The question 63% of agencies never ask
Trust is something every account manager wants to build with their client – but it’s often elusive.
I recently sat down with Charlie Green - co-author, alongside David Maister and Robert Galford, of The Trusted Advisor - a book that’s been on agency bookshelves for 25 years and still earns its place. We talked about how account managers can build trust with their clients, the trustworthiness equation (which is quoted by everyone in training!) and the kinds of questions that shift a relationship from transactional to something more valuable. Trust is something every account manager wants to build with their client – but it’s often elusive.
A Key Question to Ask Your Client Today
The question 63% of agencies never ask
According to research by consultancy firm Relationship Audits and Management, nearly two-thirds of agencies have never asked their clients this:
“What does success look like for you working with us?”
Not “what’s the deadline?” Not “what’s in the brief?” But what does a genuinely good working relationship feel like for them?
It sounds simple (because it is) but when you ask it, it opens a completely different conversation - one that shifts you from looking like an order-taker to someone genuinely interested in the client’s success.
What RAM found was that your clients are often waiting for someone to ask it. Most of the time, nobody does.
Watch my 3-minute explainer ↓
In the News
WPP just blew up the holding company model.
WPP’s new CEO Cindy Rose has announced “Elevate28” - a plan to transform WPP from a traditional holding company into a single operating business. The new structure has four units: WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions. Ogilvy, VML and AKQA are being merged under WPP Creative.
WPP is essentially admitting that the holdco model - the model that’s dominated agency land for three decades - isn’t fit for what’s coming next. AI is at the centre of everything they’re now planning.
If the world’s largest agency group is ripping up the blueprint and making big sweeping changes, it’s worth asking what this could mean for independent agencies. More experienced talent coming onto the market to hire? More business from clients who might be destabilised by the changes? A model for how to operate with AI at the core of the business model?
