In one of our earliest posts here at Community Pharm, we discussed the ongoing frustration that occurs among agency partners when their clients consistently want to change”what they’re saying and how they’re saying it about their brands.”

As a client out there, campaign changes do need to occur and even if done “too often” are usually only done on a periodic basis. It will be worth your time, however, to consider the amount of changes that you make to work while its still in its developmental stages.

Are your agency costs higher than you expected? – odds are that you’re making excessive changes to the work being developed for you.

Are you experiencing constant pushback from your agency partners when you’re “just making” a few last minute requests? - odds are that you’re making excessive changes to the work being developed for you.

Do you adjust layouts, copy, digital functionality and anything else that you think needs it when the final deliverable is there or just around the corner? - odds are that you’re making excessive changes to the work being developed for you.

Is “it” never where it should be in your eyes so you feel compelled to almost always adjust what you see in front of you? - odds are that you’re making excessive changes to the work being developed for you.

If you answered yes to the majority of these questions, I’d like to strongly recommend that you never build a house from scratch or plan on completing a book you’d like to write…

There is a definitely time for you to enforce/offer up a change to your agency’s work product. In fact, if you’re never getting what you feel is needed – it may be time to change your agency.

But, the best relationships between your agency partner(s) are going to come when you work upfront to agree on the objectives at hand, set the right strategy, review and comment on the work in its developmental stages, and then only tweak facial expressions, logo sizing, copy sizing, the size of touchscreen hotspots, etc. if it is absolutely needed.

The vast majority of ongoing course corrections given by clients to agencies don’t really help. They may not hurt either.

But, if you find yourself just needing to alter “direction,” it might be a great opportunity to consider that sometimes the experts you’ve hired may be doing something that is great even before you start tweaking it.

Clint Eastwood in his role as Dirty Harry Callahan said “Well, opinions are like a#*holes. Everybody has one.”

And just because you have one doesn’t mean that you need to share it all the time with others.

In fact, it may benefit you, your brand and your agency relationship(s) if you don’t unless absolutely needed.

What do you think? Any insights that you can share?

Community Pharm also accepts guest posts. If you’d like to contribute one of your own, please send an e-mail to mmyers@communitypharm.com. This is a forum for all of us. Because we’re NOT animals!

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