To be fully successful in the agency business, you must have an attuned ear. It sounds simple. It isn't. There are several distinct modes of listening that agency people need to employ, both with and on behalf of their clients.
- There is the attuned ear needed to hear the right message as it is stated in an ad, a radio spot, a TV commercial, or any other media. This is especially true today, when so much of the messaging landscape is digital and social. Social media in particular puts forth content that is immediate and largely unedited, without the careful review usually applied when a marketing message is originated by the marketer. Clients pay agencies to have attuned ears in these cases. That job has gotten harder, not easier.
- There is the attuned ear needed to listen very carefully to what clients say as they transfer projects, programs and other new initiatives to the agency's account person. Many times, clients don't speak clearly or succinctly. And in agencies, listening has become almost a myth, where people are prone not to listen as carefully as they should, offering weak input which, in turn, almost always results in weak work. Clients speak in esoteric ways. They say they need THIS, but really they need THAT, and a few other things as well. The sales promotion project they put forth to increase their company's fourth-quarter volume is really a plea for your agency to come back with a full and equitable program that really meets their needs. Sure, they gripe about costs and insist on quick turnaround, but successful marketing is always worth the price.
- Maybe more importantly, you need an attuned ear each time you are in front of a client just sort of chewing the fat. Clients can conversationally speak in tongues, non-religiously, that is. During long diatribes about what they like, what they hate, who they hate, what is really wrong with the company and how they enjoyed their last meal at Chez de la Food Fancée, they are coding the conversation with ideas that you need to hear and respond to. One account service person used to take notes and sort through these conversations after returning from client calls. They would then take these coded ideas and put them together into a series of project or program suggestions that would invariably lead to new business for the agency. Some of these initiatives were solely the result of a sharp-eared agency person listening carefully to what the client had to say and then responding in kind.
- Finally, there is the attuned ear you need when talking to people in the client's industry: editors, anyone in the distribution channel, competitors, employees, former employees. These folks always have something valuable to say, useful in furthering your relationship with your clients or prospects. To speak the language they speak, use their terminology and even gripe about the same things, puts you and your agency in line for a more comfortable relationship. Along with more chances to bring new projects and opportunities to the agency.
So, agency owners and account service people, keep your ears attuned to the talk, chatter and even to the subterranean rumblings that happen all around as you service an account. Having an attuned ear will help you pick up on every frequency and generate some new business out of them.
One more thing worth noting. AI can transcribe a client meeting. It can summarize a call, flag action items and generate a follow-up email before you've left the parking lot. What it cannot do is hear what wasn't said. It cannot read the hesitation before the answer, the frustration behind the budget objection, or the opportunity buried inside a complaint about a competitor. That is still entirely human work. In 2026, the attuned ear is not just good practice. It is a genuine competitive advantage.
Can you hear us now?
