As the Director of Client Relations for a small Public Relations and Marketing agency, I strive to have an intimate relationship with all clients. In addition to my role as Director of Client Relations, I also balance an Account Executive role. For those who’ve worked in a small agency setting, I’m sure you can relate to wearing many hats. At one point in time, a client account was not excelling. Growth was lacking for both PR and social media, and the client didn’t seem overly excited about the marketing tactics we brought to the table. Upon discussing new, alternative strategies with the client and their current account manager, the client ultimately decided to end their contract with us. Within the same period, their account manager also left our company for an unrelated reason. Per the agreement, the client worked with our agency for one more month, which is when I stepped up to the plate to manage this account for one final month of work. As someone who once worked for The Walt Disney Company, I have a knack for creating “magical moments,” AKA giving a little to gain a lot. During the next month, I was fortunate enough to double as the Account Executive for this particular account, where I exceeded their expectations by creating “magic” to make an impact. I coordinated with my team to boost our social media, marketing and PR efforts far beyond what the client’s Agreement with us consisted of. I checked in with this client several times a week and mended our relationship by making every second of their final month with us count. When our time together came to an end, they shared how impressed they were by my attention to detail and the amount of growth they’d seen in just 30 days. To this day, they’ve referred new clients our day and speak very highly of our agency. This goes to show how important it is to take time to understand your client’s wishes and ensure they feel valued.
I think the biggest thing when it comes to client relations is to remember that at the end of the day all clients really want is to feel valued, to be heard and to know that they’ve been understood. While in an ideal world everything would always go right, the truth is that occasionally things can go wrong, and it’s in those moments that our true character is shown. The key, I’ve always found, is to keep communication open, to be willing to listen, and to come ready with solutions. Acknowledging the problem, recognizing the situation, and proactively showcasing that you’re committed to solving it with them is honestly your best course of action. It’s moves like those that really build up your integrity, and it’s that integrity that’s going to be your calling card.