It's so easy to be great...

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Not too long ago I hired a vendor who promised great things.

She had a great price and excellent credentials.

Initially, things even started out great! They had a detailed onboarding sequence they ran us through that (I thought) meant we were in for an excellent, white-glove service.

The reality couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Within weeks it became clear we had made a terrible mistake in choosing this service provider.

The Context

After onboarding we waited with bated breath for… nothing.

The vendor reassured us she and her team were working on our project, but soon it became clear that they had forgotten about us.

When we finally did get the deliverables, they were filled with basic delivery errors.

Eventually after many many rounds of revisions, we got a decent good end product, but the effort it took to get those deliverables was enormous.

This is why so many business owners have a negative view of agencies.

There are too many agencies out there who aren’t even doing the basics right.

So, for all the rest of you chomping at the bit to steal clients from the bad agencies, I present to you my guide to agency greatness (simplified.)

How to be alarmingly better than the competition.

 1. Respond fast

If you haven’t worked with many vendors in the past 90 days you may be surprised to learn that across most industries involving most businesses, vendors respond agonisingly slow.

And if they do respond quickly, it’s usually someone who has no idea what they’re talking about.

(Think back to the last bad software help desk you had to visit)

When I find vendors that respond quickly and knowledgeably, I keep them around as long as I can.

Nothing is more frustrating than working with vendors who won’t communicate quickly and professionally.

2. Set expectations… then meet those expectations

Most service providers do an ok job at setting expectations doing onboarding.

“here’s when you’ll get the first content”
“We can have the ads up and running by this date”
“It takes 90 days to start seeing results”

And on and on and on.

But how often do things actually go according to plan?

Usually, you have to wait on some other service provider, or fix some kind of big, or wait for some information from the client.

When delays happen (and they are certain to happen) you need to reset the expectations with clients.

If your clients are constantly badgering you for due dates on deliverables… maybe you’ve failed to reset expectations.

And please, please, please…

If YOU set the deadline YOU must either meet it (preferred) or proactively tell the client asap that you’ll miss it.

Don’t miss your own deadlines.

That’s the biggest avoidable error out there.

3. Be a guide, not an order taker

This one took us a while to figure out. If your client feels like they’re always pushing you to try new things to get results, they’ll quickly start wondering what they’re paying you for.

“Why pay this agency’s $5,000 retainer when all the good ideas come from me?”

Now regardless of if this is genuinely true or not is another matter.

The point is that clients want to feel like you are guiding them to the Promised Land.

If you never push back or push on a client, they’ll begin to see you not as a trusted guide worth every penny but rather an easy-to-replace order taker.

The difference between you and Mr. Do-it-for-cheaper on Upwork is your status as a trusted guide.

Don’t lose that.

Need some help?

My company Go Carpathian helps agency owners hire the best and the brightest talent.

We’ve placed operations, marketing and sales talent from companies like Deloitte, Amazon, and Sharma Brands for agencies just like yours at 50% less than what a US equivalent would cost.

Tap the link below to chat with my team to find the right fit for your role ASAP without sacrificing quality or taking up all your time.

→ Click here to schedule your free consulting call with a recruiting specialist

Until next time,

Nathan

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Nathan Fales
Co-Founder | Lean Leverage & Go Carpathian
Helping you hire the best & the brightest
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