Blog
Rod Petrie - Straight Talk February 9th, 2010
As our first guest blogger of 2010, Rod Petrie – Business coach & founding partner of Design Bridge – shares a few thoughts on what lies at the heart of a successful agency…
1. Know their offer
Successful agencies make sure that their clients understand that they have a clearly defined offer with differentiated products. They are clear about what they stand for so they stand out from the crowd and are the agency of choice or at least on your roster.
2. Are business focussed
Successful agencies know their market, style and value. They are in business because of their outstanding creativity and the commercial success of their work. Along the way they can pick up the odd award or two and I have never met a client who wouldn’t like a piece of silverware somewhere in their office.
3. Create value for clients
Successful agencies cut through the issues and focus on priorities that deliver value over the short, medium and long term for their clients? They develop business relationships with their client companies up and above individual personal relationships.
4. Are confident not arrogant
Successful agencies understand the fine line between confidence and arrogance. As a client who are you more likely to trust, an agency who makes over the top claims and boasts or an agency who can prove that they can successfully execute the task in hand?
5. Are professional
Successful agencies have integrity and a professionalism about them at all times. Trust might not be the reason why you appointed them but you can bet it will be the reason why you take the business somewhere else.
6. Have disciplined business structures
Successful agencies recognize that people and projects can be difficult to manage at the best of times. They have in-bedded within their culture, best practice policies and procedures that create greater rigor and structure that help to do away with inaccurate work and that last-minute solution culture.
7. Brainpower
Successful agencies know it is all about managing the creative and the logic in equal proportion. They know everyone involved should be adding value and need to be fully integrated in the process from briefing through to the end result, if a high quality, consistent product is to be achieved. Successful agencies make sure that their key people are involved or at least up to speed with events on your business and that you don’t just see them at Christmas.
8. People first
Successful agencies have at the very heart of its people practices the commitment to invest in the skills and training of its most valuable asset – its people. As a client you will soon detect whether the agency you are working with is sending out a global message of the consistent desire to improve quality across the board by the calibre of the work and stature of the people you are working with.
9. Education
Successful agencies are aware that as a client you may have an intuitive understanding of what they do but you don’t always understand the complexity involved. Successful agencies are not afraid to take their clients through their process so they understand what it takes to produce great and profitable ideas.
10. Getting a Yes
Successful agencies establish the rules of engagement from the start and are always working towards getting to a YES. They will only use the NO word if standards and morale are being effected or if you the client are using them in a subservient manner and not as a real service provider that will help both you and your brand get you to the next level.
Rod Petrie – www.rodpetrie.com
