The Lost Art Of Working With Agencies

Believe it or not, managing or working with partners is a skill. A skill that very few people are trained in so typically they learn best or worst practice either organically or from their bosses. 

But like any kind of paid transaction for services, you are entering into a partnership designed to deliver against pre-agreed objectives leading hopefully to success on both ends and the key to success here is transparency, clear communication, trust and respect. 

Here are my 5 tips for getting the best out of your agency relationship:

1. Set your agency up for success, not failure

It's incredible to me how many campaigns are begun under the premise of "we don't need to tell you what to do, show us what you can do". That is not partnership. Partnership is understanding what each party requires to make every campaign the very best it can be. If you hired a builder to renovate your house, you wouldn't remove the brief, any direction and a budget before letting them go to town on your property!

2. Time spent on the brief is an investment in success and potentially a preventative cost saving

Central to any successful working relationship are the rules of engagement. Is it clear what you need? Can it be delivered in the timeframe you expect? Is your budget realistic? A brief needs to be specific, not a list of questions or challenges. A brief needs to know its audience, not a broad TV buying segment. And a brief needs to specify what success looks like. This is the number one area where clients fail (in setting the brief) and agencies fail (in challenging it). Ultimately if the agency gets it wrong this has an opportunity cost of time or even the real cost of fixing the problem

3. Leave politics, ego or personal opinion at the door

At the end of the day, success looks good on everyone. Whether politically you chose the agency, or whether you feel a degree of  superiority over agencies, getting the best out of your agency will ultimately make you look better and more critically will deliver better results for your product. No-one should feel superior because they are holding the purse strings and if you are working with agencies you have already bought into the fact you need help. Every relationship is built on trust and respect. Protect your agencies from the politics, they shouldn't have to navigate that - let them focus on the brief and delivery of outstanding work

4. Budget Transparency isn't a bad thing

Client "tell us how much that will cost"Agency "it's hard to say because the brief isn't specific". Tell us how much you have and we will tell you what that can buy you"

We are seeing more and more of this chicken and egg scenario. And these conversations are built around non specific briefing and a negotiation on cost before you've even been successful in the pitch. Think value before cost. And don't always think that agencies are trying to rip you off. Few agencies are driven by making the most amount of profit possible. They are driven by delivering the best possible work and in order to do that they need the best possible people. If my salary bill is in the millions, how can I invest in new talent or development of existing talent if you only want to pay hundreds? Have the conversation with the agency - transparency is essential in building trust and loyalty

5. Feedback is always good even when it's bad!

We had one client whose only feedback on some social creative was "BORING REJECTED". This by the way came off a brief that was "we know very little about this project so do what you can". Agencies cannot thrive without direction. Setting up agencies to fail is frankly a waste of time and money and it is in no-ones best interests. Invest time in guidance and direction and the results will be thrilling not boring. Conversely, positive feedback tells your agency what you like and how to repeat success in the future.