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This series on the Gonzo SEO blog will look at the poor client management techniques that are constantly being practiced, and as a result, are costing Internet marketing companies their key clients.
Effective client management requires effective team communication. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you’ll have great case studies to create press releases about your success stories.
Just two months ago my team had landed a new client. We were doing the average project for him: search engine optimization, analytics analysis, and helping him improve his conversion rate. Naturally it involved four different members of our team: 1 SEO, 2 analytics analysts, and 1 conversion expert. That’s four of us, and only one client.
This guy is more of an old fashioned client. He expects the utmost professionalism, and above all, he wants us to know we are working together to improve his business. So when I received an email from him saying, “I sent you the product demo page two weeks ago, why is Duke asking me for it?” I knew we had turned this client into a ticking time bomb.
Having other people help you with a project is usually a good thing. But what happens when they are all working independently towards the same goal? Well naturally some people work faster than others, and they are approaching the problem from different perspectives. When Person A gets to one checkpoint, Person B may have already been there, but the client is involved at every checkpoint. Confused?
The mistake we made was quite simple. We were all communicating with the client (a very good thing), but no one was communicating with each other (a very bad thing.) It wasn’t unreasonable for him to get upset when he is expecting the agency he paid a lot of money to market his website to be working efficiently at doing just that. We were also wasting his time by making him repeat himself.
In order to improve your team communication, you should start taking the following actions:
- Carbon Copy (CC) everyone involved with the project on every email. Even if you are the SEO and you are only speaking to him about SEO. Everyone will know where each other stands in terms of progress with the account. In return, the client will most likely start using the “Reply to All” function so his questions/answers will also be sent to everyone. If not, make sure you forwarded it around to the team.
- Hold 1-2 meetings a week, where you recap what you are doing for the client and where you stand on the project. It doesn’t even have to be a long meeting (and probably won’t). The 20 minutes you spend in each of these meetings will save you the hours of cleanup time you have to go through when you mismanage your client because of poor communication.
- Brainstorm together. Get others input on the work you are doing. If you are the analytics person, ask others why they think a certain page has such a high exit rate. If you’re the SEO guru, ask for link bait ideas or keyword suggestions. This will help build everyone’s skills in the other areas of online marketing, too.
- Create a template of all the general checkpoints you should achieve in your traditional projects. Almost like a general to-do list. Make it available for everyone to use and check off. A great tool to use is Remember the Milk.
It really isn’t that much work. You’re basically going about the same routine you always do, but you’re letting other people know about it and you’re getting their help. It’s a win-win situation.
{ 2 comments }
When you’re already behind, it’s easy to skip (time|project|office) management. But it is easily the most valuable time you can spend.
I agree, Scott. I’ve especially found it difficult after missing a week this month at Pubcon. Trying to catch up with all of my emails and give everyone enough attention is hard. But you’re right, it is the most valuable time you can spend.
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