What makes a good agency/client relationship?  What is the special sauce that breeds mutual respect, maximum collaboration and truly breakthrough creative advertising, design and PR campaigns?  Although we can’t be sure there is a formula that works every time, this is an age-old conversation that I would imagine is held at every decent agency in the world.

Ours is no different.  We just like to think we have given it serious thought, and maybe, just maybe, have figured out what works for us.  (Clients, feel free to chime in here…)

I was inspired by a blog entry by my friend and colleague David Landis, who owns a successful agency in San Francisco.  He and I had an interesting exchange about this concept after he posted his comments on LinkedIn, and I am glad to learn we think alike.

Indra and I realized long ago that if we have formed expectations about how we wish our client relationships to transpire, we need to say it — loudly and up front.  These go both ways — how we expect our clients to behave, and what they can expect from us.   So now, we list those expectations right in our proposals.  And we talk about them with new clients several times as we get started.  Periodically, we check in on these issues to make we are all on track.

What You Can Expect From Us

• Regular Communication — You’ll always know what’s going on and what to expect next. We will begin regular scheduled meetings with your team to keep everyone on track and up-to-date with current projects. We recommend these meetings be held weekly either by phone conference or in person.

• Honesty/Integrity — We say what we mean and mean what we say. You can count on us to give you our honest opinions and our best work in everything we do.  You’ll get an estimate (which must be authorized before work is started) on any new job, so there will be no surprises when you receive the final invoice.

• Commitment — Your goals and priorities become ours. We are driven by your success and will become an integral part of your team, always reaching for your next big milestone.

• Responsibility/Accountability — We do what we say we’ll do. We’ll do whatever it takes to “deliver the goods” on time and within budget. If deadlines need to be shifted, we’ll let you know ahead of time. When a project is complete, we’ll ask for feedback on its effectiveness, then assess strengths and weaknesses and make adjustments to our strategies and tactics as needed.

What We Expect From Clients

• Partnership — We’re on your side. We want to be true members of your team; included in all your thinking processes and marketing decisions. Our effectiveness depends on us having “the whole story”, so that we truly understand your needs and can work in your best interests.

• Commitment to Deadlines — It takes the whole team to make it happen. In our business, we live and die by deadlines, but it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We’ll let you know up front what we need from you to achieve our timelines, and then we’ll hold you to it as the project progresses and deadlines approach.

• Clearly Defined Goals – Hazy goals equal hazy results. Before we begin any new creative project, we’ll ask you to approve a creative brief. This document is our “road map” to effective advertising—defining our purpose, target audience, challenges, goals, tone and support. We believe that by thinking things through in this way at the outset, we create the greatest possibility for results that achieve your goals.

• Honest Feedback — We need to hear how we’re doing. Of course, we love to hear when we’re hitting home runs, but we also need to know when we’ve missed the mark. Your constructive criticism will allow us to adapt to your style and to tailor our efforts to better suit you.

How healthy — good communications at a marketing communications agency.

Imagine that.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T