For agencies, the process of onboarding a new client can mean the difference between a successful relationship and a challenging one. This critical stage sets the foundation upon which all work will be developed and evaluated.
But if every client and project is different, how do you know the best way to onboard a client? What are the best practices to adhere to or the red flags to avoid?
To find out, we spoke to Kevin Gloudemans, team manager for paid media at Dutch agency Springbok, a Funnel Solution Partner. He gave us the skinny on what it takes to successfully onboard a client while gaining access to all relevant data.
Kevin Gloudemans, team manager paid for Springbok Agency
Love at first pitch?
For many agencies, the onboarding phase is actually the third main step in the process of welcoming in a new client. First, you need to build your agency’s brand awareness to the point that you are invited to the second step: the pitch. This step is where an agency answers a potential client’s request for proposals with a potential solution and cost estimate to achieve the client’s goals.
For some agencies, this pitch could simply be a slide deck with related case studies, a high-level overview of the solution and the cost. For others (especially for highly creative agencies), this may require the creation of speculative work in which the agency will develop a concept and designs in hopes of winning the account.
For agencies like Springbok, the pitch often involves a mixture of core competencies (creative output) with technology (data-driven strategies that include digital executions). When crafting this customized mix, Springbok also starts planning who will form the best possible team to serve the project.
“First, we take a step back,” said Kevin. “When we go to pitch, we are already taking the first onboarding steps. We select the client team according to the stated goals and which profiles will match best with the client.
“We also require access to all of their platforms. In order to figure out the best solution, we need access to every relevant tool and data source.”
From Springbok’s perspective, they can’t hope to provide the best answer and cost without that data. They need to be able to dig into what’s worked in the past and what may be holding them back right now.
Data access as a potential bottleneck
Kevin is the first to admit that, for some clients and/or industries, they can hit some obstacles when asking for data access. However, they need it for a successful pitch.
“We sometimes experience bottlenecks at the data access phase, but we are very clear with our needs early on in the pitching process,” said Kevin. “When presenting these needs early on, it gives the client time to start preparing for us on their end.”
Some clients can be a bit more reticent to hand over data access than others, but Kevin and his team are happy to sign any NDAs or other compliance documents as required.
Full onboarding begins
Once they’ve won a pitch, the Springbok team moves into full ramp-up mode. The account services team manages the relationship, the strategy department determines what’s best for the client based on the business needs any feedback from the pitch and creative gets the magic going. Next to that, the operational team is set in place to execute the defined tactics in the associated marketing channels.
And, the larger the client, the more unique the onboarding challenges may be.
“When projects require us to use Big Tech platforms like Google or Meta, we need to be highly adaptive to any changes in regulatory standards, privacy requirements and other political factors that can affect their business around the world,” said Kevin.
A list of onboarding must-haves
While global accounts can present particular regulatory challenges — especially around data access — there are a few core items that are critical to start any client onboarding process. For Kevin’s team, which works primarily in advertising, they absolutely must have the following:
- Timelines: When does a goal need to be reached by, and is that amount of time enough to complete the project?
- Cost approval: It would be quite silly to start working on any project without getting approval on your fees, but it’s important to remember — especially if a flashy and highly profitable account is requesting to start moving fast.
- Iteration periods: It’s important to define how many rounds of client revision are allowed and how quickly the client needs to get those revisions back to the agency.
- Media spend intent: For most advertising agencies, the media spend is a separate fee from the cost for the agency’s deliverables. Understanding the media budget ahead of time will make sure your ideas and solutions are realistic.
- Overarching client strategy: Good work is based on solid strategy. That means agencies need to clearly define a client’s goals, market opportunities and risks, any areas of the strategy open to change and the underlying dynamics of the business.
All of this data is critical to building a powerful brief.
What to look for in a client brief?
Briefs come in many shapes and sizes. Some are great, and some are a little less extensive. So what makes a good brief?
“First, we want to determine the position of the client versus their competitors,” said Kevin. “This includes data like market capitalization and any unique selling propositions.”
They also want to understand the strategy that will guide the client’s business for the next five years while also evaluating the maturity of the market the client operates within.
“From the maturity of the client and the market, we’ll make conclusions around whether/if the approach should be more of a brand or a performance approach,” said Kevin.
Kevin and his team are also on the lookout for any hard data and insights the brief can provide. When they look at that client brief, they are making determinations around the data that will be available, how the client currently uses the data, what kind of models are being employed and more.
The real magic happens when the Springbok team balances their creative output with data and technical capacity. In their telling, some briefs have a very tech-heavy angle to them. So, the Springbok team makes sure to add unique creative aspects to the equation. Meanwhile, for those briefs that demand the most conceptual and creative work, the team ensures there is plenty of underlying data use and technology application. It’s this balance that helps them to create the best work.
What does early data access look like?
To be clear, the Springbok team isn’t granted full admin access to every single piece of data early on, though they can view it.
“Before the pitch, we will have basic access to only the most relevant data,” said Kevin. “Sometimes clients send information in Excel spreadsheets as a form of privacy control, which can become a bit hard to work with.”
According to Kevin, though, full access is typically granted once that pitch is on — even if they need to work through a few different departments to gain that access.
Red flags and green flags
Across his many years of experience, Kevin has gained a sort of Spidey-Sense for what will make a good or challenging client relationship at the onboarding phase. He was gracious enough to share some of his red (and green) flags with us.
Red flags
“In some pitches, I’ve experienced companies asking a ton of detailed questions about how some of our proposed strategies will actually work, or they ask for a highly detailed roadmap,” said Kevin.
This often signals that prospects are on a “fishing expedition,” tapping agencies to provide detailed strategies the prospect can use without actually engaging an agency. It’s up to Kevin and his team to spot these instances and evaluate if the prospect is just highly engaged or acting disingenuously.
And like any agency, there are a few industries that Springbok gravitates toward. For instance, they prefer to work with businesses that aim to make a positive impact on the world through sustainability, impactful growth and more.
So what signals a good relationship?
Green flags
“One green flag for us is if, even before the pitch, there are generally good vibes all around and they provide us access to data early and often,” said Kevin.
Those prospects tend to be more mature and already understand what an agency like Springbok needs to provide successful outcomes. Additionally, Kevin and his team find that this sort of “click” tends to indicate higher levels of trust between the agency and clients, thereby leading to more meaningful and impactful outcomes.
Another one of Kevin’s “green flags” is raised at the point they review a request for proposal (RFP).
“We love when RFPs are supported by an independent pitch agency,” said Kevin.
In these instances, a client engages a third party that analyzes the business’ needs, develops the brief / RFP and invites select agencies to pitch on it. For Kevin, this signals that the client means serious business. They tend to be a more mature organization, they have set aside a budget for an effective investment and they are seeking the best possible client-agency fit.
It’s all about building trust
Across the pitch and onboarding stages, it’s critical for the Springbok team to identify areas of mutual alignment and trust between themselves and prospects (who will ultimately become clients). By building this foundation, they are able to foster a stronger relationship that builds off the expertise that both sides (client and agency) bring to the table – ultimately creating the best work possible.
For Springbok, their goal is to make big brands good and good brands big.