Reaching an agreement correctly: how to avoid conflicts between the agency and clients

How should the agency communicate with clients to avoid conflicts and reach the best results? Read Go Mobile check-list that is dedicated to agreements between the client and the agency.

What to negotiate?

KPI

Discuss the global goal, the agency’s strategy in it, KPI of every campaign and supplemental KPI regarding traffic quality.

Reporting

Reporting matters as well: discuss its content, the key indicators, the periodicity, the client’s reports (the anti-fraud/CRM data) and the necessity of meetings throughout the campaign.

Working hours

Identify your working hours and approximate time of an answer to avoid misunderstanding about the absent answer at 12 PM.

Payment

Set the order of payment. Is it an advance or post-payment? Is deferred payment possible? In which cases can the client pay for the part of the work or not pay at all?

Amount and model of work

Set the amount of work. It is necessary to have a clear amount of work set for effective cooperation that will comply with the units of tasks for your campaign. Also it is essential to discuss the model of payment: it is going to be a FTE, a CPI, a percent of the profitability or another model.

Conformity of plan and fact

Check how the tender strategy meets the real situation and the client’s request.

When to negotiate?

Before the start of work

Fix all the questions regarding the forthcoming work and forms of communication in advance. Before the start of cooperation, define the area of responsibility and distribute responsibilities — it will help to avoid misunderstandings during the work process.

Where to negotiate?

On physical media — the email is the best for it

Fix all the agreements with the agency in a written form — it will be easier to find necessary information further. If you have negotiated for something in a meeting, fix the new conditions in a follow-up letter and send it to the client. Wait for the confirmation from the client and only after that start performing the task. It will allow you to avoid misunderstandings from both parties and losing money because you’ll have confirmation of all arrangements close at your hand.

How to negotiate

Fairly

The key rule is to be honest. If you are a novice, tell your client about that beforehand. Offer the conditions that will make the deal profitable for both sides. For example, you are doing the work longer, but the fee is cheaper than the average in the market, you’re always available and ready to have rounds of discussions.

With resources for the project

Clearly make the plans. Plan the income and the team in advance. Don’t offer the client ideas that you don’t have the resources to implement (even if it’s the only way to win the tender). Don’t set yourself up for failure and damaged reputation.

Without leaving communication gaps

And the last one — don’t leave any questions unarranged. There shouldn’t be any communication gaps between the agency and the client because they can lead into a trap. It’s better to check all the details of work beforehand with the customer instead of wasting human and financial resources to redo it.

Conclusion

Rules of effective cooperation seem to be obvious, but it’s very important to revise them regularly: fix the agreements, solve the main questions on the preparation stage, fairly admit your mistakes, come with solutions, not with problems.

Both clients and the agency should remember that it’s a partnership. It means that the partnership will be effective and long-term only if both sides win.