Client Truths
Working in agency means working with clients, often the people squished in the middle between the C-Suite and the end users.
Working in agency means working with clients, often the people squished in the middle between the C-Suite and the end users.
I've worked with a lot of clients who are excited about a new technology initiative, but still need to get a large group of internal stakeholders on board. They've done the work to get the funding, but have not done the work to generate excitement. I've supported them in many ways, going far beyond the traditional scope of most of projects. Town halls, training sessions and materials, C-Level status reports, all of these things can be used to do the two most critical things in technology adoption: bring people along and get people excited. It's not really possible to have one without the other.
Sure, you can get people excited about new technology, but if you don't bring them along in the process, that excitement peters out quickly once they realize how much work is ahead. You can bring people along, but if you don't do it in the right way, they'll get bogged down in the details and lose any sense of what the future holds.
Client relationships are just like any other relationship: full of both conflict and happy moments that build a relationship. I've always treated my clients like I'd treat my co-workers, being honest and forthright about the road ahead. As an Account Director, I was the face of many projects that were over budget or exceeding an expected timeline. These moments often required that I step in to support the development team in a client conversation. I always directed my team to do the following: be honest, speak in a way they understand, own your mistakes, and have empathy. I've found that clients most often just want to be heard, and if they are, they can get through the hard stuff with you.
Failure is scary! In working with clients over the years, I've seen a lot of failure. Failure to pick the right technology, failure to communicate proactively, failure to manage budgets appropriately, failure to anticipate problems, there are so many places an initiative can fail. Whether the failure was on my side, as the agency, or on the client side, it really didn't matter. I treat my clients like part of my team. When one of us fails, we all fail and the solution requires us all to work together. There's no blame; there's only telling the truth about what happened, empathizing and offering apology where needed, and offering solutions to make our way forward. No one wants to be told, "Sorry, but this failed." They want to be told, "Sorry, this failed, here's how to fix it and here's how we'll do better."
The majority of my client stakeholders have been stuck in the middle: the cream in the Oreo, the peanut butter in the sandwich, the ricotta in the lasagna. They have end-users or internal business users on one side of them and the C-Suite on the other. They have to make decisions that make both of those groups happy and rarely is everyone happy at one time. No matter the size or composition of the organization, this dynamic exists almost everywhere.
It's important to think critically about how to support this client: what will make them look good? What will help them get that next promotion or finally give them the win? Support looks different depending on the person and the organization, but it almost always involves a lot of understanding and education. Ensuring that rationales for decisions are clear, communication is frequent, and that clear progress to the objectives are being made is critical. Clients are not only the people who hire us, but they're also our greatest champion and supporting them accordingly is paramount to maintaining a great client relationship.