What Do Clients Really Think of Agencies?

“Your best new business opportunities? They live with your existing clients,” says Simon Rhindtutt, co-founder of Relationship Audits. 

As new biz gets harder and harder, agencies are taking a closer look at making sure the clients they’ve already got are sticking with them. But are you approaching this in the right way?

Having been in the industry 25 years, Simon understands the landscape of client-agency relationships better than most. His business, Relationship Audits, helps agencies build stronger and more sustainable client partnerships.

“We’ve got over 30 million data points of what clients think of agencies, and vice versa,” says Simon. “The problem is, many agencies are defaulting to a passive role – like a waiter or waitress. If you’re going to act like that, then there’s always going to be somebody who can do it cheaper or with a bit more personality.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Simon will dive deep into Relationship Audits’ ® extensive insights on client-agency relationships – and provide actionable advice on how you can use this to strengthen your client relationships. [Read more]

“How We Overcame Our ‘Great Churn of 2023′”

Last year, Vicki Jakes‘ agency experienced “the great churn of 2023“.

“I didn’t expect it to be that savage, but I really got my arse handed to me,” says Vicki. “We had maybe 70 clients go through the books last year, and we’re working with less than a fifth of them now.”

There were a few external factors contributing to this, sure. Things like Brexit, conflict in other countries, the cost of living crisis.

But Vicki says the number one culprit was bad client fit.

“We just picked the wrong people to sell this to,” says Vicki. “My dream for the business was to bring big agency level thinking to smaller businesses who can’t always afford it. But any changes in the market and they cancel – they spook so easily.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Vicki will delve into how her agency tackled severe client churn, reshaped their approach to client services, and set themselves up for long-term success. [Read more]

“How We’re Keeping Clients Close and Committed”

Agencies know they’re meant to track their clients’ health and happiness, but a lot of them just… don’t.

“Up until three years ago, there was no one purely focusing on client services,” admits Fiona Skilton, client services director at Collective Content. “Some projects had statements of work, others didn’t, and there were no timing plans or concrete plans behind relationship building – none of that stuff.”

Fiona knew that the best way to stay aligned with clients’ needs was in the form of client health checks. 

“It’s literally forty-five minutes once a year to get us all really focusing on a specific client,” says Fiona. “Now, we have a really good client retention rate, and I think it’s a combination of our niche, our brilliant creative team, and how easy we are to work with.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Fiona will be joining us to discuss how their annual client health checks have hugely impacted their client services, as well as the positive effect it’s had on the team.

How To Make ‘Client Services’ The Whole Team’s Responsibility

Trenton Moss could feel a big change looming. 

Instead of fighting tooth and nail for new biz (and losing), he turned his focus on making sure his agency was indispensable to clients. 

To do that, he needed to make every staff member in his agency a ‘client superstar’.

Step one: increase commercial awareness across the team.

“You need to define what client servicing excellence looks like in your agency – then relentlessly remind everyone of this and make sure they have the confidence and tools to deliver against it.”

“Soon, [my team] began to understand the importance of not doing unbillable time. Whereas previously, they’d just do whatever the client asked, with little thought for the commercial implications.”

The project was a huge undertaking – but the payoff was equally massive: “After we set all of this up, we saw a 35% uplift in revenue from our accounts.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Trenton will delve into how he turned his entire team into client superstars, and how this helped  to boost revenue, transform team morale and saved the business. [Read more]

“How We’re Upselling Existing Clients”

“We’re not just chasing new business anymore – we’ve realised there’s a goldmine of opportunities for upselling within our existing client relationships,” says Lillie Price, head of account management at Mr. President. 

Lillie has spearheaded a shift in how Mr. President approaches client relationships and business growth. Instead of placing all their focus on new leads, the agency is actively ‘farming’ their existing clients. 

One standout example is their work with White & Mackay, a Scottish spirits company. What began as a small radio and digital campaign evolved into a major strategic partnership.

“We spent so much time at their offices, really digging into the nuts and bolts of their business,” recalls Lillie. “We wanted to understand everything – from their sales team’s needs to their supermarket shelf space strategy.”

“They’ve smashed all of their targets – the work is winning awards, and the business is growing. It’s a full-circle success story. And for us, it meant a substantial increase in revenue from an existing client.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Lillie will share practical tips on how agencies can identify opportunities to upsell their existing client base, and position themselves as indispensable strategic partners. [Read more]

How We’re Tackling Over-Servicing with a Data-Led Approach

How do you set boundaries with clients?

It’s a problem every agency grapples with – and something Claire James has put a lot of effort into solving.

“I was in a client meeting recently –  and we’ve over-delivered by 200% on their account,” says Claire, deputy MD at Skout PR.

Claire began to prepare herself for a very tricky conversation.

“You think they’re going to say, ‘It’s YOUR job to do whatever I say!’. But then you’re in a master slave relationship – not a partnership.”

What the client actually said was: “Yep, completely get it.”

“It all comes back down to what kind of relationship you want with your client. If you want an honest and open relationship with your client, you will set that out from the outset: this is a partnership, we will work to deliver what we both agree are the right things to deliver. But if the goalposts for the work change, we reserve the right to change the KPIs that we’re delivering.”

👉 At Happy Clients, Claire will share more about how her agency is tackling over servicing and setting boundaries with clients by combining data insights with strong personal relationships. [Read more]