The tricky balancing act between what’s smart and what’s right
Photo courtesy of bitzcelt (http://bit.ly/aijJnR)
My partner Warner Strategies and I recently wrapped up work for a client that is doing some important if not particularly sexy work. It is a good little company with a very relevant mission. We were hired to generate news stories about it.
Early on in the arrangement, I could see the indirect benefit to the company of the media placements we were generating. But I had a nagging suspicion that, based on the company’s stated goals, there were higher-value activities to which it could have been allocating those marketing dollars. In time, I wanted to articulate my private assessment. Of course, the fact that the company had chosen media relations was helping me pay my mortgage. I kept my mouth shut.
My principles are a powerful motivator in my business dealings. As a consultant, I feel compelled to speak the plain truth as I see it, even when such recommendations might make my client uncomfortable, and even when they might not be the smartest thing for Kinkennon Communications. I believe it’s what is “right” for me. I’ve taken the risk plenty of times in my career. Sometimes it’s rewarded in spades. Sometimes it’s not.
At the same time, I love revenue, more rather than less. I have an obligation to myself and my family to keep my infrastructure amply funded. I recognize that letting one’s opinions get in the way of that objective is self-indulgent, at the very least.
By and by, we secured some pretty good national news stories for the client. But we never quite generated what the client or we had hoped for. It’s a new company trying to create an entirely new market niche. There were just too many ingredients still unmixed for a media-relations program to cook. Personally, I thought that instead of pursuing news stories, the company should have been investing in a comprehensive go-to-market strategy, more direct in approach, mixing some very different and precise tactics to uncover and qualify new-business leads.
In a meeting, the client CEO unexpectedly popped in, and I had the perfect opportunity to make my case. As a team we are very qualified to do the kind of work that I believed would have generated greater ROI, so it was not a foregone conclusion that we would get canned if I spoke my mind. The CEO asked for my opinion! My candor might have resulted in an all-new, higher-revenue project! But I allowed media relations and its underwhelming results to dominate the conversation once more. We lost the client the next day.
That client paid us pretty well, and I never really offered the best of my brainpower in return. Now the client is gone. If I had foregone what was clearly smart in the name of doing what, to me, was obviously right, might I have saved the account? Might I really have helped that company? I’ll never know. But I’ll be even more thoughtful, and possibly more courageous, in how I strike that balance in the future.
Tags: Kinkennon Communications, Shane Kinkennon, Warner Strategies
March 15th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Shane,
Great post, great topic for conversation. There is no doubt you are a man of integrity.
It’s very easy to get lost in our work for clients and rationalize to ourselves: “hey, this was their idea … I’m just fulfilling their needs”. Sometimes we need to be reminded to take a step back and see the bigger picture. Many times we are more knowledgeable than our clients around marketing and strategic thinking and it’s our responsibility – as good citizens and authentic consultants with integrity – to serve our client’s needs before ours.
Credit to you for taking a step back to analyze your most recent “predicament”. Not easy to do but self-reflection will only make your business stronger. Well done, great post.
Dan
March 15th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Thanks for the great point, Dan. We know these things. Or at least we know when they’re the right business approach for us. Sometimes it takes on of these to be reminded.
Thanks for commenting.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am
I admire you for publishing such a heartfelt, revealing post, Shane. It made me stop and think about how I’m serving my own clients. The thought of losing a client-especially when you’re responsible for bringing in revenue-can really pump up the pressure. Like you said, this situation is a good reminder to be more courageous in the future. I’ll definitely use it as a reminder to make sure I’m providing my best to every customer every time, even if it feels risky. Thanks for such a thoughtful way to start the week.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
If national press picked up your client’s story and it was positive, then it was a win-win. There aren’t enough reporters to pick up stories of negligible interest. Sounds like you proved your client to be a decent, usable source, worth the time of media and national audiences. Not shabby at all!
March 15th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Hey Jesaka thanks for the nice comment. I’m not sure I’m arguing to be THAT courageous. Hell, I could have been courageous and found the same outcome. But I think it probably works for me, and that may be what matters most in the end.
Thanks Kate. I appreciate your view of it.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Thanks for sharing your story, Shane. Your account reminds me of a
time when I was still working at an agency, and the client rep told us
“any old fish wrap will do.” That’s right, she wanted volume of hits,
and those at a higher pay grade in the agency instructed us younguns
to give her just that. What happened next should have been predicted:
the client rep was replaced w/someone who knew what they were doing,
who promptly got rid of the agency I worked for.
Ever since, I’ve been careful about just giving the client what they
want. They may not always do what we suggest, but they tend to respect
it in the long run.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:08 am
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