What PR pros can do when clients are wrong

In every customer service job, you hear the same thing: “The customer is always right.”

In marketing, it can be easy to fall back on this saying. You want the client to be happy, so you do things their way.

The problem is, the client isn’t always right (despite what your old boss at Hollister said).

The truth is, your clients hired your agency to produce results. They want to meet their marketing goals, and felt confident that you were the partner who could help them.

Despite this, clients can often request projects that will not help them meet those goals (and they might not even know it).

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We’ve all seen it happen: A client’s goal is to increase website leads by 10 percent, but he or she wants to allocate their budget to creating a print ad.

You believe the client's budget would be better spent on content marketing, so what should you do? When this occurs (and it will), your agency must be there to act as an adviser, even if that means saying “no.”

Saying “no” is never easy—but as a marketing expert, it’s your job to advise the client on what will produce the best results (and what won’t).

This is especially important in retainer-based agencies in order to establish trust and build the relationship. In the end, your client will thank you.

Push back, but maintain the relationship

Shooting down a client’s idea can be touchy.

It’s important to approach the conversation from a place of respect and professionalism in order to avoid hurt feelings. Here are some tips for pushing back (in a nice way):

1. If possible, have the conversation in person or over the phone. This way, nothing can be taken out of context, and it doesn’t seem like a one-sided conversation.

2. Review your client’s goals and explain why their idea won’t meet them.

3. Provide facts and figures that back up your reasoning.

4. Offer a different solution that will meet the client’s requests (i.e. writing a whitepaper to increase website leads vs. a print ad).

5. Listen to your client’s reasoning to better understand his or her point of view.

6. If your client still wants to proceed, offer to take the effort on as an additional (billable) project, to complete in conjunction with goal-oriented marketing efforts.

As long as you provide solid reasoning and make the client feel heard, the conversation should go smoothly.

Remember that you’re on the same team and want to accomplish the same goals. In order to hit it out of the park, you have to keep your eye on the ball.

Pushing back with clients is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. As you gain your client’s trust, they will grow to respect your recommendations.

They hired you for a purpose: to meet their goals. It’s important that you guide your client in the right direction, instead of taking on projects that will make them happy in the short term.

When they see a boost in their website leads, they’ll be much happier that they didn’t go forward with that print ad.

Brooke Wiley is an account coordinator at Gorilla 76.

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