Full Transparency: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In January of 2014, No Limit Agency* began soliciting grades from its clients. I put this strategy in place not because I love hearing what we are doing wrong, more so that I could figure out what we needed to do to get better. I want our clients to always be happy with our service, relationship, strategy and results. I want them singing their love for NLA from the rooftops. I also want to fix things before they get too far broken.

There are norms in client turnover in the agency world. It is almost expected. I wanted our agency to challenge this. We know that if we don’t take care of our client, someone else will. We need to hold this sacred as an agency, really listen to what our clients are saying and try to put solutions in place to preserve the relationship for as long as possible.

To gain insight into my mindset on transparency, there are two columns you should read: my column from February 6, 2014, and my April 23, 2015, column.

Our grading periods are quarterly. We ask for our contacts to grade us on a scale of 1-10 in strategy, service, relationship and results. During the last grading session, I learned some key lessons that I feel can be impactful to any business.

Relationships can be shaken — work to create consistency. When you think everything is going great, sometimes there are things you can be doing differently and better, especially based on the expectation of the client. And even when your results have climbed year over year, sometimes that’s not enough. This is why we evaluate other categories than results to try to gain insight into our overall performance. Don’t ever let your guard down toward improving in strategy, service and relationship as they are equally important to results. Know that the moods of a business can create memory loss from your last big win. Keep the wins consistent.

It’s not one size fits all. Some clients love grades. Some hate it. Some like them every six months. Some like them every quarter. We need to adapt our systems to best fit those we are seeking transparency from. This way it is mutually beneficial. The end goal of the grades is for us to find ways to improve — not to create frustration for those from whom we seek feedback.

Constantly set expectations. Over the last 3 years, our agency has fully evolved from a PR/social media agency to a full-service agency. We handle creative, Web development, media planning, marketing strategy, development strategy in house. When your services expand, sometimes the clients who engaged you for one service expect wins in the others. Absolutely find ways to give value ads, but ensure the relationship grows on both sides. Be transparent with expectations. Talk about them frequently to ensure everyone is always on the same page.

Think every month is your last month. When NLA looks at campaigns, we do so as if they are building blocks — not final products. This way, each campaign should build on the last. From a media standpoint, all of our clients are getting better press this year than they did in the past. Create landmarks and fight to surpass them each month and quarter. If you build the momentum, you own that momentum.

If your win falls in the woods, no one will hear it. One of the biggest things we are going to work on in Q3/Q4 is strengthening the transparency in the way we deliver our results back to our clients. Their perception will always be the reality. We need to make sure they are always equipped with the right data on what we have accomplished. They might not be the ones who think the results are dipping — it could be someone else in the leadership chain. If you equip them with basic language result data, they will be equipped with something they can forward. If you win and no one knows it, it isn’t a win.