We hear it all the time, “None of our clients really seem thrilled with us. What’s wrong?”

keep ad agency clients happy

Is there a secret to keeping clients happy?

If this is your agency, the problem isn’t with your agency. And it’s not with your clients. The problem is probably what’s going on between your agency and your clients. It’s that sticky, gooey hidden area we loosely define as “chemistry.”

Chemistry has little to do with your niceness or likeability. But chemistry, or really the lack of it, drives clients away quicker than anything else but it never gets talked about in our industry.

Clients don’t know how to describe the difficulties they are feeling in terms that will seem clear to you so they talk of “resource allocations”, “responsiveness”, “skills more in step with where we want to go”, “creative that will take us to the next level”, “specific management commitments we felt we weren’t getting” and a lot more such double talk. The trade press quickly picks it up as gospel and more confusion is spread.

For an agency, chemistry is about managing client expectations. Basically the agency has failed to first understand the expectations of specific clients from a relationship point of view. And then the agency has not had the skills or versatility to move in that direction to match those expectations.

In situations like this, a strange event occurs. Clients basically feel you don’t like them and you have mentally left them. They internalize it all as you really aren’t interested in their business and they leave. And crazy as it may seem, they’re often shocked you get upset when you’re fired. But they quickly blame the firing on something concrete you will hopefully understand.

Keep Clients Happy Early Warning Trip Wires:

  1. The relationship contract
  2. The agency report card
  3. The client report card
  4. The quality assurance checkup
  5. Personal interview
  6. Calling before an invoice (the last impression)
  7. Calling after an invoice
  8. Monthly management review calls
  9. Regular social get-together with senior management
  10. The client/agency retreat

Here’s what you can do quickly to control any situation. In one day we can show your management team and your account handlers how to manage client expectations and reshape the agency’s relationships with clients. The program is called High Gear and it’s designed to create an agency environment where clients not only stick, but also are thrilled to be working with your agency.

If that’s a condition you want to create at your agency right away, get in touch with us immediately to discuss how High Gear can change your agency’s client retention destiny. Just give us a call at 412.897.9329 or send us an email [email protected]

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