Sean Cheyney wrote an article called 6 Reason Agencies Get Canned sometime in January.  Unfortunately, this article is just now getting around to me (sometime you are on top of things and sometime you aren’t).  I love this article! It gives 6 REALLY good reasons why agencies get canned, with 6 tips to follow ALWAYS if you are an agency.  I especially loved Sinkhole number 1, 2, 4, and 6.  The information was so helpful that I instantly quite working on a SOW (Scope of Work), and I made sure that I clarified anything I once took for granted as just “common language.”   In full disclosure, I have worked with and met Sean at AccuQuote via a search agency for about a minute.  I was brought on the team for some SEO Analytics consulting; I doubt I made a lasting impression.  He is a great guy who has his digital marketing act together.

However, his article also got me thinking about the mistakes clients often make in the relationship with their Agency.  While I admit that Agencies do stupid things to get fired (like sinkholes 1 through 6), a relationship takes 2.  Often a relationship ends not because the agency did something wrong as much as it didn’t help a client fully do something right.  Since I only worked with Sean for a minute and he does have his digital marketing act together, I’m going to say up front that he probably DID NOT make these mistakes.   However, not every marketer is Sean.  Relationships take 2 and it’s up to the agency to make sure that a client doesn’t make these mistakes.

Nothing but the fact…but please give us ALL the facts

It doesn’t matter if it is dealing with contracts, meeting times, or what’s for lunch, communication is important.  In some form, Sean mentions it in 5 of his 6 sinkholes.  Often clients tell agencies what they think is important.  They often include thoughts that aren’t supported by data, goals with no explanation of why, or opinions of work that are based out of niceness or political gain.

Agencies work better if they know EVERYTHING about your business.  We don’t care about what you think you know, but we want to know everything you know.  Data trumps intuition, and our job is to prove your theories right or wrong.   Basically, we can both think the sky is blue, but if data says that a purple sky converts better then the sky needs to start looking a little purpler.  So the more data you through at us the better we can server you.

Knowledge doesn’t stop at data.  No, it also needs to include your organization as a whole.  The more we know about your profitably the more we are able to push the envelope.  A $60 Cost per Lead is just a number if we don’t understand the reason behind why that is the target…even if it is just because you want to see if we can hit it.  The more we know about your internal politics the quicker we can find a way to arm you with reasons to promote a project…or at least an alternative solution that will work within your business culture.  And of course, the more transparent you and your organization are about how view us and our work, the quicker we can make changes to improve it.

Give us everything even if you think it is to remedial or not relevant.  So many problems can be resolved by simply just letting us, the agency, in to understand.

Setting the Right Goals is Key:

Setting accomplishable goals is a skill few people develop an expertise.  Yet, it is one of the most important skills in business.  Every business wants to make money.  That is given, so that is not a goal.  Growing Revenue by 30% Year over Year is a goal.  Acquiring new customers at a cheaper rate is not a goal, but acquiring 90 new customers by reducing our cost by 10% is a goal.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  Often the first comment out of a client’s mouth is, “Our main goal is to acquire more customers, increase lifetime value of a customer, and reduce cost.”  Well, I believe that is the goal of every company.  Not many business say, “I don’t want more customers nor do I want more money out of the ones I have.  Oh, and I would actually like to spend more money in the process.”

Lance once told me that we can get whatever goal a client wants, as long as they don’t care about volume.  You want to sell a Ferrari at a $1.00 per lead?  We can get it…if you don’t mind 1 lead in 3 years. Your business has goals.  You know what profitability level you need to be to survive.  You know how much you want to cut from your operating expense.  Oh, and I’m sure you have people planning on up selling present customers on something.  Set goals for your business, and be as transparent with those goals as possible.  Once people are on the same page, you will be surprised how quickly goals are reached.

Buying the Cow Doesn’t Mean Much if You Don’t Use The Milk:

My father-in-law always says that the 2 pieces of advice your should always take is from your lawyer and your doctor.  You paid a lot to get advice from someone who spent a lot to give advice; it’s not smart to ignore it.  It’s kind of the same way when consulting a search agency.  No, not every recommendation is going to be feasible.  We get that.  However, often there are small recommendations with big impact that just go by the waste side.  Reports aren’t worth anything, no matter how much you paid, if you don’t take action.

Ok, so you just received a tech audit saying that your very pretty and interactive site is completely wrong for search.  You know you can’t tell your higher ups that you have to spend another couple hundred grand and countless IT resources to design a new site.  Ok, tell the agency that.  Better yet, invite the agency to sit down with your web development team as have a 2 hour talk about why things are that way and why things can’t change.  It’s up to the agency to help you find the ways around certain hurtles; it’s up to them to help YOU implement.  Most good search agencies will help you find a work around.

On the flip side, doctors sometimes suggest open heart surgery.  As much as it sucks, sometimes you have to follow the recommendation if you want to survive.   Agencies are the same way with recommendations.  We will take into account as much as we can, but sometimes we really do mean that if you want your digital marketing strategy to survive then you have to update that website which was built in 1995.  Sometimes open heart surgery is the only way to go. 

Agencies are Not Kids, Thieves, or Slaves:

Agencies are not kids, thieves, or slaves…so don’t treat them as such.  A good client will understand that a good agency can take some abuse.  If you don’t like the work or the strategy, speak up.  A good agency will alter paths or change what it’s doing if you say, “I don’t like this.”   Don’t be afraid to hurt our feelings.  We will be more devastated if you tell us you are firing us than if you don’t like the way a project turned out.  If you don’t tell us what you are feeling, we can’t help.

Good agencies are not thieves and will give money back if we don’t use it…or feel we can’t use it effectively.  Please look over the billing to make sure everything is correct.  By all means, make sure the contract is legit.   After that, have some faith in the plans we present.  If they are not on strategy then speak up (see paragraph above).  However, a good agency will put together a plan to grow your business…not spate you from your money.  When looking at a plan, look at it in that way.  This is the best plan they came up with, acceptable or not?  If it is, then go forward and prosper.  If not, tell them to go back to the drawing board and do it again.   Not every plan will be a home run, and agencies know that.  But give them the guidance under the assumption that what they push forward is what they feel is the best for you.  It wasn’t some snake oil to get more money out of you.  Resolution Media will happily go back to the drawing board because it always tries to put the best plan forward given YOUR goals… and they are not afraid to go back to a drawing board if they didn’t get something right (yes, that was a plug for my parent agency…but also a truthful fact about the ethics of RM).

Also, agencies are not your personal slave.  While we don’t mind doing you a couple favors, we have work to do for you.  We try to maximize our hours that we spend on you to your advantage…by executing a strategically built plan that is agreed upon by both parties.  Trying to boss your agency around so you think you have them under control actually works in your detriment.  We are trying to grow your business (our business grows only if yours grows).   You don’t have to crack the whip to get great work out of a good agency…all you have to do is communicate.

Technorati Tags: client relationships, SEO, Strategy

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