Over the past few years, I have asked over one hundred marketing heads, CMOs, CEOs, and various business leaders one very simple question: Did you ever train on how to be an effective client for an agency or services partner? I chose this question because it provided no space to hide. This question was purposely worded not to judge their intention (i.e., Do you care about your agency and consultancy partners?), but to honestly ask them just that. The question is also powerful because it provides a lot of room for introspection.
Just about every colleague replied, after a brief pause, some version of ”nope, I did not.” After contemplating my question, sometimes staring awkwardly into space, similar versions of these three answers kept getting repeated.
First, they were never mandated to be great at managing agencies.
In other words, regarding their own goals or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), not once had their boss evaluated them on how they handled their agency relationships. If the old adage is true that “people respect what you inspect,” there was little to no inspection in this area. Therefore, there was little to no incentive to improve if their manager was not watching or expecting them to focus on nurturing these relationships.
Second, they never were trained in how to be great at the art and science of managing an agency.
Literally, not a single person in over a hundred interviews shared that there was dedicated training regarding how to manage this sort of relationship investment. Think about how profound that is for a second. The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies have media or creative or consulting agencies with annual retainers that can be as large as $50 million per year in fees, with as much as $1 billion in media investment under management, yet leaders are asked to sort of “wing it” in the management and stewardship of that investment. I would challenge you to think of an equivalent.
Third, which was the most honest and telling answer, they felt there were “zero repercussions to not being great.”
The C-Suite in certain situations can be short-sighted with agency dynamics because it is easier to fire an agency than deal with their routines and processes that might be broken or need significant improvement. It’s easier to hire a new agency than address their product issues. In short, not being great at managing the relationship with your agency partner was not viewed as a failure in the hallways of most companies, even if and when you actually fail your agency. Instead, it gets spun as though the agency is always to blame, and so, you run yet another RFP.
I hope you will consider buying this book, “You Get The Agency You Deserve.” If however, your goal is instead to learn how to be a better client partner, than please consider taking a a read of “The Great Client Partner” which teaches how to grow your soft skills related to best-in-class client management.
How To Be A Great Client 