Business Best Practices: Kudos, WOWs and All That Good Stuff

(Post by Jessica Killenberg Muzik, APR, Vice President – Account Services)

Meetings … love them or hate them, they are an essential part of doing business.

But what if meetings were something your team actually looked forward to or, at the very least, didn’t mind attending?

Yes, it can happen.

At Bianchi PR we have a standing (albeit flexible) Thursday morning staff meeting and toward the bottom of the agenda is always a bullet point titled “kudos.”

During the kudos portion of the meeting, our leader acknowledges each team member’s achievements for the past week.  Sometimes the achievement is a major media hit for a client in a key publication, sometimes it’s scoring a big media interview, and sometimes it’s just stepping up on those everyday tasks that keep things humming along for the firm and our clients.

The key point: giving positive recognition to each team member for “things gone right.” It encourages and reinforces positive behavior. And beyond that, it helps close the meeting on an upbeat, sometimes inspirational, note.

Now, above and beyond the kudos, we also celebrate “WOWs.” A WOW is an acknowledgement for those times when a staff member has figuratively “Walked On Water” for a client.

Although our clients are unaware of it (until perhaps they read this blog), WOWs actually come directly from them.

Any time a client takes the time to write an unsolicited email or note of thanks to the agency for a job well done, our agency CEO generates a WOW certificate for that staffer.

The certificate itself isn’t anything fancy.

It’s simply a piece of paper prominently featuring the acronym WOW along with a brief description how the staffer wow’ed the client.

It’s presented at the next weekly staff meeting, and the recipient posts it near their workspace, as a pleasant reminder of an appreciative client and a grateful employer.

Now, who wouldn’t want to attend a meeting that promises kudos, WOWs and all that good stuff?

When you end a staff meeting on a high note, it encourages your team to continue to do great work. And isn’t that what best business practices are really all about?

What have you done to make your meetings more enjoyable or to encourage great work among your staffers?

Seven Ways a Client Can Make Its PR Firm Great

Having worked both sides of the street – first as a corporate PR manager, then as an agency VP and later an agency principal – I was always amazed when I saw a mediocre firm doing great work, and even more surprised when I witnessed a great firm doing mediocre work.

In most cases, it wasn’t the firm’s size, its people or its experience that made the difference. It was the firm’s attitude.

Most PR firms have solid processes and skills. They have competent people who want to succeed and want to deliver for the client. (Disclosure: I am blessed with a great team – one which a key auto industry publication editor tells me time and again “… is the best in the business.”)

With PR firms, as with many other things in our lives, it’s attitude that makes all the difference.  And with PR agencies, that attitude stems largely from the relationship the firm has with its client.

I’ve come to realize a simple truth: A PR firm can only be as good as its client allows it to be. If you want your PR agency to do great work for you, be a great client.

In talking with some client-side executives and drawing from my own experience, here are seven things you can do to be a great client:

1.     Bring the agency in early. The earlier you bring your PR partners into the process, the more value they can add … and the more they’ll feel ownership in your program. If you treat them like a strategic partner and involve them in the strategy development, they’ll be more effective than if they are treated as merely a vendor implementing tactics.

 2.     Give great direction. The best clients are those that effectively share their goals, objectives, preferences and taboos. Explain what you’re trying to do, what you want and even what you don’t want. More time spent giving good direction upfront means less time and budget wasted, less frustration downstream … and greater chance of success.

3.     Create realistic expectations. The best client-agency relationships are built on trust, candor and honesty. Give the agency enough information so it can provide you with its thoughts about realistic budgets, results, measurements and timing. Get agreement upfront on what is fair in each of these areas.

4.     Hear the agency’s advice. Listen carefully to the agency. Listen to understand first, and then listen to respond second. Be open to their ideas. You hired the firm for a reason – its experience, expertise, insights and outside perspective. And if, after careful consideration, you decide not to follow the firm’s advice, explain why.

 5.     Value the agency’s time. Don’t waste the agency’s time, even if you’re paying for it. Repeatedly sending your agency team off on wild goose chases and dead-end projects will only serve to demoralize them over the long term. No one wants to see their best ideas or their hardest work kicked to the curb time and time again.

6.     Pay on time. Make sure your accounts payable department is paying the agency’s bills on a timely basis. There’s nothing more frustrating – and wasteful – than for the agency to have to spend extra time and effort chasing the client for months to get paid. Everything else being equal, which client do you think an agency is going to gladly stay late or go the extra mile for – the one who pays on-time or the one that is always late?  

 7.     Employ the Golden Rule. Your Mom was right. Treat your agency team the way you want to be treated, with respect, honesty, consideration, appreciation and loyalty. Treat them to a compliment, give them recognition and surprise them with an award. If the members of your account team feel that you really appreciate, respect and support them, they will be willing to go above and beyond to help you.

In the end, public relations is a relationship business. Nothing – not even budget – affects the success of your PR agency’s efforts more than the relationship you create and maintain with your firm.

Let’s make it a great one!