3 Reasons Why Creative Agencies Lose Accounts

There’s nothing more expensive than losing a client. Every lost account can do major long term damage to your agency’s bottom line. Sometimes losing an account is unavoidable but most of the time it isn’t. In order to understand how to keep more accounts, we first must understand why we lose them.

Diminishing Quality of Service

It feels like yesterday. You had just countersigned the agreement between you and your new client and you were filled with excitement. You couldn’t wait to dive into their account and produce some solid results for them. Your client loved how you treated them and was very impressed with your work. However, time went on and things got stale. The spark just wasn’t there anymore and you began to focus more of your attention on that other young new brand you just signed.

Only a fool would treat a new friend better than an old friend. Remember how important those long term clients are to you and make sure that you remind them at least once a quarter. You need to make sure that your client knows that you’re still as interested and excited by their brand as you were when you first got together.

Not Meeting Their Changing Needs

You’ve had the account for a while and things have been great. You’ve produced some real tangible results for your client, campaign after campaign. However, things are slowing down. Results are starting to stagnate and your client is beginning to wonder if you’re taking them in the right direction. Your ideas that were once new and exciting are now feeling a bit old and tried. If you’re not careful, your client might get bored with you.

Change is at the core of the creative industries. Your client’s needs are changing constantly and an idea that worked on Monday may not do so well on Wednesday. Your clients will stay with you if they believe that you understand their business, their industry and where things are heading. In advertising, keeping up with change simply isn’t enough. A smart agency is always ahead of the curve.

Don’t Be So Damn Modest!

You’ve had a client on retainer for a long time now. The relationship has been good and you appreciate their ongoing business. For that reason you don’t mind that you consistently go over budget on their retainer. But do they know it? As far as your client is concerned, they’re paying for the exact amount of services that you’re providing. That’s your mistake. Show your client how awesome you are! You should be showing your client what the value of the work is compared to the value of their monthly retainer (if you don’t have an agency management system that will produce these reports for you, you’re reading the right blog). Don’t be scared to show reports on both ends of the spectrum. If you’ve gone way over, your client should know it. If you’ve come in way under budget in a month, they should know that too.

Having a client that is not taking full advantage of their retainer with you can be more dangerous than a client that demands more than what they pay for. If you’re consistently coming in under budget, it’s only a matter of time before your client decides that their retainer isn’t worth it. Help them to take full advantage of your awesomeness (to an extent) and make sure that they are fully aware of how hard you work for them.

Nothing can compare to the exciting feeling of landing a big new account. Except for maybe the pain of loosing it. So ask yourself everyday, are you maintaining a high quality of service? Are you adapting to your client’s changing needs? And does your client know just how awesome you really are? Ask yourself these questions every day and you’ll lose a lot less accounts.

How are you doing at retaining your client accounts? Share your thoughts with us!

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