Customer Service & Expectation Management
Today’s branding landscape is inundated with so-called marketers touting individualized theories, half-baked processes and poorly translated approaches to best practices in graphic design and marketing. In many cases, marketers fashion bewildered clients by the close of an engagement – and sometimes even sooner. Such clients can often be identified by their resounding puzzlement as to how they wound up with a less-than-stellar deliverable that is a far cry from achieving their desired goals.
Engagements like these can get messy, but they are avoidable when working with a marketing partner that is adept at impeccable client management and customer service. A first-rate partner can easily be distinguished by this seemly basic, relationship-focused attribute.
But, how do you determine if a marketing firm has superior client service?
There are a number of ways, including trusting your gut. But, a more matter-of-fact approach is to ask a lot of probing questions. By understanding how effectively a marketing firm manages client expectations, it’s easier for you to discover if their process is truly well organized, how their influences might be applied to your project/campaign, and if their marketing theories are proven. Below are some loose guidelines that will help steer you in the right direction when selecting a brand/marketing partner. There are many more to consider, but the following will help get you started.
What to Look For:
The simplest of all the requirements – check the web. Sure, not all will have a fully developed web site, especially if they don’t provide internet development services. What does this say about them? The web is yesterday’s fax machine. If you aren’t on board, you are missing out on critical business opportunities. No site means no progression. In this case, no progression translates to a partner that won’t be able to manage expectations when it comes to digital media.
The digital age is here to stay. A marketing firm with no web site means a vendor that may not understand how to create deliverables that operate functionally in digital media – perhaps even in traditional media. Why pay thousands of dollars and risk the most important attribute a design and marketing firm should provide? Scalability. PR messaging, corporate image campaigns, and graphic design deliverables should be created to stand the test of time, not challenge your expectations. Avoid spending thousands this year only to spend thousands re-visiting the same work next year or the year after.
Who to Ask:
Past clients are one of the best sources to ask about a marketing firm. To state the obvious, be sure you get a list of references. Your potential partner will give a list of past and/or current clients that will most likely give glowing reviews. This is good, but you need more. Get resourceful. Pick two or three clients in their online portfolio that were not given as a reference. What do they have to say? You might be surprised by what you hear. What you ask and how you ask it, however, are very important so don’t stop reading now.
What to Ask:
This is where it gets tricky and this is where managing client expectations falls directly into play. Pay close attention. You are interviewing the reference just as much as you are interviewing for the potential partner you called about. You want to find out if they understood the project and its goals as the project unfolded. If they didn’t, why not? Were they not re-reading the proposal throughout the engagement? Are they poor listeners or was the brand partner lacking in managing their expectations properly? Below is a series of questions that will help you decipher the reality of what transpired during the engagement.
1. How well written was the proposal? Did it discuss a current snapshot, short and long term goals as well as provide a detailed breakdown for implementation strategy? Did the proposal provide reasons to support why this strategy would help strike goals outlined? By asking this question you are discovering how thorough the potential partner was in managing expectations by providing their clients an understandable road map within the proposal. If the client did not utilize this proposal as a tool throughout the engagement, it may be their own fault as to why they felt lost during the project.
2. How consultative was the firm along the way? Did they go out of their way to explain why a particular decision may not be a good one based on items the client may not foresee? If the answer is yes, you more than likely have a partner with good client management skills.
3. Did the firm act as an order taker when confronted with client desires that may not have fallen in line with predefined goals and objectives? Or did they present logical, business, and industry specific advice to illustrate why the desire in question may not be the best path to choose?
Overall, a client whose expectations are well managed will feel like they are moving forward as one with their partner – that they understand at all times where, what, how and why. More importantly, they will feel as if they are part of the process. As simple as it sounds, so many marketing firms and agencies fall short in this management and service arena. Do your homework; peek around all the corners and you will be prepared to make the best buying decision possible: one that is educated.