The “Customer is King” 👑 ...is dead.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

A plea for more appreciation in the client-consultant relationship.

Wherever we look in the communications industry, we come across statements like: "The customer is king!”; “What does the customer want?” or “Do you truly understand your customer?” Fortunately, the DMEXCO conference has changed its angle this year and put the topic "Attitude matters" on the agenda. However, in my opinion, what is often neglected in the discussion about attitude is also the inner attitude towards oneself; it is not only about brands and agencies showing attitude to the outside world, but also about looking inwards and about standing up for yourself. After all, at least in part, this is also what (good) consultants are paid to do. 

At Laika we regularly carry out an Employee Engagement Survey - we call it our own Wellbeing Index. In this index we measure, among other things, a very special value to us: the appreciation our crew members experience from each other and from their customers. While the score of the team showing gratitude to each other is always high, the appreciation felt by our customers fluctuates considerably. When I look back on more than ten years of agency experience, a lack of customer appreciation has always been a topic vividly discussed and turned many senior consultants into being very cynical about their own profession. From personal conversations, I know that the lack of appreciation that communication consultants experience in agencies is often the decisive reason to look for a new profession or to simply change to the corporate side. But does it have to be this way? 

Have we lost the value of communications? 

At some point in time, our work has been devaluated. It would be naive to say that the world hasn’t changed and that communications, its channels and to a certain extent, credibility has suffered. We live in a world in which we listen reverently to even the unfriendliest lawyers and simply accept their expensive bills, but in the projection of  those who defend the reputation of a company with their heart and soul are truthfully not even closely considered in the same value spectre. I am not talking primarily about monetary appreciation, which also suffers, but more specifically in process: paid pitches are scarce, and budgets are not communicated in advance as to not give the agency "the wrong idea”. However, money is something we can talk about. Money is factual and takes up less space on the emotional level. What I am concerned about at this point is the daily appreciation in the customer-consultant-relationship, which is often not expressed. "Not getting scolded is praise enough.” still seems to be the mantra on the customer's side in many cases (for the untrained eye: Germans don’t overly praise, nor hand out compliments easily). 

In order to get appreciation, you need a sense of self-worth

I am of the unpopular opinion that at least part of this problem is self-inflicted. At both agency and individual consultant level, we, as communications agencies and PR consultants, tend to downplay our own work. "I'm doing something in media" and "the most important thing is that the customer pays in the end" are phrases that are used with unpleasant regularity within our industry. However, our own self-esteem and self-worth can only properly develop if we do a decent job, and we are not blindly following the requests or demands of our customers.  

We are part of the problem if we do not stand up for our own advice, experience and skills and instead follow what the customer thinks he wants. It is our professional obligation to provide the best possible guidance for our clients to make better and sensible decisions, ideally, together.

Protecting our own self-esteem and integrity sometimes requires us to make far-reaching decisions. This year, for example, in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, we were faced with the difficult choice to terminate one of our largest customers and thus lose 10% of our revenues. The reason was a lack of appreciation in the daily exchanges between the client and our team. This was of course not a popular decision for everyone, but the impact on the team was too damaging on too many fronts and there was a growing lack of appreciation in the daily exchanges between the client and our team.

We ended this customer relationship fully aware that we are only in our second year of operating as an agency and in the middle of an economic crisis. However, we need to remember that we always do have a choice. Even if as a service provider. We just sometimes forget that we do. Using our freedom of choice protects the value of our colleagues and their work.  

Working at eye level means communicating expectations clearly 

I am aware of the fact that there is always a certain resonance, this is the unspoken power difference between the agency as a service provider and the customer as ‘king’. So how do you manage to maintain working relationships at eye level? The magic words are: well-thought-through communication; the exact matter our clients hire us for. Unfortunately we often forget this for ourselves in our hectic everyday lives. We have to clarify what kind of cooperation we want, what our values are and what kind of behaviour we expect beforehand, or the latest during onboarding. At Laika we now make this a part of our pitch presentations, proposals and kickoffs. We take time each week for team retrospectives and we plan to have more regular feedback meetings with our customers.  

How we approach our choice of vocabulary and demeanour also plays a critical role in the relationship - at least in German where we should differentiate a bit more between the terms of “customer” and “client”. One way to look at it is as follows: think of one of those lawyer shows, like Suits. You will often hear them speaking of clients or mandates - not of customers. There is a different approach in serving your client - and for example - doing what is in the best interest of your client. This also carries an added layer of responsibility and sometimes – consequences. Instead of being king, a client should rather be a person in whose best interest you want to do your job, this includes telling unpleasant truths. After all, a lawyer would also not give a client the option of ‘D’ when there’s only option A, B, or C,- just because the client wants it and is paying for it. There is more to it: once we do no longer meet at eye level, it might be too late.

When the infamous "extra mile” pays off

Essentially, many of our customers — pardon me, clients — appreciate the value of our work. Which shows in the sense that we have never been forced to carry out cold calling; at least 50% of our enquiries are based on the reference of a satisfied client.  

Even the aforementioned client, whom we had to say goodbye to with a heavy heart and being afraid of ending up with empty pockets, recommended us throughout the period of ending our cooperation to someone else. The same client, who criticized us daily, recommended us to someone else at the same moment. This shows that in the business world there is often still the misconception that service providers have to be pushed to get results.

Are you currently reading from the customers’ side and wondering what this text has to do with you? My answer: a lot! Let me give you an example: in one of our internal workshop formats we let our colleagues write down what makes the ideal team for them. Almost no sheet of paper had "high budget" or "the greatest product/idea" written on it. It's the same values that make for good cooperation: working at eye level, with respect, mutual appreciation and recognition of performance. And these are the values that pay off: because those who experience appreciation are prepared to go the famous extra mile for their colleagues and clients alike.  

About the author 

Michaela Krause is the founder and managing director of Laika Communications. With +13 years of experience in the DACH market she is a PR professional throughout. Her work ranges from product and corporate communications to crisis communications and event PR for companies such as AOL, Box, Evernote, Pinterest, Snapchat, Soundcloud, TransferWise, Trivago and Twitch. With Laika Communications she communicates the technologies of tomorrow and communicatively paves the way for new innovations. Ela also advocates more transparency, integrity, respect, honesty and commitment in the communications industry.