Lead the work

When working with clients it’s all to easy to slide into a subservient position.

But serving the clients wants, jumping and changing to every new request, doesn’t actually serve the clients needs.

Successful, sustainable agency-client relationships result when we use our knowledge and experience to lead on the work.

That doesn’t mean going too far the other way — marching in and acting all superior to the client, “stand back everyone, the experts are here” — because that obviously leads to problems too.

What it means is creating a relationship of equals, with mutual respect, who collaborate by each contributing their expertise.

The client knows their market, their staff, their products/services, and their business best.

The agency knows the work to be done, and the way to do it, best.

So the agency needs to lead on the work.

Think of it like being a surgeon. If you had a health problem diagnosed which needed surgery, who would you want to take the lead on the work? You as the client, or the surgeon as the expert?

You’d want the surgeon to analyse the available information, ask you smart questions, and then make their recommendation about how to proceed. You can then ask any questions about this recommendation and other options, and ask for some modifications to the plan — but essentially your decision boils down to proceeding with this expert with that plan, or finding a different expert, or not proceeding. You don’t go micromanaging the surgeon’s every cut and scrape.

So the surgeon leads on the work.

And your agency needs to lead on the work you take on.

You research and analyse to reveal the needs of the client (and their customers), and you develop the recommendation. You may need to educate them on some areas of the work. You then design the implementation plan, and steer the client through it.

That is the way to delivery the best result for the client, and build a valuable and lasting relationship based on trust and respect.