At Square 2 Marketing my role has evolved into more of a leader, mentor and visionary as opposed to day to day client service consultant. However, for years I ran engagements, oversaw multiple client engagements and then ran the entire inbound agency client services team. I know how challenging it is to work with clients. But over the years, I found the key to successful client engagements.
For an inbound marketing agency owner, and now for Square 2 Marketing’s consultants, the secret is the personal relationship we form with our clients. There are so many different styles for this relationship and I’ve probably tried them all. You can be professional, casual, advisory, coach or consultant. But what always worked best for me was to treat our clients the same way I treat a friend. Talk to them like I talk to my best friends and work through challenges, just like you would with a friend.
Here are a couple of styles for you to consider. The most important part of selecting a style has to do with your personality and the type of agency you’re trying to create. Not every style works for everyone. There are no right answers, pick the style that works best for you and your clients.
Coach
Having done my fair share of coaching on the baseball field and basketball court, I understand the differences between coaching and consulting but not everyone does and clients rarely do. In my opinion coaches tell you what to do, but can’t do it for you. I can teach a kid how to hit a ball, but I can’t step into the batter’s box for him.
If you’re going to be a coach to your clients then you have to set clear expectations that you’re going to tell them what to do, but the doing is all on them. You’re going to evaluate, review, and provide detailed guidance around how to generate leads, but in the end the hard work and heavy lifting is on them. If that’s clear from the outset, you’re good to go.
Consultant
Most of our agencies are consulting firms, which to me means we do it for them. Coaches tell you what to do, consultants do the work. Once you start doing the work for your clients the game changes a bit. Your clients are going to expect more from you than simple guidance and direction. The relationship between you and your client also changes but you need to have the foundation to work through challenging situations.
Not everything is going to work as designed. Not all your recommendations are going to pan out. Not all your projections will be realized and how you talk about those setbacks with your clients is key to maintaining a healthy and productive relationship. They need to trust you, no matter what the results. They need to like you, no matter what the results. The better you are at getting clients to know, like and trust you, the better your chances of getting them results.
Friend
There’s been plenty written about treating your clients like friends instead of customers or clients. Some professional services firms are uncomfortable with the idea, some agencies too. But what I’ve found is that this idea of talking to or treating clients like friends has a lot of value. Specifically, it helps me craft the tone I need to take (or my team needs to take) when working with clients.
You’re honest with your friends. You have your friends best interest at heart. You trust your friends. You can speak directly with your friends. If you have disagreements, you discuss it and then move on. All of these characteristics have a lot of value in a consulting relationship.
But the most important aspect of being friends with your clients comes when you run into trouble. It’s very likely that no matter what you do, you’ll hit a snag during the engagement. You need to be able to talk to your clients honestly, directly and with their best interests at the core of your commentary. Friends care about each other and you should help your clients see that you care about them, their companies and their results. It’s easier to work thought challenges when you have this friendly type of relationship.
Teacher
The teacher student relationship is unique. There are so many educational elements associated with the work we do with clients. We’re constantly educating our clients on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how it’s going to help them. It’s a core value for us. We want our clients to learn about inbound, how to execute it and how to use it to get results.
However, this doesn’t always allow the element of trust we need to be successful. I’m sure there are plenty of successful consultants who use the teacher student relationship to drive their engagements. Inbound marketing certainly sets up to be a fit for this approach.
The kind of relationship you have with your clients is not one or the other. It generally has elements of all these types of client relationships. You can be their friend and their coach. You can be the consummate professional and a consultant. You can be their teacher and their friend too.
Creating a constructive relationship with your inbound marketing agency clients is a big part of whether you can grow your agency or not. The relationships you form with your clients plays a big part in whether clients are going to be with you for years or just a few months. While not every client is going to be with you long-term, the stronger the relationship, the higher your renewal rate and the more referrals your clients will provide for you.
The key is finding a style that works for you and then one that works for your people as you grow out of the day to day client services role. While we prefer the “friend” mode, you might like more professional, or more educational, regardless when you find what works for you, you’ll start picking clients differently, adapting your work cycles accordingly and creating wonderful relationships with great people.
Start Today Tip – No matter the style, picking one and working it is key. Teaching your team, selecting your clients based on the style, understanding your agency’s mission, vision and core values are all inputs in deciding the type of relationship you want with your clients. This is the kind of thing you’re going to work on week over week, month over month, year over year. It’s something we talk about and work on every week and something we’ve been working on for years. Some team member are going to pick this up quickly, others a little longer and still some may never settle in. Stay consistent and be patient, the payoff is some very rewarding client relationships and what we call our Hall of Fame Clients because they realized their goals through their work with us.
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