I’d posted this last year but wanted to bring it to the front again as for us it’s the start of a new financial year and we’re looking to grow our portfolio …  This post is all about relationships and the sentiment behind it, and the ‘top tips’ are incredibly pertinent right now …

I’ve worked in the marketing communications industry for over 25 years and one of my key roles was to generate new business for the agency/company that I worked for.  Nowadays, as MD of my own agency, I’m building new relationships to help grow chicken/egg and I still use the same principles as they have stood the test of time!

Like any relationship, the client/company partnership needs work, it needs nurturing and, more importantly, it needs respect to ensure that it’s happy and enduring.

Of course, all relationships start with a first date. If there’s something that you like the sound of, or the look of, then you take the steps to organise that initial meeting and that’s when things can start to hot up.  It’s all about the chemistry!

You know very quickly whether this is someone that you’re going to enjoy spending time with, and if that box gets a big tick, then it’s worth taking the plunge and deciding to ‘give it a go’, now you need to keep them hooked with your great ideas and results.

So, after a successful start, and based on my experience, these are my top tips on how to build, nurture and retain relationships that will become serious over time…

COMMUNICATION:
It really is all about communicating. To have a fully effective relationship, both sides have to open up and be completely transparent.  So, for example, there’s no point me trying to write a marketing/PR strategy if I don’t know all the facts and figures – it’s tantamount to guesswork and can lead to assumptions. It’s better for me to have the full picture as it allows me to create and develop plans that are actually going to work.

Likewise, I need my client to keep me informed of what’s happening in their business.

These days with the technology we have available it’s so easy to do quickly: IM, Skype, tweet, email or text… or we can even use the good old fashioned telephone and speak to each other!

When the communication starts to fail, so does your relationship – we all know it, we’ve probably all experienced it.  So don’t let it happen to you.  Talking is the one thing that we can all do, so let’s just keep talking.

TRUST:
Trust comes with time, but in the early days of a relationship, it needs to be built.  This is a time to prove your worth and to prove that you’re trustworthy.  Again this goes for your clients as well.

Are they going to deliver on that budget they teased you with?

And are you going to deliver that ROI that you promised them when you pitched for the business?

Trust is something that is so easily broken. That, along with communication, is a key factor to ignore at your peril.

HONESTY:
When something goes wrong put your hands up and say so.  Have a solution and avoid any ‘Teflon’ excuses.

If you don’t feel that your client’s brief is going to answer their objectives – say so!

It’s no good saying afterwards that you didn’t think it would work, be up front about it and explain why, in your experience, you’re suggesting a different way of delivering the end product.

Challenging to ensure results ties in with the two tips above.  And clients should be able to tell you what they like and don’t like about your work.  In my industry creatives are notoriously defensive about their work (as I am I to be honest!) but constructive criticism and honesty about what they’re looking for ensures that time spent on projects is effective – we’ve come a full circle again to communication!

CLARITY:
I know that marketing/PR agencies have a tendency to write 100 words where 10 would be sufficient because it sounds more ‘creative’ and the presentation will look more ‘meaty’, but actually the reality is that less is more and getting the message across succinctly is a hell of a lot more important than how long it takes and how impressive it sounds.

Likewise with client briefs – you want to know the facts, you want to know the objectives, you want to know what they don’t want and ideally, you’d like to know the budget! Then let’s get talking et voila, you’ve cracked it!

PASSION:
No relationship starts without it and most relationships blame the lack of passion for their ultimate demise.  To keep ideas fresh and exciting you’ve GOT to be passionate about your client’s product, brand, service – and passion just shines through when you’re working with someone you like and respect.

And this in turn serves to strengthen the relationship as you enjoy your conversations; passion means proactivity – no one is resting on their laurels, things are getting done.

But you can never forget that however strong your relationship with your client there will be 100 other companies, just like yours, trying to woo them away … So don’t stop being the best you can be and don’t ever stop dating!