Not available on the App Store: How to engage clients in meaningful ways

Great client relationships are not available on the app store. You need to get out there into your market if you are serious about doing every possible penny of business, about developing your own career too.

As an economy, we are now officially bigger than we were before the crunch, so the money is out there. Companies have money to invest again, and companies have money to buy again. Especially in London. Those focused on growth are again out in the market on the hunt for new business and finding it is there.

The current zeitgeist will prevent a return to before, and the predictions are for a new wave of investment, not spend, focused less on client entertainment, more on intelligent client engagement.

Certainly, that was the feeling when we asked the market about the importance of developing great business relationships in the world of modern media and marketing.

Making the point that quality of work comes first, Lucy Kemp, co-founder of Birmingham-based Clarity Comms, said: “We track client satisfaction across four levels – detraction, transaction, partnership and loyalty. Our focus is delivering great work to establish the relationship. If a client is in detraction is does not matter how much corporate hospitality you offer, they will still leave if the work isn't good enough. Once you have proved yourself as an agency by demonstrating the great work you produce, then you start developing the relationship, and then a little hospitality goes a long way.”

Michael Flannigan, aviation giant Lockheed Martin's transport sector marketing manager, provides a global perspective: “Relationships are hugely important both from an existing customer and new business perspective. When problems crop up, it's easier to deal with someone who you have a personal relationship with. For global firms, building rapport can be difficult. That's why we tend to focus our client entertainment around established industry events, where we can get a good mix of customers and prospects meeting together in a relaxed atmosphere.” However, in our line of business – where we are often dealing with publicly funded organisations – transparency and ethics are equally important. Everything we do has to be rationalised, authorised and declared internally – and many of our customers have to do likewise.'”

That admin will echo with many.

Having wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiments of his recent opinion piece in The Drum about embracing client relationships, we also asked Matt Charlton, CEO of Brothers & Sisters, for his take on the importance of client entertainment. He said: “I've always found the concept that client entertaining is some sort of bribery completely crazy. Bribery is bribery. Giving people laptops after a pitch is clearly bribery. Sharing a mutually enjoyable experience is not that. It is a truth that successful business is done both formally and informally. Advertising has always been about getting clients to trust you to the point that they are prepared to buy work that frankly frightens the pants of them. It's holding hands and jumping together off a cliff top. In order to have the type of relationships that allows this to happen, you need to have a real and decent relationship with clients as people, not just as corporate automatons.

“In order to get a space in people's ever busy lives you need to be able to offer something attractive. The reality is it is much easier to get people to come to the World Cup in Brazil and spend a significant amount of time together than inviting them to ten pin bowling at Queensway. With every pitch that happens the biggest single criteria is the quality of the relationship with the agency. In my view it would be sensible for both agency and client to go out for the night as part of the pitch process and really get to know each other. And be scored on it by procurement.”

That's a very strong argument for effective relationships in the success they produce, a point also made by Jemma Lester, MD of One Luxury Marketing: “In the modern digital business world, where everything is via email, Skype, conference call and other mediums catering to global business it is both refreshing and reassuring to meet face to face. Business breakfasts or lunches are a way to meet 'the people behind the brand', to engage in an informal setting and to get a better understanding of who you are working with by removing them from the office environment. Client entertainment is a key part of building relationships and hence strengthening communication between you and your client – essential for successful working relationships.”

There's another element to client entertainment – that much of it occurs in the evening and involves a personal time sacrifice from every attendee. Strategy director at Th_nk, Lea Simpson, picks up that point in her observations: “I wouldn't be the first person to say Don Draper has left the building, but when it comes to client entertaining, it couldn't be more true. The baby boomers may have created a legacy of lunches and boozy pow wows, but in 2014 in the battle between the work free night and a free bar, work-free wins every time. So, how do you reconcile that with the knowledge that every relationship is unquestionably strengthened by breaking bread? We try to create that balance by doing something special a couple of times a year. For larger gatherings we host informative events – we are the TED generation after all. At last years TH_NK TANK we 'demystified tech' over presentations, conversations and cocktails. Usually though, when it comes to celebrating shared success, we opt for intimate, money can't buy get togethers, curated and created especially for us.”

Everyone we spoke to agreed on the value of quality and maintained relationships, with strong opinions emerging around the importance of content and timing, in securing diary space and attendance. Relevance is also highlighted as an important factor in ensuring success for client entertainment, for better client engagement.

So far, though, we have only heard from those already at the top. Next week, it's the turn of the junior voices to share their views around building client relationships and forming personal business networks from the ground up in today's connected business world. This week, the word is that people are not dead yet. Will we be extinct by next week or will we hear new theories in the evolution of stronger client relationships? See you next Thursday.

In the meantime, check out the Twenty Rather Good Shouts for client dining courtesy of Mr. Sykes Modern Concierge.