Perceptint Musings

Since there wasn’t any feedback on ideas for future posts, I’m going to plow ahead into the fertile stream of consciousness that is my brain. I wanted to talk today about creating value for your clients as an internet marketing consultant.

One of the things that working in retail customer service taught me was that the customer is always right. It sounds like such a cliche, but the truth in the statement is so right on. Especially when you apply the idea to finding success in consulting for clients. A programs success is almost always defined by its perceived value.

One of the mistakes that happens time and again when agencies and companies try to execute a new program is the lack of flexibility around the value and success of a marketing program. Here’s what I mean by that.

Salesperson X has gone out and sold program Y that they believed the client needed more than anything. From what the salesperson has said, the client has expressed this time and again by doing flips and headstands from every sales pitch through contract signing. And it got signed faster than any other contract this quarter, so they must really want it!

Then project kickoff occurs. The new team, production, steps in to replace sales. The razzle dazzle Mercedes is replaced by a well-oiled, hitched wagon. And now you and the client are off to the “across the field fast as you can” races. During your sprint to finish up this pre-defined project, both of you learn that the service they’ve been sold is redundant with another program they already have, isn’t going to impact the business in any way like they thought, or is in process of being done by another vendor in another group within the client organization.

What do you do? For the untrained agencies, project managers and account managers, clients slip through their fingers because they maintain their focus on the statement of work (SOW) because that’s what they’ve been told to do. Finish project Y by May 31st because that’s what the contract says. Deliver the project, even in flames to the client doorstep, because that’s what they paid for.

The way out of this flashing prairie fire of discontent? Educate and train your clients to expect changes mid-stream. Be flexible and open enough in projects to redefine value and success as a project is in motion. If you know a week or a month in that the SOW’s project is going to fail, what can you do to rethink the project, it’s metrics, it’s success - so that your clients investment is not in vain.

Good consultants have the flexibility and eye for opportunity that it takes to continually deliver and find new value for their clients. Project failures lead to corporate exorcism, so you have to keep your eye on finding the value in every project you touch.

Value for a client is also dramatically enhanced when sales and production are working together to scope and deliver client work. Production can help shape the sales offering and ensure that the right resources are in line to deliver the projected work. They can also sniff out early those embarrassing “um…what do you mean you already have another search agency…but I thought we were your search agency…” kind of moments.

This type of crossover planning doesn’t happen as often as you might expect, even in the largest of agencies. But when it does, the client and agency are much happier and better served. Relationships and true partnerships can emerge because of the mutual understanding by all project participants of the goals, needs, etc.

Keeping your value and your clients value high should be at the front and center of every decision you make as a consultant. Keep your customer happy, let them know they are right - with your good counsel and feedback, and stay focused on their world. They know the things they need to demonstrate their own value within the organization, so ask them and help serve it up on a bountiful platter they could never harvest on their own.

May value and wisdom slip from your tongue as raindrops from a storm cloud. Until next time.

© 2008 Keith Boswell