Building effective customer-agency communication

    “You can’t compete with each other!”


    Punctuation marks are automatically placed upon first reading. True? But this is no accident.

    It so happens that the relationship between the client and the contractor is not partner, but rival. Distrust, unwillingness to take risks and responsibility, fear “and suddenly they will deceive”, and on the one hand, and on the other hand, cause misunderstanding. So, cooperation is developing inefficiently. This is a stalemate, far from ideal. You can live in it for a long time, but it does not bring satisfaction, moreover, it blocks the possibility of further development.

    Partnerships in business are like relationships in marriage. Many parallels can be drawn. The only difference is “marriage of convenience” in business, as a rule, happier than “marriage” of love or sympathy, if you like.

    Before getting married cooperation:

    • Adequately evaluate what you can give your partner and what you are currently interested in. Can you be interesting to him after an N-th amount of time?
    • Determine what you expect from a partner?
    • Communicate your expectations to him clearly and clearly.
    • Relate the benefits: is what I give and what I receive equivalent?
    • Are you ready to negotiate and respect your partner?
    • Are you ready to work together to further develop the relationship?

    Basic principles of building communication


    Relationships need to be worked on, and whether you are a customer or a contractor.

    Today it is more relevant than ever. This is because the market has reached the point of development when it is difficult to compete only at the level of a product or service, relations decide a lot. Both with customers and partners.

    One of the business priorities and the competence of each of the employees at the same time is the ability to build effective relationships in all directions: horizontally and vertically; external and internal; with suppliers, contractors and customers.

    If you summarize your skills and put together in one ideal idea of ​​communication, then it’s worth striving for this:

    - both sides look in the same direction and work on the same result;

    - partners keep the same goals in focus;

    - are able to agree on areas of responsibility;

    - complement each other's efforts.

    Lovely scolding - only amuse. How to recognize the problem and take action in time?


    Things are not going smoothly in life, and productive partnerships are much less common than destructive ones.

    The most obvious and at the same time very frequent problem is when the parties do not have an understanding of the goals of cooperation.A client comes to the agency for online advertising. The action seems to be one, but the motives are different. The client needs a result with a wow effect that exceeds all conceivable and unimaginable expectations, and which requires a minimum of time and financial resources on his part. The agency wants to work as usual and conveniently, spend less time and effort on a client, receive timely payment and not answer uncomfortable questions like “why there is no return”. Alas, it is in such cases that there is no return. Because utopian expectations on both sides + unwillingness to spend time and effort + hope that “somehow it will be decided” = the road to nowhere.

    The second problem is the lack of trust. In the modern world, people in principle are not inclined to trust each other, this is an axiom of the 21st century. Here we take the liberty of repeating ourselves in the analogy of marriage and business: once a cheated spouse is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to restore a warm and trusting relationship with the opposite sex. Also, an entrepreneur with negative experience, with great difficulty, will gain confidence not only in a third-party contractor, but even in his own employees.

    But in order to move forward one has to accept the past, draw conclusions and work on mistakes: in such situations, both are always to blame, and again learn to trust.

    Trust but check.Control and trust are fully compatible. A professional will always adequately relate to the client’s desire to control the situation: provide access, send reports on time, dispel doubts and clarify incomprehensible points. On the client side, to control, trusting, means to feel the line between observation and unreasonable interference in the work process.

    Negotiate “ashore”. Lack of agreement almost always threatens disappointment. It is important to discuss the stages and conditions of cooperation before starting work, and not let them drift. It may soon become clear that the client had in mind one thing, and the contractor - another. At the initial stage, do not be shy and it is better to be a bore than to reap the fruits of your own carelessness.

    So what is it worth agreeing “on the shore”?

    • identify responsible persons on both sides, and preferably no more than two;
    • clearly indicate their areas of responsibility;
    • discuss comfortable ways and communication channels. It can be messengers, but it’s better to save all key points in correspondence by e-mail. Do you remember? Trust but check.
    • discuss the type and frequency of reports;
    • request and provide all necessary accesses;
    • Sign an NDA
    • coordinate the terms and stages of work for the initial period. Which one? Negotiate!
    • agree on a payment schedule and exchange of documents;
    • arrange scheduled meetings / calls, etc.

    Is it hard to miss nothing? But it is possible! For example, in our agency there is a checklist by which the manager is checked, concluding an agreement with the client.

    Forgot or score? Another danger that can destroy partnerships is the notorious human factor.To be more precise, the level of responsibility of specific employees. When the decision makers agreed on everything, and the employees who have to do the work directly, misunderstood something, forgot somewhere, and scored something, ultimately there would be inefficiencies. At the same time, the employee will not take the blame on himself, but will try to shift the responsibility to the partner as much as possible. It is sometimes easier for managers to take a word than to get to the bottom of the true causes of a mistake. This may last more than one year, and even with a change of partner the problem will not disappear.

    Take your time to label "all customers are fools" or "all performers are lazy and want only money." How to make a difference? Start with yourself. It is difficult to admit this, but often the bad that you see in the partner is not his, this is yours.

    Perhaps it is your communications that are not worked out, and you, on your side, cannot establish effective interaction. Therefore, partners come across "not those."

    There is always a way out! Just look around


    Very often, problems are “chronic” in nature. From time to time - to the same rake. But this is not a reason to give up. It’s worth considering what are you doing wrong?

    For example, the following algorithm applies to employees of our agency:

    • Turn off emotions and act on the "cold head"
    • Identify the essence of the problem
    • To think over and discuss constructive solutions with a partner

    We had examples of really difficult communicative situations with clients. In some cases, personal meetings helped, in others - a conversation with the leader one level higher, in third - the coordination of communication regulations. In rare cases, replacing a manager with another who can find an approach can help. But this works if the problem lies precisely in the lack of contact between the responsible persons, and not in something else.

    One thing we can say for sure: an attempt to establish effective communications should never be a one-goal game. If one of the parties does not want to build interaction, it is easier to leave. The sooner the better. Less time and emotional loss.

    And in conclusion


    Remember, unresolved problems have the effect of an unexploded bomb: you never know when it will explode, whether it will explode or the relationship will simply come to naught. This happens and it is impossible to completely insure yourself against such cases.

    The only thing that can be done on its part is to prevent the emergence of conflict situations as much as possible. How?

    Initially, accept the principles for yourself as a creed: openness, constructiveness, focus on interaction, respect for the partner and observance of business etiquette. Claim a high level of understanding and effective communication with a partner? Match!

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