Insights

“Everything feels like a battle.”

Many of my agency clients are finding their clients increasingly challenging particularly putting pressure on pricing, scope and deadlines.

It reminds me about how getting the fundamentals right continues to be so important for the success of your agency and your agency career.

Here’s some of the fundamentals I see as vital for agencies….. many are easier said than done.

The importance of having access to the decision maker and then staying connected to the decision maker. Staying in touch is so important to understand their priorities.

Having a peer-to-peer trusted advisor relationship rather than a transactional buyer-supplier relationship.

Knowing how to have a win-win partnership with clients that’s collaborative.

Having a clear value proposition differentiating your agency from competitors by being compelling and persuasive.

Understanding what value really means to the client and what success looks like. Being able to quantify your agency’s impact on the client’s business.

Being able to see into the future and round the next few bends to anticipate the client’s future needs especially in a changing and challenging market. The future seems less predictable than ever.

The ability to have two-way business conversations and being able to stand your ground when clients are being unreasonable. Able to shift the conversation from cost to value.

Having real conversations rather than hiding behind emails. Not sending proposals but presenting proposals.

Being able to ask for more budget when necessary or when it’s in the best interest of the client long-term to achieve their business goals.

Understanding how to say no to unreasonable requests and how to handle scope-creep and avoid over-service.

The importance of being able to handle unreasonable clients with insufficient budgets and unrealistic deadlines and unreasonable expectations.

Helping clients be more innovative and take risks rather than always going for the safe option.

Being able to increase the agency’s prices, fees and rates at minimum by inflation and on a regular basis.

Knowing how to handle procurement who seem to have sharpened their pencils yet again.

Is it scary doing the fundamentals? Yes.

Is it hard? Yes, but it beats the alternative.