How to retain your best clients

Editor's Notes

• #2: HELLO I’M BECKY BRADLEY And I’m here to talk to you today about how to retain your best clients Before I do so, I need to introduce myself to reassure you that I am qualified to speak on the subject. I come from an independent digital agency called Zone, based primarily in London, with a base in Bristol that we’ve been nurturing for two years now and are looking to grow significantly over the coming years Having been in operation as a digital agency since 2000, we have been lucky enough to work with some excellent clients, in several cases these relationships have spanned over 5 years. Channel 4 since we first began back in 2000 BT since 2006 Coca-Cola since 2009 Tesco since January 2012 Which hopefully gives me justification to be here speaking to you on the subject today. SO HOW TO RETAIN YOUR BEST CLIENTS By best clients we mean ones that: Are profitable Have friendly, healthy relationship Provide opportunities for growth It’s not a new question and one that I’m sure many people in this room have pondered long and hard upon. But it’s not as easy as just being nice to them and doing good work, since if that were the case we’d all have it nailed. And today I’m hoping to unpick some of the intricacies of the client-agency dynamic.
• #3: BUT, BEFORE WE GO ABOUT THAT, I’M GOING TO EXPLORE WHY IT’S IMPORTANT IN THE FIRST PLACE Good to check in on that rather than make any assumptions on the subject up front. THEN WE’LL LOOK AT HOW TO DEPLOY THE ULTIMATE CUSTOMER RETENTION MODEL Since that surely is ultimately what we are talking about. Advise our clients on acquisition, conversion, retention and advocacy is what we do day-in, day-out How can we advise them on such matters if we can’t get our heads around it ourselves? So it’s going to be a case of turning the tables and looking ourselves in the mirror to see how we perform against our own criteria.
• #4: FIRST OF ALL, WHY RETAIN CLIENTS AT ALL? How important is it really? How much time and attention should be focused towards client retention as opposed to, say, product development or new business acquisition? Well the answer to that question is really quite simple
• #5: IT’S REALLY BLOODY IMPORTANT And it’s really bloody important for several reasons
• #6: RETAINING CLIENTS IS PROFITABLE According to the Gartner Group, a 5% increase in customer retention can increase business profits by 25% to 125% And this is because they are known entities. There are few surprises that risk being a drain on time and money. You know each other’s idiosyncratic ways of working You have devised processes and documentation to eke out efficiencies to get things to run as smoothly as possible. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227946
• #7: SECONDLY & MOST ATTRACTIVE FOR FINANCIAL DIRECTORS, RETAINING CLIENTS PROVIDES FINANCIAL STABIBILITY Knowing what money is coming in each month gives you something to plan by. Allows you to make all sorts of long-term and far-reaching decisions – e.g. new and swanky office space or signing up some new talent These are decisions that could propel a company onto greatness but could just as easily cripple cashflow if made in too cavalier a fashion. Whilst existing clients are known entities, attracting new clients takes a lot time and resources with minimal guarantees. AT ZONE WE ENJOY A 50% PITCH WIN RATE VS INDUSTRY AVERAGE OF 30% When you consider the time spent on the two or three that go by the wayside - is a lot of money to throw away. It’s the profitable retained clients that give a company the stability to grow Whether it be by acquiring new clients or acquiring new skills or services.
• #8: RETAINING CLIENTS FREES AN AGENCY UP TO DO GREAT WORK It takes time to get to know a client and to work out just how to genuinely impact their business It’s only when you really know how to impact their business that you can conceive of, sell-through and create a truly brilliant, innovative and creative solution ALONGSIDE THE GREAT PR YOU’LL PICK UP ALONG THE WAY Having a strategic impact on a client’s business makes you very valuable and embedded Much more so than a tactical and interchangeable supplier This differentiates your offering and enables you to charge a premium Which circles right back to the point about profitability. SO, IN SUMMARY, RETAINING CLIENTS ENSURES AN AGENCY IS PROFITABLE, STABLE & STRATEGIC Which is an excellent foundation for success and nothing, in short, to be sniffed at.
• #9: IN SOME CASES THIS RELATIONSHIP IS BUILT UP OVER 100 YEARS OR MORE This ad from Pears Soap signals the beginning of the famous century-long partnerships Between Unilever and both JWT and Lowe & Partners which began in 1902 and 1899 respectively Both have really lasted the distance And it’s interesting to look at the hallmarks of that relationship to see what can be learned…
• #10: PONDS COLD CREAM: UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER A famous Unilever product Inspired the JWT team working on it in the 1960s to really get under the skin of the customer base Spearheading the first ever example of ‘adult work experience’ Patricia Mann – one of JWT’s star copywriters – spent time behind the counter at the Newcastle Co-op To see and experience customers interacting with the product in a POS environment first hand. An idea that is emulated by many agencies today. 2) OXO: SEEKING EFFICIENCIES Track the lives of Katie & Philip, raising a family together, growing old together, sitting around the family table each Sunday JWT were so determined to find efficiencies for their client that they ended up buying a house for the fictional family to live in - cheaper than to keep building sets. They even worked scripts up to support the family’s relocation The character Philip being relocated by his fictional employer to explain the change in scenery. 3) SOAP & SOAPLESS CATEGORY: FORENSIC RESEARCH The soap and soapless category is an absolutely huge part of the Unilever business In order to fully understand the products back in the 1950s, JWT underwent a huge piece of research To understand the water that was used within them. That research ended up including 50 pages of hitherto unpublished Ordinance survey maps Tracked water sources throughout the South West of England Who knew marketing could be so geographic? 4) CHLORODENT: SHEER HARD GRUNT For a Halloween Chlorodent ad of 1953 (a US toothpaste brand) The tagline for which being “No Halloween mask scares off a man as much as ‘morning mouth’” Photographer needed a pumpkin big enough to fit over a model’s head. Failing to find one large enough in the markets of New York, a JWT rep was dispatched at 2am in the morning Armed with a torch and tape measure, to search through farmyards until he found the perfect specimen PICTURE OF DEDICATION THAT TRANSCENDS THE MUNDANE & IS ELEVATED TO SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL Less a client brief and more a mission or purpose – so much more than simply meeting a deadline. Over the years JWT was secure enough in the relationship to invest heavily into it. That security comes from knowing the value that they brought to the table and the results they could achieve for Unilever AND ALL THIS PART OF THE REASON THAT JWT & UNILEVER STILL WORK TOGETHER TODAY
• #11: AS KEITH WEED, CMO OF UNILEVER SAYS “You get much better quality advice from someone who knows you well than from someone who doesn’t know you well” It’s reassuring that client retention is valuable for clients alongside agencies How do we emulate the relationship JWT had with Unilever?
• #12: IT’S WORTH BEARING IN MIND THE CONTEXT WE ARE OPERATING WITHIN Long-term agency-client relationships are becoming more rare, as agency tenures decrease Back in 1984 the average agency tenure was 7 years and 2 months Just two years after Channel 4 launched. When we were content with just 4 TV channels and the internet was an alien phenomenon. Nowadays it’s decreased to just 2 years, 6 months Ref: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1182140/ THERE ARE PLENTY OF REASONS THEY ARE DECREASING, SPECIFICALLY: The pace of change within the media world in particular is forcing reconsideration of requirements at a rate of knots. Therefore it’s natural for companies to reassess the agencies they work with to deliver the new requirements Media fragmentation means more places to spend one’s money, which ultimately needs to be divided into smaller pots. THEN THE PERVASIVE DOWNTURN IN ECONOMIC CLIMATE RESULTS IN A FOCUS ON SAVINGS The hand of Procurement is very visible in many dealings This is another factor that can prompt an agency switch MARKETING DIRECTORS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO STAY IN ROLE FOR LONGER THAN TWO YEARS Nowadays people change jobs more regularly Two years is just enough time to set up a pitch, select a new agency, and get them settled in before it all starts again DOESN”T MAKE CLIENT RETENTION ANY LESS VALUABLE So, how do we go about it?
• #13: WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS ACTIVATING THE ULTIMATE CUSTOMER RETENTION MODEL Advising clients on how to attract and keep customers is what we do But we are clearly not doing it to the best of our abilities, since…
• #14: 70% OF CLIENTS PERCEIVE NEW BUSINESS WINS TO BE MORE IMPORTANT TO AGENCIES THAN EXISTING CLIENTS Which is an incredible stat. If this is how our clients made their customers feel, we’d have a word or two to say about it. If this is how we made our friends or partners feel then that would be deemed as some kind of social psychosis. Given that client retention is so important to our success, Given the pressures that are being applied on that model by external factors You’d think we’d take care to avoid this happening at all cost. So why does it happen in the client-agency dynamic? Well there’s one factor that makes the client-agency dynamic different to a standard supplier-customer dynamic…
• #15: THE CLIENT / AGENCY DYNAMIC IS ABOUT VERY REAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VERY REAL PEOPLE Marketing people are people-people. They are empathetic and emotionally-intelligent and that’s what makes them highly tuned to consumers. We entered the world of marketing to spend our time understanding the human race To think of ways to impact their thoughts and feelings on behalf of the brands and organisations that we work with. ADD TO THIS THE NATURE OF AGENCY WORK Fast-paced, frenetic, full of changes and conflicting feedback from multiple stakeholders It’s not unsurprising that client & agency counterparts bond deeply And that heavy emphasis is placed on the very human relationships that steer the good ship through the often choppy waters. WHEN A CLIENT CLAIMS TO HAVE OUTGROWN AN AGENCY It’s usually code for having fallen out of love Or for not feeling the love anymore.
• #16: BOTH SIDES ARE EMOTIONALLY-DRIVEN But when the agency becomes focused on the bottom line vs the relationship this begins to breakdown Due to innate tension within agencies – to deliver high quality work, but in a way that is financially viable
• #17: FOR THIS REASON, TO ENSURE WE STAY FOCUSED ON THE RELATIONSHIP We are reframing the classic customer retention model around the idea of a romantic relationship developing over time To look at it more as a framework to deepen relationships with strategic partners So with the classic retention model the phases are awareness, consideration, conversation, loyalty and advocacy THE PHASES IN OUR NEW RELATIONSHIP MODEL: Awareness = getting to know each other Consideration = winning trust and how you respond in difficult times. Conversation = keeping the romance alive over a prolonged period of time Loyalty = getting them to commit Advocacy = them telling the world about how great you are And these are the phases that we’ll delve into a little deeper today to hopefully improve client retention rates going forwards
• #18: FIRST UP, GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER
• #19: GETTING TO KNOW CLIENTS IS KEY TO BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM If you set off on the right foot, then the relationship will be set for success If not then you’ll always be trying to prove you care. The reason there is a photo of the Scottish highlands on the screen That is exactly what we did when we won a pitch to create & execute a digital strategy for a famous whisky brand. Within two weeks we had a team of four up in Speyside experiencing the distillery and the whisky first hand alongside new key client contacts. MAKE SURE YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND THEIR PERSONAL OBJECTIVES We often rely on the repetitive list of requirements that come through on the standard issue briefing templates They may say they want to ‘drive awareness’ or ‘build brand love’ but nuances are usually lost along the way Maybe their priority is actually to showcase the team’s creative talent to a new marketing director Or to build collaboration between the digital marketing team and the in-store marketing team Or to get a promotion These kinds of objectives will never find their way onto a brief, but could well take precedence over campaign results. Taking the time to find out will be what really cements your relationship COLLABORATING WITH OTHER AGENCIES IN THE MIX IS ALSO KEY With media fragmentation, accept there will be many agencies in the mix and avoid territorialism Otherwise it can come across to clients as petty and selfish: like you want all their attention for yourself When set against a business backdrop it’s also expensive and time-consuming FOCUSING ON UNDERSTANDING & KNOWING CLIENTS WILL ENSURE THEY FEEL VALUED & IMPORTANT When defending an agency, the client will defend the people they have a relationship with inside it. Client service can be a real point of differentiation Make your office a welcoming environment for them to come and spend as much time as possible. It all helps to build those all important relationships.
• #20: BY REALLY UNDERSTANDING WHAT MAKES THEM TICK PUTS YOU IN A POWERFUL POSITION To determine how valuable you can be to each other from a strategic and long-term perspective Aside from pure, hard revenues Understanding the value you can offer each other will enable you to confidently invest in the same way JWT did It could be that you share strategic direction – like wanting to invest in a particular new technology It could be that you share similar ambitions – to be number one in your field or to work with category leaders It could be through securing some great PR – off the back of a project that you know will gain industry exposure WE WANTED TO WORK WITH BARRATT HOMES AS THEY WERE THE CATEGORY LEADER IN HOUSING SECTOR Barratt were wedded to Episerver which Zone didn’t have experience in. We challenged them on that point, but learned Episerver was the way forward So we used Barratt as a reason to broaden our skillset and experience We ended up partnering with another agency to deliver the work Our investment into Episerver has led us to seek Episerver clients And has really broadened our technical credentials
• #21: NUMBER TWO IS THE SUBJECT OF TRUST As anyone who has remotely dabbled in romantic love will know, a huge part of any relationship is trust Trust that you are being honest with each other and not taking each other for granted Trust that they value the relationship as much as you doEqually willing to invest in it, protect it and defend it
• #22: ANOTHER GREAT QUOTE FROM OUR FRIEND MR WEED: “What we’re trying to do is create advertising that has creativity and innovation on one side and effectiveness and efficiencies on the other and you get the best creativity where there’s a level of trust” Being confident that you aren’t getting screwed over from a cost or prioritisation perspective To allow you to focus fully on doing great work. And the way we do that is by fostering transparency through everything that we do.
• #23: AND THAT’S ABOUT BEHAVING IN A WAY THAT YOU CAN BE PROUD OF WHEN QUIZZED SPECIFICALLY, SEEKING EFFICIENCIES AND PASSING THEM ON DIRECTLY We constantly review ways of working and look at reconciliations to spot efficiencies We then report back to clients on a regular basis Great tool called ‘Timezone’ which allows us to track work to ensure future estimates are accurate and justifiable. We give our clients access to the information, which helps to show how little we are profiteering ALSO WANT TO ENCOURAGE TRANSPARENCY FROM THEM And not just encourage – actively invite / beg If / when something goes wrong, the chances that they will tell you about it is very slim indeed. The chances that they tell all their colleagues, friends and family about it are, on the other hand, sizeable. It might not be a one-time problem You need to fix these problems immediately CREATE A SYSTEM FOR FEEDBACK Whether it be one-to-ones or regular client surveys Make it really easy and comfortable for them to give you negative feedback ONCE YOU’VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT IT, FIX IT WITH STYLE Tell them you value their feedback and explain the plan to improve the situation Communicate the new plan to the rest of the team, so they are clear on what they need to do AND ABSOULTELY ACT QUICKLY Most important of all, otherwise they won’t bother telling you the next time
• #24: SO ONCE YOU’VE GOT INTO A RHYTHM, AND YOU’VE GOT TO KNOW EACH OTHER A BIT, THERE IS A RISK YOU ENTER THE ‘FRIEND ZONE’ This happens when the client-agency relationship stagnates a little and is just focused on the day-to-day business-as-usual The upshot of this happening is probably obvious: The exciting shiny and new agency on the block is standing nearby, flirtatiously winking at your client, and putting all their tempting wares on display for them to ogle at. To avoid your client jumping hook line and sinker for these cheap baubles, you need to acknowledge that it’s up to you to keep the romance alive
• #25: FIRST OF ALL, TAKE THEM ON DATE NIGHT! Frequent and often  Show them sexy ideas that might be wholly unrelated to a brief but highly targeted towards a big problem or a career-defining opportunity Whilst you go about it, stay totally (and seductively) focused on them, their business needs and their objectives It’s often worth deploying a senior team to this type of thing, so it doesn’t have any negative impact on the day-to-day work, and your clients don’t view it as an unwelcome distraction. We regularly review the digital strategies we work to, and broaden our field of vision to ensure we aren’t missing a trick This is how we came up with the concept of the Beauty at Tesco Online Consultations, whilst preparing a simple editorial strategy The beauty consultations use Google Hangout technology to offer free, one-to-one beauty advice with established expert bloggers, and were a direct response to the insight that women do not want to be taking off their make up in the middle of a store but were keen to do plenty of research and get plenty of advice before making a purchase Tesco loved the idea and the concept has been live for a few months.
• #26: YOU ALSO WANT TO KEEP THINGS FRESH IN TERMS OF THE TEAM THAT SERVICES AN ACCOUNT Visualised here by the changing faces of the actors in the Oxo ad, when JWT decided that they needed to shake things up a bit in order to resonate and remain relevant to their target audience. Consistent faces are vital in terms of retained knowledge but there is a delicate balance to be made between trusty veterans and fresh blood Your veterans will offer experience, context, reassurance, steadiness But fresh blood will ensure that any preconceptions are challenged and remain relevant, and that the team are banking on innovations that come from elsewhere in the industry. Ideally, you want to keep a good mix of people from both sides at all times. So take time to think about it carefully.
• #27: SO NOW WE’VE GOT TO KNOW THEM, WE’VE WON THEIR TRUST, AND WE’VE PROVED WE CAN KEEP THE EXCITEMENT ALIVE The next challenge is to get them to sign up to the long-term And in practical terms that’s about signing up to another year’s retainer, or such like
• #28: AT THIS POINT, IT’S ABOUT TANGIBLY PROVING ALL WE HAVE JUST TALKED ABOUT It’s having some excellent examples and data in your back pocket to demonstrate your worth through a combination of results, innovation and efficiency If you can do that, and there aren’t other factors that throw everything into disarray, then you should be skipping down the aisle together with the look of love in your eyes
• #29: AND YOU DON’T NEED TO JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT This quote from Mel Cruickshank at Wunderman is one of many to acknowledge that these steps really do work in terms of establishing long term relationships with clients As she says: “In my experience, any agency that becomes a trusted partner and advisor in providing a client with creative solutions will enjoy a long fulfilling relationship with the client”
• #30: SO NOW WE REACH THE FINAL STEP: RENEWING YOUR VOWS
• #31: AND BY THIS WE MEAN REINFORCING THEIR LOYALTY TO YOU BY SINGING ABOUT YOUR BRILLIANCE TO THE ROOFTOPS! And the way you can encourage that behaviour is by making it really easy for them to do it Educate them on the breadth of your skills and services. It is unlikely that they will utilise every thing that you have on offer, and may well not know that you have expertise in that area. Inspire them with case studies from other clients Show them just what is possible if they were to extend their remit with you. On Tesco we do this within the same account, even - because the organisation is so large our client contacts don’t know each other at all and rely on us to let them know what each other are getting up to. For this reason we hold Cross Portfolio Reviews with a large audience of stakeholders - to keep them up to date and extend the value of the work that we are doing for them. In these sessions we’ll also include case studies from elsewhere in the business that might be relevant to their business priorities, and make sure we are keeping them informed of key digital trends.
• #32: BUT BEFORE WE SIGN OFF THE SUBJECT AS A FAIT ACCOMPLI, AND AS WE HINTED EARLIER, IT’S WORTH ACKNOWLEDGING THAT ALL-TOO-OFTEN, THINGS DON’T LAST FOREVER And it’s important to act with good grace and humour as you part ways Not only will you impress those who look on, doing so will ensure you’re in a great position should your clients ever change their minds Or, of course, they may go elsewhere, and be in need of your services in their new position. Either way, don’t make the mistake of ever thinking ‘they are dead to me’ as that is most definitely biting off your nose to spite your face.
• #33: IN SUMMARY
• #34: TO RECAP, IF I COULD LEAVE WITH THREE POINTS TO GO AWAY WITH Focus on the people Invest in strategic relationships Seek innovation and efficiencies