Proactive vs. Reactive Agencies

Agencies should be your friend.

We hire agencies to make our lives easier. In any industry that is a professional service (marketing, accounting, janitorial work), companies outsource tasks to trained professionals that focus on those specific tasks all day long. This ensures the job gets done and more importantly, the job gets the proper attention it deserves. With all of that time an outsourced agency spends on marketing, they should be proactive in bringing new thoughts, ideas, & opportunities to their clients. Conversely, they should be overseeing everything to prevent mistakes and bring solutions to the problems they foresee. This means using data to develop insights and collaborating with your client based on things you see happening. This is your world! Be an expert.

Don't make your client point out all of your mistakes.

Now that we've established you're the expert, it's important to remain that way. There is no way that any individual or agency can catch everything. That being said, the agency should be the person more times than not that is catching something!! If your client is the one catching mistakes, and you are simply the one correcting instead of preventing problems, you're in deep $h!+. Preventing as opposed to simply correcting is the key to being a partner that brings expertise to a client. It establishes trust with your client, as mentioned in the Harvard Business Review Article on earning trust as a service company. It states, "[t]o the extent possible, solve service problems before they reach the customer." This is an invaluable trait that will allow you to be seen as a real resource and expert to your customer.

Being proactive doesn't just mean finding mistakes.

So now we're in a great place. You are the expert, you're looking for problems before they occur, and you're bringing solutions instead of problems to your client! Job done......well, not quite. Being proactive means you don't let problems unravel, yes.

It also means that you are bringing new ideas, efforts, or methodologies to your client so that they can assess if it is suitable for their business. I see so many agencies in my industry become complacent after a period of time with a client. They assume their personal relationship will be enough to maintain a professional relationship. This is not the case! Whether they take to your new product/strategy or not, simply being on the forefront of your space and providing them with options will show clients that you are also thinking about how you improve your already-phenomenal service to them. These little things are noticed and appreciated, especially for customers that have been with your organization for quite some time. At the end of the day, it will work to strengthen their thought process about how you, as an agency, prioritize your clients.

What's the biggest reason to work with proactive vs reactive agencies?

Time. Ultimately, we, as service companies, provide our clients with the time to go do what they love. That's why we hire accountants (no offense, left-brain folks). Clients enjoy making the business run. Whether that's operations, sales, or brainstorming, there is something that attracts them to go to work every day, and it's not just money. As a service provider, your organization has the ability to give your clients more time to focus on what they love to do as opposed to something they have to do. That is the last piece to this puzzle. Ultimately, by being a good strategic partner, by preventing problems instead of correcting them, and by bringing new ideas to your client, the trust will be gained. As your client gains more and more trust in you and your organization, they can get back to the things they actually like doing. This is the ultimate compliment for a service company. However, as soon as they do this, it's time to read some more articles about your industry to let people know what's coming next down the pipeline. It's a never-ending process, that if nurtured, will provide long-standing relationships both professionally and personally.

I encourage you to disagree (I love different perspectives), agree, or comment if you have thoughts. After all, I'm not writing these for myself. I'm writing to create discussion. Channels Bugs Bunny* That's All Folks!