project management were invented.
Smart agencies teach clients about workflow, involving them in the process by explaining and planning projects together so that clients achieve “ownership” of projects, rather than seeing marketing as the agency’s sole responsibility. Clients who own the process as well as the final result make stronger agency partners, with more respect for the numerous steps involved in agencies delivering effective campaigns, functional and customer-attracting websites and correct-in-every-detail brochures.
How do we “train” clients to be more conscious of their roles in achieving smooth workflow with their agencies? One Second Wind member came to us with a solution: the Client Task/Action Form.
This agency supplies clients with this form along with a detailed Client Contact Report. It notes the project name and description, prioritizes tasks, lists project elements the client is responsible for, important milestone dates/deadlines, and other key information to assist the client in fulfilling tasks and notifying appropriate agency personnel.
This form can be created as an Excel template or an interactive PDF, and built into the agency’s digital workflow management system. It can also be an email document, or simply a written document supplied to the client by the account executive, depending on the kind of workflow system an agency uses.
A smooth agency workflow helps to ensure efficiency, cutting costs to the client and increasing agency agility. It also allows the agency to spend more time on planning, creative and execution, as less time is wasted chasing after materials owed by clients.
Try using this, or a similar form, to expedite the client end of project workflow and develop a better partnership with clients. Workflow is the machinery of our trade; process is the grease.
