In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss how to handle situations when the problems affecting an agency’s client relationship stem from external contacts like procurement, IT, or the sales team.
They emphasize treating client contacts as allies and not enemies, and provide strategies to navigate bureaucratic hurdles and internal politics. The discussion covers creative problem-solving techniques such as using MSAs, having biweekly calls with VPs of Sales, and understanding cultural differences. The importance of having a collaborative approach and pre-building relationships to effectively manage challenges is also highlighted.
Key takeaways
* Chip Griffin: “Treat your client contact as an ally, not the enemy.”
* Gini Dietrich: “We have several clients who have procurement done in another country, and English is not their first language. And so we find that some of the barriers to success are not because of the things that we assume.”
* Chip Griffin: “When you run up against an obstacle, try to figure out is there a creative way that we can get from here to there?”
* Gini Dietrich: “We always ask what the threshold is for financial amounts because there’s usually an amount of money that your client contact can approve without it going to procurement or to their boss or whatever happens to be.”
Related
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How agencies should handle procurement and legal
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How to onboard new agency clients
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Getting agency-client contracts done right
View Transcript
The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.
Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin.
Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich.
Chip Griffin: And Gini, I’ve got this, this invisible guy over here, and he’s telling me what we need to do for this show today. And, and we have to follow it to the letter if we wanna record.
Gini Dietrich: Oh, who is it?
Chip Griffin: I dunno, but if someone, someone is telling me that we need to, to record an episode about what to do when your problem isn’t the client contact for your agency, but it’s someone else, someone off screen who’s telling them what they have to do and it’s causing problems for your relationship.
Gini Dietrich: Oh, someone like procurement or IT?
Chip Griffin: Someone like procurement. Mm-hmm. IT, the sales team.
Gini Dietrich: Mm-hmm.
Chip Griffin: The CEO.
Gini Dietrich: Mm-hmm.
Chip Griffin: All sorts of people who may not be involved in any of the day-to-day work that our client contacts are doing, but they are just involved enough that they can cause trouble.
Gini Dietrich: Mm-hmm. Kind of like me having to tell a client’s VP of sales the other day that we’re not their local Kinkos.
Chip Griffin: Yes.
Gini Dietrich: Yeah. I actually used those words.
