Relationships are all about trust. In advertising, the agency-client relationship is no different. But here's a tough lesson that I learnt about trust - it's not given blindly. Just because you trust freely, doesn't mean that it is automatically reciprocated.
Real trust is earned. It's built slowly over time. Through lots of small interactions.
THE FOUNDATION
When a client works chooses to work with you, there is a base level of trust that your agency will deliver what was promised. They expect three things:
You understand their business challenge
You will deliver what you said you would deliver
You will communicate early and often if things fuck up
That's it. That's all. It's pretty straightforward. At a base level that's what you have to do. Listen. Stick to your word. And be open and honest if something goes wrong.
Those are the table stakes. But I've found that sustained business relationships aren't built by contracts. They're created when a client opens up. Only then can you begin to really add value and produce more creative work.
And the key to that is building real trust. It's not a difficult process. But from my experience, it is really hard work. Over the past decade, I've found that there are seven basic steps that help guide the way.
SEVEN STEPS
1. Start With Their Challenge
The first stage of building trust with the client is understanding what they need. This is not the same as what they are looking for. Often clients come to the table looking for a specific solution. They want a TV campaign. An e-commerce website. A launch event.
The challenge is that the client's process to come to a specific solution is biased. It's biased by a client's knowledge (or lack thereof) of the options out there. It's biased by their experience with previous agencies. It's biased by what their kid told them.
That's why I like starting with the business challenge. It let's me show them that I understand them. Drill down to what they want to achieve - brand awareness, selling online, generating buzz with influencers. Then you can recap it for them, early and often. The opportunity to build trust is by demonstrating empathy for their position.
2. Define To The Scope & Expectations
The majority of problems in relationships arise from a misalignment of expectations - one person expects the other person to do something ... the other person has no idea. It doesn't get done and everyone is pissed off. I've had this happen with legal approvals for creative. I've had this happen with taking out the recycling. It happens. And it sucks.
Setting time to define the scope establishes the baseline expectations of not only what will be delivered, but also when and how. By collaborating to define both the deliverables and the implementation, you are setting up clear expectations that form the basis of your business relationship.
This establishes the element of accountability. You now have a mutually agreed upon benchmark to see if both parties are meeting or falling short of the agreement.
3. Set Out A Plan Of Attack
After you've clearly defined expectations with the scope, you need to build confidence that you will deliver. This is done by communicating a very clear plan of attack. It's basic project management that allows you to build trust with your client that you're running the project well.
Build in clear dates for check-ins for each phase of the project. Set expectations of what will be reviewed at each meeting. Articulate and agree to what will happen if there need to be flexibility and adjustments in the timing.
4. Do The Little Things Well
Doing the little things well builds trust in your ability to execute. Small things like the composition of your communication, attention to detail and delivering on time go a long way. At the same time, sloppiness in any of those areas can severely damage to a client's perception of your ability to deliver.
The biggest lesson that I learnt here was this - do not just put your head down and do the work. If you do that, clients will think that you're doing nothing. You need to be proactive in your communication and create lots of small touch points that build the client's trust incrementally over time.
5. Deliver What You Promised
This one is basic. Deliver what you promised. It may seem silly to reiterate such a straightforward premise, but you would be surprised the amount of times that I've seen agencies not live up to their end of the bargain. Missed launch dates, products that have 50% of the functionality or incomplete campaigns.
If you're unsure of whether or not you can deliver something, do not commit to it in Step 2. Deliver 100% of what you promised. Every time.
6. Communicate Early & Often If Things Fuck Up
Things go wrong. Building creative requires management of a lot of moving pieces, tight timing and different people. Like riding a motorcycle, it's not a question of if you're going to crash, but when. And a crisis is an amazing opportunity to build trust.
The cardinal rule is that you should always be the one informing the client of the problem, not the other way around. The worst situations that I've experienced have always been when a client identifies the problem first - it made us look like we didn't know our shit and weren't paying attention. Nothing destroys trust quicker than that.
My recommendation is to create an early warning system so that issues get escalated quickly. Even if it's just a quick email or text that says "We noticed that this is an issue. We are on it. More details to follow as we come up with solutions." Having them know that you are on it goes a long way.
Once you're in the crisis, make sure that you go to the client with a plan, multiple check-ins and a story that they are able to sell up the chain. Their key concern is how they are going to communicate the story internally - make sure to get ahead of it and provide them with the right narrative of how we got here and how it's getting fixed. Nothing builds trust better than handling a crisis well. It shows that you have their back in good times and bad.
7. Celebrate The Project
One thing film production companies do well is the wrap party - they take time at the end of a project to celebrate the hard work, collaboration and end result of a tough creative process. It could be small, or large, but taking the time to celebrate the completion of a project is important for your client relationships.
This time allows you to celebrate the hard work and continue to build a personal relationship with your clients to further trust. As Maya Angelou said, people will forget what you said or did, but they will remember how you made them feel. Make them feel that they are part of the team.
RINSE & REPEAT
Throughout my career, I've broken trust with a handful of clients. It's taken over a decade of trial and error, coaching and improvement to understand where those breakdowns happen and how to avoid them. At first I was so entitled that I thought that everyone deserves trust immediately - because that's how I work. And I was wrong. Clients didn't have to automatically trust a 23 year old kid who barely knows their business.
Trust isn't built on cold hard facts. It's fostered through how you make someone feel. And it isn't built through one project or one action. It's done over time. Over the small things and the big things. You have to pay attention and deliver on every interaction that you have with your client. And then rinse and repeat.
- Christian