If you’re already Googling “How to Improve Agency-Client Relationship,” you’re off to a rocky start.
But don’t fret. We believe that every business partnership should be worth the effort to make it a success. Success, however, is not something that comes easily.
It takes time and dedication from both sides to establish mutual trust and complete transparency. Once these foundations are solid, you can focus on the real work. And this is where things can often fall apart. Without clear communication, effective processes, and automation, the creativity and results you and your client envisioned may never come to fruition.
The good news is that client management can become less of a burden and more of a breeze with the right tools. Here are the top five client management tools for a thriving agency-client relationship.
1. Get Your Paperwork in Order With PandaDoc
The discovery call has ended on a high note, with both you and the client feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation for the partnership that’s about to be formed.
The first step in building a robust agency-client relationship starts with a contract between both parties. The legal agreement helps to define clear parameters, including:
- The scope of work
- Deliverables
- Frequency of communications
- Payment terms
- Confidentiality
- Reference points in case of misunderstandings or disputes
Use PandaDoc to send proposals, quotes, sign contracts, and even collect payments. Paid plans offer customizable templates, custom branding, and audit trails to accommodate the unique requirements of each party.
2. Stay Connected With Slack
Envision this: you’ve just been given a new project, and everything is going smoothly. But then, radio silence. Your client hasn’t heard from you in weeks and is starting to worry. The deadline is approaching, and they’re bombarding you with questions and revisions.
Sounds familiar? Don’t let this be your reality.
Slack is a household name in the marketing agency world. Chances are, your agency is already using it for internal team communications. But have you fully unlocked Slack’s potential for streamlining client communication?
Slack Connect is a game-changing feature that allows you to communicate with people outside your agency, moving those critical conversations from cluttered email threads to instant messaging.
After all, maintaining open lines of communication with your clients is essential for a smooth project execution. It also builds trust and helps to ensure that the agency and the client are aligned on the project’s objectives, which can lead to better results.
3. Manage Social Media and Client Approvals With Gain
A productive agency-client relationship is critical to outstanding results, but it is not always easy to attain. One study discovered that 43% of professionals find that switching between tasks and tools negatively impacts their productivity and focus.
This is particularly true for marketing agencies, where managing multiple clients’ social media accounts and coordinating feedback and approvals from all stakeholders is crucial to keep projects running smoothly.
In practice, creative teams toggle back and forth between spreadsheets, PDFs, emails, and project management tools, sending countless follow-ups, attaching incorrect files, and missing deadlines.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool that solves these approval pain points? Gain is a solution designed for social media management (content calendar, scheduling, and automated publishing) coupled with customizable approval workflows. So that neither your creative team nor your client needs to waste time on follow-ups and approvals. Want to see how Gain can help your marketing agency? Start a free trial today.
4. Gather Client Feedback With Typeform
Customer feedback is an essential (and often overlooked) component of building a rock-solid agency-client relationship. It’s an opportunity to give your clients a voice and, in turn, create a deeper connection with them.
Collecting client feedback also helps you identify hidden problems and address them immediately. If that’s not a practice you engage in, brace yourself for a high customer churn rate. A survey by Zendesk suggests that 76% of customers switch to a competitor after two bad experiences.
So, a perfect tool for the job is Typeform which allows you to design feedback forms and satisfaction surveys and send them to your clients at scale. Don’t overwhelm them, though. Qualtrics recommends assessing the relationship 1-2 times a year.
5. Integrate All Systems Using Zapier
Lastly, as a creative agency, you rely on various business apps to get the job done. But when working with clients, you need to integrate your systems with theirs seamlessly. That’s where Zapier comes in, connecting all your apps to foster a smooth agency-client relationship.
With Zapier, you can automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and save valuable time for your agency and client, allowing you to focus on what truly matters.
Summing Up
Don’t leave agency-client relationship success to chance. Get these client management tools and create a robust system that you can scale. Above all, happy customers stick around for years to come, which is good for your business, right?
Want to learn more tips on managing client relationships and automating your marketing workflows? Check out Gain’s blog
Gain can help your agency team manage more marketing clients with the same resources you already have. Start a 14-day trial today!
