Agency Relationships PART 2: Collaborating Effectively
Oct 25, 2024
Oct 25, 2024
Oct 25, 2024
Oct 25, 2024
We asked experienced marketers to explore the lifecycle of client-agency relationships from their client perspective. Join us as we delve into topics like Finding the Right Agency, Collaborating Effectively, and yes, even Parting Ways (the dreaded breakup).
Wave Hi to Lauren
During Part One of our Agency Relationships Series, we discussed the courting phase. Fast forward…and both parties are in a full blown partnership.
So once an agency has been selected, how do you..work together? How do you collaborate effectively? We brought in Lauren Gallagher, Website Strategy & Product Owner at W.L. Gore & Associates, to give her two cents. As an agency veteran herself, Lauren has been on both sides of the coin, managing teams agency-side and in-house.
——
Q: Tell us how you ended up here.
What is your background working with (and for) agencies?
A:
You could say that I 'grew up' in the agency world. Fresh out college, I started as a Traffic Coordinator which gave me a crash course in agency innerworkings. And over the next decade, I had the opportunity to work in roles from client service to creative operations—wearing many different hats along the way.
It wasn't until 2019 that I made the leap from agency to client side. And I'm grateful for having had agency roles first—it's proven to be a valuable experience time and again. The client agency relationship is a two-way street and requires work on both sides.
Q: Let’s talk about the beginning stages of an agency relationship.
What do you look for from your partner during onboarding? As a client, what should your internal team have prepared?
A:
This should be the honeymoon stage, but if you don't have a solid foundation, you're setting yourself up for some major challenges.
As a client: It's your responsibility to set the agency up for success. You are the expert in your business and you should never assume the agency knows something.
And as an agency: It's your responsibility to set clear expectations and now is the time to ask questions. And make sure everything is documented.
In my experience, there are several things that can make or break the foundation upfront:
Semantics & Vocab - This may seem basic and unnecessary, but this should not be overlooked. So much confusion can stem from two groups calling something different names. Using examples from internal work or past client work (if/when you can) is helpful to ensure everyone is aligned.
Key Players - Outlining the team members and what role they will play is fairly common from the agency side, but it should be something the client provides as well. It benefits an agency to know who the internal stakeholders are - who will be part of meetings and reviews? Who are the main POCs? Who will be giving feedback vs. who are the actual decision makers? Who should be copied on email communication? Who should have access to collaboration tools?
Ways of Working - Establish the communication channels and the collaboration tools you'll use together. How will you be communicating—chat? email? basecamp? What regular meetings will you be setting up? Who is responsible for setting them up? Who needs to be part of those meetings? And equally important, if there are specific internal processes that could factor into the overall work, make sure you walk your partner through those and they understand how they may or may not impact the project.
Initial Timeline - Working through a detailed schedule for a large project can be challenging. There are many dependencies that could impact the timeline, and there may be some additional discovery work needed before everything can be mapped out, but you need a starting point. Don't put off creating a schedule—align on certain assumptions together and build in some contingency. I have lived through a project where my agency did not provide a schedule for 3 months and when they finally did, our launch date was 6 months later than we expected. That was not a fun conversation for either side.
Honest Two-Way Comms - Don't tiptoe around conversations. This is a new relationship, but we have already picked each other, so don't gloss over things or put off certain conversations because you want to stay in that honeymoon bubble. As a client, I want my agency to ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense. Be honest with me about what happens if I miss the deadline to give you feedback. Make sure we both know how to define success, and set up a plan for risk escalation if things start going off track. This communication starts to build trust and just like in a romantic relationship, without trust, it’s a disaster.
Q: Oftentimes, your agency partner won’t be the only one touching a project.
How do you navigate working between your agency and an in-house team? Any advice for client teams doing this for the first time?
A:
As the client, it's my responsibility to make sure the rules of engagement and expectations are clear for internal teams. In the simplest terms—make sure the internal teams know what is required of them and what is in it for them. Do you need their time? Do you need their resources? Is this project something that benefits the work they are doing? Make time to brief them on the project, the goals, the ways of working, etc.
Another requirement for the main POC on the client side: filter out the noise and provide clear direction to the agency. If you have several stakeholders providing feedback, the client contact needs to distill the feedback down—eliminate feedback that is contradicting, determine which feedback is crucial vs. what is not applicable or necessary. Your agency should not have to sift through a shotgun blast of comments or emails from different teams—that kind of mess wastes time and money.
Q: Okay so you're officially “going steady” with an agency.
What do you want to see from your partner? Any tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?
A:
It's not that complicated. If you have established a solid foundation with mutual trust, then you know what your partner needs from you. But as a project progresses, it can be easy to get caught up in the chaos, the deadlines, etc. Don't get stuck in the weeds of the day to day project without carving out time to check-in on your relationship.
Creating a space to provide timely feedback and have an open, respectful conversation about how the partnership is going, allows you to work through small issues before they become larger problems. And having transparent communication helps strengthen that trust muscle.
If you aren't able to have those check-ins or you aren't being heard when you bring up a concern (from the agency or client side), that's a red flag.
Q: In the next part of our series, we’re discussing agency breakups—it happens.
What are some early signs that the two teams might not be the best fit? What is the best way to end things as painlessly as possible?
A:
My response here definitely leans into my point earlier. Having check-ins on how the work and partnership is going, is key. If it's not working out, it shouldn't be a surprise. And you want the agency (or client for that matter) to have a period of time to try and 'fix' the things that are causing issues.
In that up front foundation work, I mentioned risk escalation and mitigation. So both the client and the agency should have agreed on steps to take and who to involve from both teams to work through problems.
I can give a recent example: I was working with an agency partner and it was clear after a month of work that the day-to-day agency team was struggling. I put a stop on work and called a meeting with the agency leaders to discuss it. I wanted the project to succeed, and that means making sure my internal team and my agency partner all set up for success. After some honest (and sometimes uncomfortable) conversations, the agency shifted some of the core team members around. It made a huge difference and demonstrated that they heard me, course-corrected, and were equally invested in this project and partnership.
But if you find yourself in a situation where even after having some 'therapy' style check-ins and making changes, it's still not working—don't drag things out. Make sure you provide tangible feedback and end it in a respectful manner. You don't want to burn a bridge.
Q: Before we go—Any stories you’d like to share that others could learn from?
A:
How much time do we have? 😅
Honestly, agency/client partnerships are not that different from relationships in your personal life. Sure, there is a contractual agreement and money exchanged, but there are still people on both teams trying to make good things happen.
Chemistry does play a part early onthere is definitely a vibe check during the RFP or pitch process. But once you've decided to give it a go, put the time in up front. Don't overlook that step.
And as this relationship grows, make sure you prioritize time to check-in. Regularly provide feedback—celebrate wins, praise hardworking team members, and provide constructive feedback when things aren't going so well.
——
✨ Stay tuned for Part 3, where we sit down with industry veteran & spice expert, Joyce Whitney ✨
We asked experienced marketers to explore the lifecycle of client-agency relationships from their client perspective. Join us as we delve into topics like Finding the Right Agency, Collaborating Effectively, and yes, even Parting Ways (the dreaded breakup).
Wave Hi to Lauren
During Part One of our Agency Relationships Series, we discussed the courting phase. Fast forward…and both parties are in a full blown partnership.
So once an agency has been selected, how do you..work together? How do you collaborate effectively? We brought in Lauren Gallagher, Website Strategy & Product Owner at W.L. Gore & Associates, to give her two cents. As an agency veteran herself, Lauren has been on both sides of the coin, managing teams agency-side and in-house.
——
Q: Tell us how you ended up here.
What is your background working with (and for) agencies?
A:
You could say that I 'grew up' in the agency world. Fresh out college, I started as a Traffic Coordinator which gave me a crash course in agency innerworkings. And over the next decade, I had the opportunity to work in roles from client service to creative operations—wearing many different hats along the way.
It wasn't until 2019 that I made the leap from agency to client side. And I'm grateful for having had agency roles first—it's proven to be a valuable experience time and again. The client agency relationship is a two-way street and requires work on both sides.
Q: Let’s talk about the beginning stages of an agency relationship.
What do you look for from your partner during onboarding? As a client, what should your internal team have prepared?
A:
This should be the honeymoon stage, but if you don't have a solid foundation, you're setting yourself up for some major challenges.
As a client: It's your responsibility to set the agency up for success. You are the expert in your business and you should never assume the agency knows something.
And as an agency: It's your responsibility to set clear expectations and now is the time to ask questions. And make sure everything is documented.
In my experience, there are several things that can make or break the foundation upfront:
Semantics & Vocab - This may seem basic and unnecessary, but this should not be overlooked. So much confusion can stem from two groups calling something different names. Using examples from internal work or past client work (if/when you can) is helpful to ensure everyone is aligned.
Key Players - Outlining the team members and what role they will play is fairly common from the agency side, but it should be something the client provides as well. It benefits an agency to know who the internal stakeholders are - who will be part of meetings and reviews? Who are the main POCs? Who will be giving feedback vs. who are the actual decision makers? Who should be copied on email communication? Who should have access to collaboration tools?
Ways of Working - Establish the communication channels and the collaboration tools you'll use together. How will you be communicating—chat? email? basecamp? What regular meetings will you be setting up? Who is responsible for setting them up? Who needs to be part of those meetings? And equally important, if there are specific internal processes that could factor into the overall work, make sure you walk your partner through those and they understand how they may or may not impact the project.
Initial Timeline - Working through a detailed schedule for a large project can be challenging. There are many dependencies that could impact the timeline, and there may be some additional discovery work needed before everything can be mapped out, but you need a starting point. Don't put off creating a schedule—align on certain assumptions together and build in some contingency. I have lived through a project where my agency did not provide a schedule for 3 months and when they finally did, our launch date was 6 months later than we expected. That was not a fun conversation for either side.
Honest Two-Way Comms - Don't tiptoe around conversations. This is a new relationship, but we have already picked each other, so don't gloss over things or put off certain conversations because you want to stay in that honeymoon bubble. As a client, I want my agency to ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense. Be honest with me about what happens if I miss the deadline to give you feedback. Make sure we both know how to define success, and set up a plan for risk escalation if things start going off track. This communication starts to build trust and just like in a romantic relationship, without trust, it’s a disaster.
Q: Oftentimes, your agency partner won’t be the only one touching a project.
How do you navigate working between your agency and an in-house team? Any advice for client teams doing this for the first time?
A:
As the client, it's my responsibility to make sure the rules of engagement and expectations are clear for internal teams. In the simplest terms—make sure the internal teams know what is required of them and what is in it for them. Do you need their time? Do you need their resources? Is this project something that benefits the work they are doing? Make time to brief them on the project, the goals, the ways of working, etc.
Another requirement for the main POC on the client side: filter out the noise and provide clear direction to the agency. If you have several stakeholders providing feedback, the client contact needs to distill the feedback down—eliminate feedback that is contradicting, determine which feedback is crucial vs. what is not applicable or necessary. Your agency should not have to sift through a shotgun blast of comments or emails from different teams—that kind of mess wastes time and money.
Q: Okay so you're officially “going steady” with an agency.
What do you want to see from your partner? Any tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?
A:
It's not that complicated. If you have established a solid foundation with mutual trust, then you know what your partner needs from you. But as a project progresses, it can be easy to get caught up in the chaos, the deadlines, etc. Don't get stuck in the weeds of the day to day project without carving out time to check-in on your relationship.
Creating a space to provide timely feedback and have an open, respectful conversation about how the partnership is going, allows you to work through small issues before they become larger problems. And having transparent communication helps strengthen that trust muscle.
If you aren't able to have those check-ins or you aren't being heard when you bring up a concern (from the agency or client side), that's a red flag.
Q: In the next part of our series, we’re discussing agency breakups—it happens.
What are some early signs that the two teams might not be the best fit? What is the best way to end things as painlessly as possible?
A:
My response here definitely leans into my point earlier. Having check-ins on how the work and partnership is going, is key. If it's not working out, it shouldn't be a surprise. And you want the agency (or client for that matter) to have a period of time to try and 'fix' the things that are causing issues.
In that up front foundation work, I mentioned risk escalation and mitigation. So both the client and the agency should have agreed on steps to take and who to involve from both teams to work through problems.
I can give a recent example: I was working with an agency partner and it was clear after a month of work that the day-to-day agency team was struggling. I put a stop on work and called a meeting with the agency leaders to discuss it. I wanted the project to succeed, and that means making sure my internal team and my agency partner all set up for success. After some honest (and sometimes uncomfortable) conversations, the agency shifted some of the core team members around. It made a huge difference and demonstrated that they heard me, course-corrected, and were equally invested in this project and partnership.
But if you find yourself in a situation where even after having some 'therapy' style check-ins and making changes, it's still not working—don't drag things out. Make sure you provide tangible feedback and end it in a respectful manner. You don't want to burn a bridge.
Q: Before we go—Any stories you’d like to share that others could learn from?
A:
How much time do we have? 😅
Honestly, agency/client partnerships are not that different from relationships in your personal life. Sure, there is a contractual agreement and money exchanged, but there are still people on both teams trying to make good things happen.
Chemistry does play a part early onthere is definitely a vibe check during the RFP or pitch process. But once you've decided to give it a go, put the time in up front. Don't overlook that step.
And as this relationship grows, make sure you prioritize time to check-in. Regularly provide feedback—celebrate wins, praise hardworking team members, and provide constructive feedback when things aren't going so well.
——
✨ Stay tuned for Part 3, where we sit down with industry veteran & spice expert, Joyce Whitney ✨
We asked experienced marketers to explore the lifecycle of client-agency relationships from their client perspective. Join us as we delve into topics like Finding the Right Agency, Collaborating Effectively, and yes, even Parting Ways (the dreaded breakup).
Wave Hi to Lauren
During Part One of our Agency Relationships Series, we discussed the courting phase. Fast forward…and both parties are in a full blown partnership.
So once an agency has been selected, how do you..work together? How do you collaborate effectively? We brought in Lauren Gallagher, Website Strategy & Product Owner at W.L. Gore & Associates, to give her two cents. As an agency veteran herself, Lauren has been on both sides of the coin, managing teams agency-side and in-house.
——
Q: Tell us how you ended up here.
What is your background working with (and for) agencies?
A:
You could say that I 'grew up' in the agency world. Fresh out college, I started as a Traffic Coordinator which gave me a crash course in agency innerworkings. And over the next decade, I had the opportunity to work in roles from client service to creative operations—wearing many different hats along the way.
It wasn't until 2019 that I made the leap from agency to client side. And I'm grateful for having had agency roles first—it's proven to be a valuable experience time and again. The client agency relationship is a two-way street and requires work on both sides.
Q: Let’s talk about the beginning stages of an agency relationship.
What do you look for from your partner during onboarding? As a client, what should your internal team have prepared?
A:
This should be the honeymoon stage, but if you don't have a solid foundation, you're setting yourself up for some major challenges.
As a client: It's your responsibility to set the agency up for success. You are the expert in your business and you should never assume the agency knows something.
And as an agency: It's your responsibility to set clear expectations and now is the time to ask questions. And make sure everything is documented.
In my experience, there are several things that can make or break the foundation upfront:
Semantics & Vocab - This may seem basic and unnecessary, but this should not be overlooked. So much confusion can stem from two groups calling something different names. Using examples from internal work or past client work (if/when you can) is helpful to ensure everyone is aligned.
Key Players - Outlining the team members and what role they will play is fairly common from the agency side, but it should be something the client provides as well. It benefits an agency to know who the internal stakeholders are - who will be part of meetings and reviews? Who are the main POCs? Who will be giving feedback vs. who are the actual decision makers? Who should be copied on email communication? Who should have access to collaboration tools?
Ways of Working - Establish the communication channels and the collaboration tools you'll use together. How will you be communicating—chat? email? basecamp? What regular meetings will you be setting up? Who is responsible for setting them up? Who needs to be part of those meetings? And equally important, if there are specific internal processes that could factor into the overall work, make sure you walk your partner through those and they understand how they may or may not impact the project.
Initial Timeline - Working through a detailed schedule for a large project can be challenging. There are many dependencies that could impact the timeline, and there may be some additional discovery work needed before everything can be mapped out, but you need a starting point. Don't put off creating a schedule—align on certain assumptions together and build in some contingency. I have lived through a project where my agency did not provide a schedule for 3 months and when they finally did, our launch date was 6 months later than we expected. That was not a fun conversation for either side.
Honest Two-Way Comms - Don't tiptoe around conversations. This is a new relationship, but we have already picked each other, so don't gloss over things or put off certain conversations because you want to stay in that honeymoon bubble. As a client, I want my agency to ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense. Be honest with me about what happens if I miss the deadline to give you feedback. Make sure we both know how to define success, and set up a plan for risk escalation if things start going off track. This communication starts to build trust and just like in a romantic relationship, without trust, it’s a disaster.
Q: Oftentimes, your agency partner won’t be the only one touching a project.
How do you navigate working between your agency and an in-house team? Any advice for client teams doing this for the first time?
A:
As the client, it's my responsibility to make sure the rules of engagement and expectations are clear for internal teams. In the simplest terms—make sure the internal teams know what is required of them and what is in it for them. Do you need their time? Do you need their resources? Is this project something that benefits the work they are doing? Make time to brief them on the project, the goals, the ways of working, etc.
Another requirement for the main POC on the client side: filter out the noise and provide clear direction to the agency. If you have several stakeholders providing feedback, the client contact needs to distill the feedback down—eliminate feedback that is contradicting, determine which feedback is crucial vs. what is not applicable or necessary. Your agency should not have to sift through a shotgun blast of comments or emails from different teams—that kind of mess wastes time and money.
Q: Okay so you're officially “going steady” with an agency.
What do you want to see from your partner? Any tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?
A:
It's not that complicated. If you have established a solid foundation with mutual trust, then you know what your partner needs from you. But as a project progresses, it can be easy to get caught up in the chaos, the deadlines, etc. Don't get stuck in the weeds of the day to day project without carving out time to check-in on your relationship.
Creating a space to provide timely feedback and have an open, respectful conversation about how the partnership is going, allows you to work through small issues before they become larger problems. And having transparent communication helps strengthen that trust muscle.
If you aren't able to have those check-ins or you aren't being heard when you bring up a concern (from the agency or client side), that's a red flag.
Q: In the next part of our series, we’re discussing agency breakups—it happens.
What are some early signs that the two teams might not be the best fit? What is the best way to end things as painlessly as possible?
A:
My response here definitely leans into my point earlier. Having check-ins on how the work and partnership is going, is key. If it's not working out, it shouldn't be a surprise. And you want the agency (or client for that matter) to have a period of time to try and 'fix' the things that are causing issues.
In that up front foundation work, I mentioned risk escalation and mitigation. So both the client and the agency should have agreed on steps to take and who to involve from both teams to work through problems.
I can give a recent example: I was working with an agency partner and it was clear after a month of work that the day-to-day agency team was struggling. I put a stop on work and called a meeting with the agency leaders to discuss it. I wanted the project to succeed, and that means making sure my internal team and my agency partner all set up for success. After some honest (and sometimes uncomfortable) conversations, the agency shifted some of the core team members around. It made a huge difference and demonstrated that they heard me, course-corrected, and were equally invested in this project and partnership.
But if you find yourself in a situation where even after having some 'therapy' style check-ins and making changes, it's still not working—don't drag things out. Make sure you provide tangible feedback and end it in a respectful manner. You don't want to burn a bridge.
Q: Before we go—Any stories you’d like to share that others could learn from?
A:
How much time do we have? 😅
Honestly, agency/client partnerships are not that different from relationships in your personal life. Sure, there is a contractual agreement and money exchanged, but there are still people on both teams trying to make good things happen.
Chemistry does play a part early onthere is definitely a vibe check during the RFP or pitch process. But once you've decided to give it a go, put the time in up front. Don't overlook that step.
And as this relationship grows, make sure you prioritize time to check-in. Regularly provide feedback—celebrate wins, praise hardworking team members, and provide constructive feedback when things aren't going so well.
——
✨ Stay tuned for Part 3, where we sit down with industry veteran & spice expert, Joyce Whitney ✨
We asked experienced marketers to explore the lifecycle of client-agency relationships from their client perspective. Join us as we delve into topics like Finding the Right Agency, Collaborating Effectively, and yes, even Parting Ways (the dreaded breakup).
Wave Hi to Lauren
During Part One of our Agency Relationships Series, we discussed the courting phase. Fast forward…and both parties are in a full blown partnership.
So once an agency has been selected, how do you..work together? How do you collaborate effectively? We brought in Lauren Gallagher, Website Strategy & Product Owner at W.L. Gore & Associates, to give her two cents. As an agency veteran herself, Lauren has been on both sides of the coin, managing teams agency-side and in-house.
——
Q: Tell us how you ended up here.
What is your background working with (and for) agencies?
A:
You could say that I 'grew up' in the agency world. Fresh out college, I started as a Traffic Coordinator which gave me a crash course in agency innerworkings. And over the next decade, I had the opportunity to work in roles from client service to creative operations—wearing many different hats along the way.
It wasn't until 2019 that I made the leap from agency to client side. And I'm grateful for having had agency roles first—it's proven to be a valuable experience time and again. The client agency relationship is a two-way street and requires work on both sides.
Q: Let’s talk about the beginning stages of an agency relationship.
What do you look for from your partner during onboarding? As a client, what should your internal team have prepared?
A:
This should be the honeymoon stage, but if you don't have a solid foundation, you're setting yourself up for some major challenges.
As a client: It's your responsibility to set the agency up for success. You are the expert in your business and you should never assume the agency knows something.
And as an agency: It's your responsibility to set clear expectations and now is the time to ask questions. And make sure everything is documented.
In my experience, there are several things that can make or break the foundation upfront:
Semantics & Vocab - This may seem basic and unnecessary, but this should not be overlooked. So much confusion can stem from two groups calling something different names. Using examples from internal work or past client work (if/when you can) is helpful to ensure everyone is aligned.
Key Players - Outlining the team members and what role they will play is fairly common from the agency side, but it should be something the client provides as well. It benefits an agency to know who the internal stakeholders are - who will be part of meetings and reviews? Who are the main POCs? Who will be giving feedback vs. who are the actual decision makers? Who should be copied on email communication? Who should have access to collaboration tools?
Ways of Working - Establish the communication channels and the collaboration tools you'll use together. How will you be communicating—chat? email? basecamp? What regular meetings will you be setting up? Who is responsible for setting them up? Who needs to be part of those meetings? And equally important, if there are specific internal processes that could factor into the overall work, make sure you walk your partner through those and they understand how they may or may not impact the project.
Initial Timeline - Working through a detailed schedule for a large project can be challenging. There are many dependencies that could impact the timeline, and there may be some additional discovery work needed before everything can be mapped out, but you need a starting point. Don't put off creating a schedule—align on certain assumptions together and build in some contingency. I have lived through a project where my agency did not provide a schedule for 3 months and when they finally did, our launch date was 6 months later than we expected. That was not a fun conversation for either side.
Honest Two-Way Comms - Don't tiptoe around conversations. This is a new relationship, but we have already picked each other, so don't gloss over things or put off certain conversations because you want to stay in that honeymoon bubble. As a client, I want my agency to ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense. Be honest with me about what happens if I miss the deadline to give you feedback. Make sure we both know how to define success, and set up a plan for risk escalation if things start going off track. This communication starts to build trust and just like in a romantic relationship, without trust, it’s a disaster.
Q: Oftentimes, your agency partner won’t be the only one touching a project.
How do you navigate working between your agency and an in-house team? Any advice for client teams doing this for the first time?
A:
As the client, it's my responsibility to make sure the rules of engagement and expectations are clear for internal teams. In the simplest terms—make sure the internal teams know what is required of them and what is in it for them. Do you need their time? Do you need their resources? Is this project something that benefits the work they are doing? Make time to brief them on the project, the goals, the ways of working, etc.
Another requirement for the main POC on the client side: filter out the noise and provide clear direction to the agency. If you have several stakeholders providing feedback, the client contact needs to distill the feedback down—eliminate feedback that is contradicting, determine which feedback is crucial vs. what is not applicable or necessary. Your agency should not have to sift through a shotgun blast of comments or emails from different teams—that kind of mess wastes time and money.
Q: Okay so you're officially “going steady” with an agency.
What do you want to see from your partner? Any tips on maintaining a healthy relationship?
A:
It's not that complicated. If you have established a solid foundation with mutual trust, then you know what your partner needs from you. But as a project progresses, it can be easy to get caught up in the chaos, the deadlines, etc. Don't get stuck in the weeds of the day to day project without carving out time to check-in on your relationship.
Creating a space to provide timely feedback and have an open, respectful conversation about how the partnership is going, allows you to work through small issues before they become larger problems. And having transparent communication helps strengthen that trust muscle.
If you aren't able to have those check-ins or you aren't being heard when you bring up a concern (from the agency or client side), that's a red flag.
Q: In the next part of our series, we’re discussing agency breakups—it happens.
What are some early signs that the two teams might not be the best fit? What is the best way to end things as painlessly as possible?
A:
My response here definitely leans into my point earlier. Having check-ins on how the work and partnership is going, is key. If it's not working out, it shouldn't be a surprise. And you want the agency (or client for that matter) to have a period of time to try and 'fix' the things that are causing issues.
In that up front foundation work, I mentioned risk escalation and mitigation. So both the client and the agency should have agreed on steps to take and who to involve from both teams to work through problems.
I can give a recent example: I was working with an agency partner and it was clear after a month of work that the day-to-day agency team was struggling. I put a stop on work and called a meeting with the agency leaders to discuss it. I wanted the project to succeed, and that means making sure my internal team and my agency partner all set up for success. After some honest (and sometimes uncomfortable) conversations, the agency shifted some of the core team members around. It made a huge difference and demonstrated that they heard me, course-corrected, and were equally invested in this project and partnership.
But if you find yourself in a situation where even after having some 'therapy' style check-ins and making changes, it's still not working—don't drag things out. Make sure you provide tangible feedback and end it in a respectful manner. You don't want to burn a bridge.
Q: Before we go—Any stories you’d like to share that others could learn from?
A:
How much time do we have? 😅
Honestly, agency/client partnerships are not that different from relationships in your personal life. Sure, there is a contractual agreement and money exchanged, but there are still people on both teams trying to make good things happen.
Chemistry does play a part early onthere is definitely a vibe check during the RFP or pitch process. But once you've decided to give it a go, put the time in up front. Don't overlook that step.
And as this relationship grows, make sure you prioritize time to check-in. Regularly provide feedback—celebrate wins, praise hardworking team members, and provide constructive feedback when things aren't going so well.
——
✨ Stay tuned for Part 3, where we sit down with industry veteran & spice expert, Joyce Whitney ✨
Ready for more? Keep bantering.
