The right way to tell clients they’re wrong

In PR, it’s usually good to be direct with everyone you work with.

Once, however, after I offered unvarnished—and fairly negative—feedback to a prospective PR client about his organization’s branding, an associate cautioned me for being too frank.

The prospect was planning a luxury product launch, but the brand didn’t carry an upscale image. Although my colleague agreed, I was scolded for telling him “his baby” was ugly.

He hired us a month later, and although the branding didn’t change as much as we would have liked, we reached a compromise and helped him achieve a successful launch in a local market.

In PR, honest feedback promotes transparency, and most PR executives would agree that honesty also promotes trust. Both are key to a successful relationship.

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In the case of the luxury client, it was easy to be candid because the unsophisticated branding risked undermining our PR and social media efforts. It isn’t always that easy, though.

PR pros’ objections to a strategy or creative direction is not always straightforward. Our profession can be a “black box” to those who aren’t grounded in the business, which makes offering feedback particularly challenging at times.

How honest should an agency or rep be when the stakes are high or the situation is sticky? Here are a few suggestions for making your point without fearing you’ll insult someone’s “baby”:

• Give legitimate critical feedback in the selling process. Prospective clients offer opportunity, but they also present challenges. Offering constructive criticism at the outset sets a precedent for the ongoing relationship.

• Be a recommender. Problems are often easier to swallow when they come with recommended solutions—or at least alternative strategies. That can build up your reputation and prompt a constructive dialogue to help you avoid political traps.

• Listen carefully before weighing in. In our zeal to be decisive and offer value to clients, PR pros sometimes fail to listen to all sides of a complex situation. Before weighing in, appreciate each aspect of the situation and ask pertinent questions. More information is usually better. Informal market research, competitive audits and early PR outreach all come into play here.

• Reference specific experience. As much as we talk about public relations being data-driven, it remains an inexact science. Talent and expertise are our currency, and they come together in advice that is on target due to firsthand experience in a given category or approach.

• Avoid personalizing . In a corporate setting—where each function or product division is linked to individuals—know the internal lexicon and network of relationships that come with every part of the business. Precision of language is of equal importance.

• Beware ultimatums. I was prepared to walk away from Mr. Luxury Client if he didn’t change his branding, but I’m glad I didn’t. We later learned some things about the target audience that made us smarter and enabled us to deliver an effective program under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Dorothy Crenshaw is CEO and creative director of Crenshaw Communications . She has been named one of the public relations industry’s 100 Most Powerful Women by PR Week. A version of this story originally appeared on her agency's blog.

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