Don’t Be An Agency Energy Zapper

We have all seen it.

We actually may have been one at some point in time.

In fact, you may be one now.

An Agency Energy Zapper.

It’s a terrible syndrome that benefits no one: Marketers sucking the life out of agencies to the point where the agency doesn’t dig the client and wishes they could just walk away….but they can’t because they like money.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m a huge believer that if an Agency-Client relationship is going to be successful, the agency has to add value and help in unexpected and surprising ways.

And I’m also a huge believer in the fact that the Client (you) are paying the agency and deserve service and have the right to ask and demand and want the very best.

There’s a line that’s hard to define, but some signs that might suggest you have the syndrome:

Do you make your agency stay late more than once every couple of weeks?
Do you partner with your agency? Or would you characterize the relationship as order giver/order taker?
Do you call your agency virtually every day? Do they ever call you?
Do you ask them for a lot of “extra” stuff that you don’t really ever use (e.g. data for data’s sake)?
Do you find yourself reacting to your management with orders for your agency on a fairly regular basis?

While these aren’t necessarily the doctor prescribed symptoms, they are characteristic of a relationship that hinges on the edge of an Energy Zapper one.