Service with a Capital “S”
Over the years, I’ve worked opposite many types of clients. I’ve had mellow clients and perpetually stressed-out clients. I’ve had experienced, seasoned communicators as clients and relatives of the CEO who had virtually no background in PR as clients.
And there’s one thing I have provided to all of them, no matter what … My opinion.
You see, there are two levels of "Service." There’s the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland level, which means that anything asked of you by the client receives a response of "Yes, Your Majesty." And then there’s the kind of service taught to me a long time ago by Michael Kempner, CEO of MWW Group. He said to me (paraphrase), "Our job is to tell the client what he needs to do, but then, at the end of the day, do what he wants to do."
Kempner’s point was that we, as experienced PR practitioners, know what is best for our clients. And that is why he said that we have to tell the client what he needs to do. But we don’t necessarily know what is going on behind the scenes for our clients’ organizations. So ultimately, a client will have to weigh our advice, along with other factors we may not even understand.
Of course, shame on us if we aren’t "inside" enough to also have that information available to us. So it all works together. If we try to counsel our clients, rather than just blindly doing what they ask of us, we build credibility with them. And once we build credibility, they bring us more inside.
On the other hand, if we just do what they ask us to do, well, I guess no one wins. The client won’t get our best thinking. We won’t be as inside as we’d like to be. And, perhaps worst of all, our job will become boring.
Here’s how silly it is to just do what the client asks: Imagine you are conducting media training. The client completes a mock interview, and your critique is, "Wow. Excellent job. Really top notch. No criticisms here! You are perfect."
No value, right?
Well, if we take that kind of ridiculous approach with other areas of our client relationship, it’s just as useless.
And I’m not just talking about editing news releases. I’m talking about discussing strategy with clients. So it’s not, "Would you like me to edit your news release?" It’s "Why are you issuing this news release? How does it help your business?" And it’s offering your perspective on those questions, as well as your clients’ answers.
Of course, as with many areas of our industry, it’s a bit of a tightrope. You want to give counsel, but you can’t ALWAYS disagree. No client wants an agency that is difficult to work with. So you have to choose your spots. And when you see you can add value by providing counsel, for goodness sake, do it.
Otherwise, The Queen of Hearts may turn on you …
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