We were just with a peer group, and one of our conversations was around how often we should be taking new ideas to clients. How often should we be trying to show them that we’re thinking about them? And again, let’s reframe the word “sell” so that we’re not trying to sell them something they don’t need. We’re not trying to sell them something to benefit us, but we are trying to help them by having ideas that will help them hit their KPIs and grow their business. And how often should we do that in a way that doesn’t feel like we’re always putting our hand in their pocket?

Well, when we look back at the Agency Edge research over the last several years, particularly the year when we specifically said to clients: How, when, and where do you give your agencies more budget? One of the facts that we talked about yesterday, which was a great reminder to everybody, is that clients expect, and I want to underline the word expect.

Clients expect us to bring them new ideas consistently—not once a year, not in a big dog and pony show, but on a regular basis. So that’s why Danyel and I wrote the new workshop, Growing Your Existing Clients, which we’re teaching again in September. In that workshop, we identified a whole bunch of places where you should talk to your clients about new ideas.

So here’s your homework for today. I want you to go back, talk to your account service team, and document how often you present new ideas to your clients. I’m going to bet it is not as often as it should be. Remember, clients expect us to consistently deliver new ideas to them.

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Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Bozeman, Montana. We were just with a peer group, and one of the conversations we were having was around how often should we be taking new ideas to clients? How often should we be trying to show them that we're thinking about them? And again, let's reframe the word “sell” to we're not trying to sell them something they don't need. We're not trying to sell them something to benefit us, but we are trying to help them by having ideas that will help them hit their KPIs, grow their business. And how often should we do that in a way that doesn't feel like we're always putting our hand in their pocket?
Well, when we look back at the Agency Edge research over the last several years, but particularly the year where we specifically said to clients: how, when and where do you give your agencies more budget? One of the facts that we talked about yesterday was, which was a great reminder to everybody, is that clients expect and I want to underline the word expect. Clients expect us to be bringing them new ideas on a consistent basis. Consistent basis. Not once a year, not in a big dog and pony show, but on a regular basis. So that's why Danyel and I wrote the new workshop –Growing Your Existing Clients – which we're teaching again in September. But in that workshop, we identify a whole bunch of places where you should be talking to your clients about new ideas.
So here's your homework for today. I want you to go back, and I want you to talk to your account service team, and I want you to document how often are you putting new ideas in front of your clients. And I'm going to bet it is not as often as it should be. Because, remember, clients expect us to consistently deliver new ideas to them. So give that some thought. All right?
We'll see you next week.

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