IF YOU WANT TO KEEP CLIENTS DO MORE THAN PAY FOR GOLF
In the office on this hot Saturday afternoon (he who works the most hours often wins)… and spent some time earlier today and last night catching up on reading and wanted to comment on a great article I read by Marc Brownstein in the “Small Agency Diary” of Advertising Age.
Headline: “If you want to keep clients, do more than pay for golf.”
A few quotes:
“There is a rare breed of client out there in 2007: The one that commits to an agency through thick and thin.”
“Agency-client relationships are shortening, averaging two years now.”
“We now operate at the speed of the internet, with fast, impersonal transactions. It’s a give it to me now or I am going elsewhere to get it world. That mentality has seeped into our industry. You can take a client out for a round of golf to build the relationship. But if he doesn’t get results on the promotion next week he’ll thank you for the 18 holes and take his business elsewhere. Nothing personal.”
“Don’t waste your time on the golf course. Save that for your family and friends.”
While I think much of this may be an over exaggeration as we have tremendously loyal clients and great relationships, the bottom line is clients want results – Not golf, not talking. Results. Press. Answers.
I don’t golf and wouldn’t… I would tell a client I’d rather spend 3 hours working on their business than on the golf course, and I often do, and encourage our staff to do the same. RESULTS RESULTS AND RESULTS.
Ronn Torossian
