Why Experience is Your Secret Weapon in Business Relationships
In the world of advertising, the new is – by its nature – a positive thing.
But when it comes to marketers partnering with agencies and vice versa, there’s a lot to be said for the benefit of experience in approaching situations with wisdom, tact and care.
Advertising and marketing is, characteristically, an industry that is typified by short-term thinking. The value of experience, and the wisdom that comes with it, is often put to one side, in favour of the new. But at Verity, what we have been seeing is that the loss of experienced advertising talent is putting pressure on agency-client relationships.
Why are agency-client relationships facing pressure?
Verity surveys around 3,000 clients in Australia each year, to understand how they feel about working with their agencies. That means that at any one point in time, we have a window into the things that inspire, energise, disappoint, frustrate and annoy clients about their relationships with their agencies.
Most recently, we’ve found that economic pressures and the transformative impact of technology, have led to a fundamental expectation by clients that their agencies need to be fast, efficient and agile. As a result, complaints about delivery — including timeliness, efficiency, and agility — have increased significantly.
But, for all the talk about efficient delivery, we know that clients are increasingly demanding of their agencies in terms of providing the strategy, advice, innovation, challenge, data & analytics and insights, that will make an effective impact on their business. These are all themes that have attracted more complaints than they did two years ago. For Critical Contacts – those with the influence to hire or fire an agency – ‘Strategy’ remains the top complaint. Complaints that were once peripheral, such as those concerning ‘Data & analytics’ and ‘Insights’ have risen by at least nine places in our list of the Top 20.
Of course, the result has been that agencies have cut costs and implemented efficiency drives, often at the expense of experienced agency talent. This has not gone unnoticed by clients and we have seen roughly half as many positive mentions of talent now, as we did two years ago. In terms of praise, the theme of ‘client service’ has fallen six places in our Top 20 — more than any other theme.
What’s most notable, though, is that the theme of ‘leadership’ is now attracting more complaints. Not only that, but the sentiment around it is more negative than it’s ever been.
It’s a phenomenon that’s not only evident in the client’s experience of an agency. In Verity’s Barometer survey, which measures how agency teams feel about working on a particular account, we have seen significant numbers of complaints about ‘leadership & direction’, ‘ownership/ accountability’ and ‘client management’.
Our takeaway from all this is that ‘Leadership’ (or its absence), is a key driver of dissatisfaction for both agencies and clients alike. And that’s at a time, in particular, when clients are looking to agencies for the guidance, counsel and advice that can only come from experienced leadership.
Why does this matter?
You won’t be surprised to learn that agencies with the strongest client relationships have got to that position because of their strengths in business understanding, strategy, innovation and creativity. It’s why they are known as being front-footed and forward thinking and why clients know that they are likely to be ‘future fit’ for them.
But after more than twenty years of consulting on B2B relationships, at Verity we know that future-proofing client relationships isn’t only about really great campaigns or creative ideas. It’s a combination of the transactional (strategy, innovation, creativity – the work that agencies undertake) and the relational (the experience that clients have). It’s characterised by a partnership-oriented, trust-bound relationship, whose key attributes are responsiveness, proactivity, openness and honesty, listening and transparency.
Such things aren’t achieved quickly. They are hard-earned over time, and with the input of experienced talent, who have cultivated relationships for years, and know how to nurture and protect them.
Genuine client partnerships need the right level of agency experience
In an industry that increasingly values innovation and efficiency, the shiny and the new, it can be easy to forget the importance of experience. But to build strong, enduring relationships, experienced talent must be at their heart. Those strategic insights, relationship building skills, and ability to navigate complex challenges mean that they are indispensable.
There’s a reason why experienced people still work in the industry – they have weathered its storms. By investing in them, agencies can count on immediate impact and long-term stability in a restless, shifting marketplace.
Quite simply, experience can be your greatest asset in future-proofing your business relationships.
Article first published on 1 October 2024, B&T.
