You Get the Agency You Deserve: 20 Practical and Emotional Lessons to Maximize Your Agency and Partner Relationship  , I suggest that
Jared Belsky
Ripples Media (August 2023)

How to be an effective client for an agency or a  services partner

Jared Belsky has interviewed more than 300 high-level marketing executives (thus far) and found that none of them was trained in managing agency relationships, yet 86% of them want to know how. This is especially significant, given the fact that the business world today is more volatile, more  uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can recall. And that is as true for marketers as it is for those in an agency with which they have a relationship.

According to Belsky, “At the end of the day, a great client is able to motivate, to be firm but fair,  to share information freely and generously, and to work to lower the temperature  when things go wrong. Navigating those moments are what defines your ability around agency management. A great client believes in partnership.  Partnership, as much as anything, means sharing and having the long view. Sharing generously comes in the form of sharing data, sharing information, sharing specific briefs, and always working toward a feeling that there is one team. The long view comes into play because, just like an internal marketing team, there are good days and bad days. Good months and bad months.  A great client understands and is willing to look at the client-agency relationship in a longitudinal manner looking to understand if things are getting better over time. ”  (Page 12)

He shares ten “practical lessons” and ten “emotional lessons,” devoting a separate chapter to each. Based on Belsky’s wide and deep experience “on both sides of the desk,” these lessons are best revealed in context, within a frame of reference, so I will not list the two sets in this brief commentary.

As you probably know already, in or near the central business district of most major cities, there is a farmer’s market at which — at least until COVID-19 — several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as samples of their wares. In that sane spirit, I now provide three additional excerpts that also suggest the thrust and flavor of Belsky’s style.

o “The core ingredients of any great brief are all the same and yet are too often forgotten or missed. The core ingredients help an agency or partner really understand the true why. The intention here is to help you take a step in the right direction.” (Page 28; the core ingredients are listed and discussed on 30-32)

o How to provide effective feedback to your agency? “One of the most important duties of a great client is to give feedback…There is an art and a science to it, and the hope here is that the following strategies may allow you to get the most out of each feedback session with your agency teams.” (61; five strategies are listed and discussed on 61-64)

o How to resolve strong, well-entrenched, and opposing opinions when making a major decision? “In short, the great leader [e.g. A.G. Lafley, retired CEO of Procter & Gamble] do not try to split the middle between two ideas. Instead, look for a new middle idea inspired by both ideas on the ends. A new way to fund. A new way to give something more time to work or fail. Great clients can wrestle with conflicting thoughts and help a great agency forge a new path and approach together.” (104-105)

As I worked my way through Belsky’s lively and eloquent narrative, I realized that most of his suggestions with regard to a solid relationship between a client and its agency can also help to establish and nourish solid relationships between and among the client company’s own people as well as between and among the agency’s own people. Think in terms of effective communication, cooperation, coordination, and most important, of collaboration.  (Re-read the aforequoted passage on Page 12).) In this volume, Jared Belsky reveals and explains the secret sauce of organizational peak performance. You Get the Agency You Deserve is a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

While you are reading this book, I suggest that you highlight key passages, and, record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), and page references as well as your responses to questions posed and to lessons you have learned. (Pay close attention to the key reminders in introductory head notes and end-of-chapter reminders.) These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.