How to improve client and agency relationships

We are nothing without our clients. The statement should be painfully obvious in a service industry that needs collaboration like we need oxygen. And yet many agency folks try to produce great work by treating their clients like sugardaddies instead of building a solid relationship with a partner.

The elements needed to build strong work relationships are the very same as any romantic relationship. The only difference is that one can birth beautiful work and the other can lead to working through a beautiful birth. Come to think of it - there are no differences. Let’s move on.

Early & Often

The best hookups benefit from high-value interactions more often at the start. It’s really just like dating. If both parties are interested, they’ll see each other more frequently. There’s a spark, sure, but there is also something much more valuable being built, trust and empathy.

Accessibility

Accessibility is huge when building a relationship. You need to know your partner will answer the call. This is the equivalent of an unprompted, “You up?” from your client. But it’s not what you think. Instead of an unexpected booty call something else is keeping them up at night. This might manifest itself as an odd-houred email or early-morning text but what it’s really saying is, “Something’s bugging me and I want to be heard out.”

This could be sleepless rambling but it also could be the start of a new opportunity for the brand. Either way, your client needs to be heard. And how you respond is critical.

Responsiveness

 In the dating world, a flirty overture or scornful remark might cross the wires of a young romantic - just like an eager agency team member. Your first response should not be action or solution. Instead, your first response should be a prompt, “Tell me more.” and then shut up.

Initially, your client may ask for a new video or website - and those may be the answers to their brand problem - but it may not be the only answer. In the early stages of a work relationship, roughly 60 to 70% of the time your response must be active listening. 

Why? For two reasons. 

 First, a few core insights for your creative brief may be in the honest out-pouring from your client. Hearing this in IRL is big too because tone can do soooo much to convey importance of one element over another. 

Secondly, and this is more reflective of how we do things at Here Be Monsters, the creative team will ask lots of strange questions; odd things that would never be presented on a brief. We encourage everyone to ‘ask why’ throughout our process. As we shoot for the moon with our ideas, the answer to ‘why’ will firmly ground our work in reality. Something true. Just like any great romantic or work relationship.

Emotional Engagement

 The more emotionally engaged agency and client partners are with each other, the stronger their bond. You’ll notice we say emotionally engaged. Not contractually committed or financially engaged but emotionally so.

 A strong bond leads to strong work. Ultimately, that’s what both a client and an agency want as a result of their relationship; work that doesn’t just break through the clutter, it scatters the clutter off into the corners seething with jealousy of your kick-ass brand and power-couple campaigns. 

 The point is, just like any romantic relationship, a strong work relationship is reciprocal in nature. Thoughts and feelings are mutual. Both parties have been on the journey together and avoided any ‘us vs them’ moments or attempts at a ‘big reveal’ presentation that takes half the room by surprise.

Our best work comes from our best relationships

 If you want to build something from nothing you’ve got to work together. A couple lucky enough to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary has a lifetime of ‘best work’ to prove the success of their relationship.

Likewise, when Here Be Monsters have danced with the right partners, we’ve created work that transcends the contract or project. It becomes a collaborative movement, ready to upstage the brands that choose to go it alone. 

We are nothing without our clients, and we hope to work so well with them that the feeling is mutual.