I once worked with someone whose agency mantra was "the first day you win a client is the first day you start losing them'
Not only was that phrase loaded with marketing speak and gobbledygook, no doubt at home at some middle management bible, but it was also rather depressing. Underpinning it is this inevitable resignation that one day, clients leave. This isn't ground breaking, but what does underpin this statements is fear. The fear that without a client you are nothing. That a client leaving is something to be avoided at all costs. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Lets set a few things straight, clients leave for LOTS of reason, like people leave jobs for lots of reasons. Some of those are because they don't like you, others are because they prefer someone else who may seem cheaper, or more enthusiastic. Perhaps they think another agency would be better for this job. Maybe personnel changes within the client means new people want to bring in their own tried and trusted agency?
Sometimes, like all clients, they like change for changes sake. This happens and it's not earth shattering. It is not the same as being diagnosed with an incurable cancer.
This fear is the preserve of the account manager because losing the client is virtually the ONLY thing an account manager may be taken to task over. After years of working with account managers and I still have no idea what the hell they do (apart from raise over-heads and say yes to the client, work on their tan) so losing a client, losing that piece of revenue, is a major fucking problem for them.
This is the reason why most account managers only ever say yes to the client. They're scared and they're spineless to do anything but agree. They're also desperate to impress, to look good, to be appreciated by the client. Any why wouldn't they? They're contributing nothing to the project so they hunt for any glory they can find. But that's the nub of the problem. As they don't produce anything, they rely on other people, i.e. the designers to make them look good.
Which is where we find ourselves now. The new design brief was going along swimmingly. The team was briefed we started working, collaboratively, and surprisingly without ego. Ideas were generated, binned, kept, worked up, moved along, re-interogated. Interfaces and interactions were designed, changed, re-changed, binned again....you get the idea. All pushing towards a common goal: Fulfilling and then going beyond the requirements of the brief we took a week ago. Driven by the desire to create something unique.
Then the account manager, like a meerkat on speed, 'just happens to be wandering over and thought he might just take a peek at what we're doing'....
...Then the inevitable oar in the proceedings.
Here's what they say:
"hmm...yeah...what i think the client would like is if you did it this way...."
"I think the logo should be bigger on this one..."
"maybe if you moved this up there and that a bit to the right...."
"can we do like 50,00 variations of this one idea so it looks like we've got lots to show them..."
Here's what they should say:
"..........................................................."
"I want to schedule a meeting for next Wednesday. Is that OK? And let me know closer to the time what you will be presenting"
Oh Joy, the inevitable and soul grinding tedium that is sparring with the account manager can begin in earnest. Now, not only do I now have to do the work, I also have to spend a considerable amount of time 'hand-holding' the account manager through the intricacies of communication, branding, interface design, information design, web development, browser, bandwidth, etc, etc so that he can understand why the work has moved in that direction and have his fear allayed.
..Then he wants changes, changes or changes sake. Changes before the client has even fed back. Changes because he's trying to second guess the client, he's trying to add his 'bit' to the process. Pointless work, busy work for the sake of it. Churning it out in a desperate bid to impress. Ironically, their agenda is now more important than the clients and i have always wondered how clients would feel if they saw this going on, how hours were wasted on projects because of the one person there who is suppsoed to manage that client relationship?
And so it continues, another week of this before the we put this in front of the noses of the client.
Epilogue:
The above is played out in all studios across London and no doubt across the globe. But it doesn't need to be this way. Normally a client comes to a designer with a brief to be solved, not with a pre-existing idea they want you to artwork. I say normally, a lot of clients do indeed just want you to artwork their idea! Those clients suck!
However, most clients, when you explain to them this simple relationship, are suddenly relieved. They want to put this job in the hands of a professional, they actually don't want to micromanage this job. They want you to come back with the best option, and typically only one option, if you think that's the best. They want to explain to you their goals, aspirations and they want you to help them get there.
Account managers, in almost all cases, seem unable to grasp this point.
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