The Client-Agency Pre-Nup Agreement, Or, Writing Service Protocols That Lead to a Wonderful Future

April 9, 2009 4:10 PM

an Interview with Tim Brenton by Denise Goodwin Pace, CCO/Co-Founder, The Halo Group

Finding the right marketing communications agency partner could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship, according to Tim Brenton, CEO of The Brenton Group. But Brenton, who trains businesspeople to facilitate business relationships built on trust and confidence, believes there is an additional step both parties should take – crafting a specific contract that includes agreement on those things that can make or break a relationship. He calls them specific servicing protocols.

Keep the relationship healthy

It’s a good idea to build relationship guidelines upfront with specific servicing protocols that can ward off potential problems. Brenton supplies an interesting example:

At an unnamed agency known for its big ideas and great creative, the servicing protocol, agreed to by both client and agency at the outset of the relationship, mandates that an agency Big Idea gets a Big Listen.

“Big Ideas can be scary,” says Brenton. “And it’s human nature for middle management at the agency AND the client to want to get their fingerprints on the output of the collaboration. That’s how Big Ideas get watered down.”

So, this top agency put a fail-safe process in place that practically guarantees that Big Ideas see the light of day. Brenton explains, “When the agency Lead decides that the idea about to be presented by the agency qualifies as Big, he calls his counterpoint, the client’s Lead, and requests him or her to be at the first creative presentation. The agency built that into the service protocol and it’s one example of best practices on how you build a successful relationship.”

Linda Passante, CEO of The Halo Group, adds to that:

“We request that, overall, the decision-making team at our client be limited to one or two people,” says Passante. “Once the client team says ‘yes,’ both client and agency work to get any internal buy-in that the client needs on. Decision by committee often leads to what we call ‘Frankensteining’ – powerful work dissected and reassembled in a way that negates the heart of the idea. But, client leaders who are empowered to make decisions on the agency offering see greater brand clarity and speedier results when that kind of damaging process is avoided.”

Other examples of servicing protocols include scheduled semiannual meetings between C-level players at both the agency and client to make sure the relationship stays on track; the right for the agency CEO to call the client CEO when “scope creep” enters the relationship; and the client CEO to call the agency CEO if the agency is not performing as expected.

Specific servicing protocols are common sense parameters that serve both sides of the client-agency relationship. Developing a list of expectations right up front helps keep the client and agency bonded when the inevitable demands of business test the relationship in the future. Smart marketers require them to keep the road to brand ROI smooth and successful.

As EVP at Arnold Advertising, Tim Brenton led his company in providing world-class advertising and marketing programs to his clients. Tim founded the Brenton Group to help CEOs and senior sales management make quantum leaps in the performance of managers and sales representatives. Tim delivers custom sales programs to corporate clients, as well as frequent sales and management workshops. He brings over 25 years of advertising, marketing, sales management and recruiting expertise to his clients.

Permallink | Comments(0) |

Subscription Options

You are not logged in, so your subscription status for this entry is unknown. You can login or register here.

Comments

No comments found.