The client-agency tango.

The phase between client approaching an agency and agency actually starting building the client requirements is crucial for you as well as your clients.

Clients need to explain what they want and you need to understand what is desired and why it is desired. Having a checklist of what all need to be asked always helps as it ensures you that you have all the necessary information before they start off.

Never assume you know it, Just ask for it.

Before Project starts

Agency Objectives

• Understanding clients and targets needs;
• Understanding the business model;
• Understanding challenges (discovery, competition, delivery, time constraints, resources, technology);
• Understanding how the client visualizes the outcome (any prior thoughts, objectives, vision, likes or dislikes);

Questions to ask clients

• What is the problem statement and what pain points are being addressed?;
• How is your client different from the competitors? What is his unique offering to the clients? If not anything different then ask for how is your client better than others in the market? (cheaper deals, better customer services or anything else that affects the end client’s decisions).
• Who is the target audience? Ask for specifics like age-group, gender, occupation, interests, etc. The more and precise information, the better.
• What specific outcomes or deliverables do your clients expect: content generation, social media integrations, online-offline mix, etc.?
• What communication channels (where their clients can find their product/service) your client is planning to use?
• What are the biggest challenges your clients see in terms of resources, distribution, and ROI?
• What is the expected time to market and why?
• Who is the closest competitor in terms of popularity as well as market share?
• What are your client’s immediate goals? Is it to spread awareness about the product/service, is it getting visitors’ contact details for cold email marketing or for setting up a demo etc.
• What are the long-term goals that your clients wish to accomplish?
• What budget do they have in mind?
• Who are the decision makers? Generally how long your client takes to decide?
• Is there anything they would like to see in the finished campaign? Also the things the clients would not like to see?
• How are the clients planning to measure the project success?

During Project

During the working process, you are bound to hear a lot of feedback in the form of: “I don’t like this, but I don’t know why”, “It is good but can you make it better”, “Can you Photoshop it”…But such feedback from clients never helps you (or them).

Let me say that, It’s not your client’s mistake, they are not doing it deliberately. The problem is that the clients don’t understand the process the same way you do. So, to get meaningful feedback from clients you need to ask for specifics and to the point questions.

Agency objectives

• To get insights into the client’s experience and interactions with the brand.
• To know — Are clients able to communicate with the end clients.
• To get confidence in the concept and approach.

Questions to ask clients

• Is the CTA(call to action) clear and loud? Can your client focus on the right place?
• What is it that your client remembers after interacting with your campaign?
• Is the visual approach suiting target audience interests?
• Is the copy giving enough details, too many details or too fewer details?
• Does the copy cover all elements that need to be highlighted?
• Are your clients able to understand what it is trying to bring awareness to?
• Can your client provide an example of a similar direction they are looking for?
• Is the communication channel correct or too noisy/distracting?
• Is there anything that irritates your client or makes him feel confused?
• Is there anything extra which is not required, which can be removed?
• Is the copy text readable in terms of fonts as well as in terms of visibility with respect to the background?
• Is it giving too much information too quick?

Post Project

To have lasting relations with clients, you need to make them feel you care about them and they matter a lot to you.

You need to make your clients comfortable enough to share their genuine feedback about their experience, your processes, skills your team might need to improve it. This lets you know where you can improve to serve your clients better in the future.

Agency Objectives

• To know the client experience during their journey with you.
• To know if the workflow and collaboration processes are up-to-the mark or not.
• To know if you need to add any skill to your skill set or if you need to catch up to some upcoming trend.

Questions to ask clients

• Are the clients satisfied?
• What the clients liked and disliked the most?
• What could you have done which they didn’t?
• Ask clients to rate the process for each phase?
• Were the clients informed about each development in time or the collaboration needs to be worked upon?
• Have we delivered what we promised?
• Would your clients like to work with you again?
• How likely would your clients refer you?

Conclusion

There is no magic template to guaranteed success. Asking questions to clients help agencies to understand what is to be made, for whom it is made, how to make it, what to do, what not to do etc.

Just like in any dance it takes cooperation and the right rhythm. Make sure, regardless of what side you are, to find the right partner.