Getting the most from your PR agency

On the way back from New York last week I watched the film ‘Horrible Bosses’. The film is about three bosses from hell, the most extreme of which is played by Kevin Spacey. He does everything in his power to make life difficult for his staff. He makes them stay late when he knows they have important family commitments. He publicly humiliates them and belittles them in front of colleagues. He gives them tasks to do and then conveniently forgets that he has done so. It made me think about my own staff and what really motivates them and gets them fired up, particularly in the client agency relationship.

We have all had the ‘horrible client’ syndrome. These are the psycho power nuts . They tend to be rude, abrupt and treat the team with total contempt. Luckily, we have very few of those and when we do, we get rid of them fast!

About 6 months ago we were appointed by a new client in the B2B space. It was a hard fought pitch and we were delighted to win.

The CEO of our new client wasted no time in getting us on board. He flew us to where his offices were and put us up in very comfortable accommodation. He wined and dined us made sure we knew everyone, understood all the issues and most importantly he really made us feel part of the team. Two weeks ago I received an email from the CEO of this client about a subject we were discussing, and the bottom of the email he had added:

“Your team continues to produce great work to tight deadlines and gets it published in all of our pre-agreed targeted areas. I couldn’t be happier with our selection of Flagship Consulting as the winner in a tightly fought, highly competitive environment against many other top quality PR agencies. Your consultative approach and your wise counsel     have helped steer us through times where everyone has an opinion but very few have anything important to say. We look forward to long and prosperous relationship with you all.”

We always produce outstanding results but the team working on this particular client have generated stellar outcomes. They love working on the business, fight ferociously to achieve results and are personally committed to their success.

Could it have something to do with the way they have been treated? I wonder…