An agency principal lamented to me about her clients, saying, “It seems as if we’ve been in a great client drought for the past few years. Each of our clients is tough to work with in their own way. And frankly, I don’t really like most of them personally.
“In the old days, I really liked many of our clients. I was their friend as well as their agency partner. We went out together, shared times, even socialized with our families. Today, I hardly even go to lunch. Everyone seems so busy, so stern, so uninteresting.”
Does this sound familiar to you? I hear many agency people talk about how clients have changed over the past ten years. What’s a good agency to do—especially since so many of you depend upon troublesome clients for your living and meeting your weekly payroll?
The purpose of the article is to ask you to consider something that you may not have considered in the past as you were growing your agency.
I would like you to consider doing business only with clients who share the same values as you and your agency.
What do I mean by that? It’s pretty simple.
If you can determine what your values are, then you should be able to match those with the assumed values of your clients. One agency owner has tried to clarify this by holding a session with his agency employees to determine their agency’s values; I’ve listed their values below:
- Honesty
- Accountability
- Respect for self
- Respect for others
- Excellence
Discovering Their Values
How do you know if potential (and even existing) clients share your values? One way to determine this is to create a grading report listing your values and apply a 1-5 rating to each value. As you contact prospective clients, or as you hear about them in the market, in addition to looking at their ad budgets and other criteria, look at their perceived values as well. I think you will be surprised at what you see. Many of your potential clients don’t come close to sharing your agency’s value systems.
This brings into focus the importance of a high-quality, well-thought-out new business effort in your agency. The truth is, new clients are hard to find in today’s very competitive advertising market. It is easy to look at the bottom line, ignore the obvious personality clashes, and think to yourself, “We have great interpersonal skills. There’s got to be a way we can work with this client.” But beware such optimism—you may find yourself working with a client who turns out to be Darth Vader.
Or to put it another way, sit down for a moment and think of how great your relationship was when you just happened to find a client who did share your values. Many of us remember those relationships fondly. I would like to see this article be the catalyst for you to restart your agency life by only dealing with clients who are not from “the dark side.” Remember the words of Yoda: “Hard to see the dark side is.” But learn to look for it, and practice will make the values alignment process easier.
Look for like-minded clients and pursue them with vigor. Don’t pursue clients who do not exhibit at least a good number of the values you, and your agency staff, hold to be most important. Channel your inner Obi-Wan and may the Force guide you to stronger, more compatible client relationships.
