Is she talking to me? I think she is talking to me.
Do you respond in a timely manner when my team emails you? If we need approval on something, do you make us follow up 5 times? Have you approved your ad budget but keep forgetting to give us your credit card number after we ask several times?
Ok, yeah. I’m probably talking about you then. (Unless you are one of my clients, then you are perfect angels and Iloveyousomuch.)
One of the biggest ROI killers isn’t your agency. It’s the unresponsive client.
Why won’t you talk to us?
Look, we just want to help. I know that things pop up and stuff gets crazy, but you are investing in your brand and we are trying to deliver the best product possible. If we reach out with a question or because we need something, it’s not for funsies. We really do need it in order to do the best possible job for you. We aren’t asking for your astrological sign here (although you can tell us – I’m a Sagittarius). We want to make sure our efforts are aligned with your current goals. We want to uncover potential verticals and markets. If you recently expanded or started offering a new service we need to know because it just helps us better target your marketing efforts.
We don’t ignore you.
Can you imagine if Kimberly or Mary didn’t reply to you within 24 hours? That would suck. You are paying a lot of money here! And we get that. We would never leave you hanging. Transparency is what sets Rally apart from other agencies. We don’t set it and forget it—and because of that, we require an open flow of communication between us and the client. What worked yesterday may not work today. And we are not crazy egomaniacs—we will admit when a strategy isn’t working. But in order to pivot on strategy, we gotta have the right information.
Meetings are a must.
I hope you like us. Like a lot. Because we are going to be seeing a lot of each other. And we super like you. Meetings are a must for the Rallycats. It’s not just because we think you are cute (we do) but it’s also because we can accomplish 70% more in a face-to-face meeting versus a phone call or email chain (this is not a scientific fact but damn if it doesn’t feel true). If we can get you alone in a room for just 15 minutes, I can guarantee that it will show in your report the following month.
Meetings also ensure that you know what we are doing. We hate hearing that a client “doesn’t know what they pay for.” Ouch. That hurts, man. Because I can guarantee, 10 times out of 10, we have been trying to tell you on a very consistent basis.
Set for Success
Since about a year ago, we started to add a Client Expectation slide to our proposals. Our most successful clients are responsive and actively involved in their marketing efforts. We want to set our relationship up for success so we are very upfront on what our expectations are. And lucky us – this shows in our retention rate which we have increased to 81% over the past year (now THAT is real math, you guys). It is apparent to me that the clients that have left us were not engaging with the team. They weren’t able to get the best out of us because they weren’t showing up.
So pick up the phone. Make that meeting. Answer your email. Even if it’s just to tell us about a crazy dream you had. We want to know.