Building effective communication "client-agency"

"You can not compete to compete!"

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 performer is not a partnership, but a rival one. Mistrust, unwillingness to take risks and responsibility, fear "and suddenly deceived" and with that, and on the other hand give rise to 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.

Partnership in business is like a marriage relationship. Parallels can be a lot. The only difference is that “marriage of convenience” in business is, as a rule, happier than “marriage” in love or sympathy, if you like.
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Pre- marriage cooperation:

• Adequately assess what you can give the partner and what you are interested in at the moment. Can you be interesting to him after the N-th amount of time?
• Determine what you expect from a partner?
• Reach your expectations clearly and clearly.
• Relate the benefits: Is the value of what I give equal to what I get?
• Are you ready to negotiate and respect your partner?
• Are you ready to work together for the further development of relations?

Basic principles of building communication

Relationships need to work, and, whoever you are - the customer or contractor.

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

One of the priority tasks of the business 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 in one perfect idea of ​​communication, you should try to do this:

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

- partners keep the same goals in focus;

- are able to agree on areas of responsibility;

- complement each other's efforts.

Cute curse - just amuse. How to recognize the problem and take action in time?

Not everything goes smoothly in life, and productive partnerships are much less common than destructive ones.

The most obvious and very frequent problem is when the parties do not have the same 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, surpassing all imaginable and unimaginable expectations, and requiring at the same time a minimum of time and financial resources on his part. The agency wants to work, as usual and conveniently, to spend less time and effort on the client, to receive timely payment and not to answer uncomfortable questions such as “why there is no return”. Alas, in such cases, there is no return. Because utopian expectations on both sides + unwillingness to spend time and effort + hope that “somehow it will be decided by itself” = the path to nowhere.

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

But to move forward, you have to take the past, draw conclusions and work on the mistakes: in such situations, both are guilty, and learn to trust again.

Trust but check. Control and trust are quite compatible. A professional will always adequately respond to the client’s desire to control the situation: he will provide access, send reports on time, dispel doubts and clarify incomprehensible moments. From the client’s side, controlling, trusting, means feeling the boundary between observation and unwarranted interference in the work process.

Negotiate "ashore". Lack of agreement almost always threatens to disappoint. It is important to discuss the stages and conditions of cooperation before starting the work, and not let them drift. It may very soon become clear that the client meant one thing, and the performer meant another. At the initial stage, you should not be shy and it is better to be somewhat bored than to reap the fruits of your own carelessness.

So what is it worth agreeing "ashore"?

• identify responsible persons on both sides, and preferably no more than two;
• clearly identify their areas of responsibility;
• discuss comfortable ways and channels of communication. It can be instant messengers, but all key points are best saved in email correspondence. Remember? Trust but check.
• discuss the type and frequency of reports;
• request and provide all necessary access;
• sign the NDA contract;
• agree on the terms and stages of work for the initial period. Which one Negotiate!
• agree on the payment schedule and exchange of documents;
• arrange for scheduled meetings / phoning, etc.

Is it hard not to miss anything? But it is possible! For example, in our agency there is a checklist for which the manager checks, concluding an agreement with a client.

Forgot or scored? Another danger that can destroy partnerships is the notorious human factor. To be precise, the level of responsibility of specific employees. When the decision makers agreed on everything, and the employees who were to directly perform the work misunderstood something, forgot it somewhere, but scored something, eventually being ineffective. At the same time, the employee will not accept the blame, but will try to shift the responsibility to the partner as much as possible. It is sometimes easier for leaders to take a word than to get to 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.

Do not rush to glue the label "all customers are fools" or "all performers are lazy and only want money." How to change the situation? Start with yourself. It is difficult to admit this, but often the bad that you see in a partner is not his, it's yours.

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

There is always a way out! Just look around

Very often, problems are "chronic" in nature. From time to time - on the same rake. But this is not a reason to give up. It is worth thinking, and what are you doing wrong?

For example, for the employees of our agency the following algorithm works:

• Turn off emotions and act on the "cold head"
• Identify the problem
• 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 to a higher level, in others - coordination of communication regulations. In rare cases, replacing a manager with another who can find an approach can help. But it works if the problem lies precisely in the lack of contact between the responsible persons, and not in something else.

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

And in conclusion

Remember, unresolved problems have the effect of an unexploded bomb: you never know when it explodes if it explodes or if the relationship just goes away. This happens and it is impossible to fully insure against such cases.

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

Initially, to accept for themselves as a credo principles: openness, constructiveness, focus on interaction, respect for the partner and adherence to business etiquette. Pretend to a high level of understanding and effective communication with a partner? Match!