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Oh no I’ve flunked!!!
By Saurabh Saggi on Sep 17, 2008 in Indian PR industry, clientservicing
Have you ever felt that you are all back in school being a PR professional. I know I do. Feeling the same anxiety about PC’s and big event as I did in my exam days. Doing three-four rounds of followups as I did my revisions. Every one engaged in their own frenzy of calling and really contributing to the telecom players’ benefits during your conferences and events.
A client is calling up the manager in the team (of course the manager refrains from picking up the call and for juniors, it’s a protocol issue) at the start of the day!! Huh,,,, this is a mock test and every body is running around in the class room (agency) hunting for answers. The best one of them all - a surprise unit test is just like an immediate client review meeting. And then the report card - you get the picture, I am sure…….
Why is it that we need to panic at every big event, which the client throws at our faces? Let me cite an example that happened with one of my colleague recently (name not mentioned on request):
Oh crap!!! Spokesperson traveling:
Kindly observe the conversation below:
Client: “__(name)__, for your information, there will be a spokesperson traveling from our global end”
Agent: “Ok. Can you provide me with the details and possibly write me a mail on this? I’ll look into it and then get back to you.”
Client’s mail: for your information, there will be a spokesperson traveling from our global end. Get back to me with a plan on this before lunch (the time is 10:30 AM currently)!!!
Agent’s reply: Hi ___
I kindly would kindly need kindly the kindly profile kindly of kindly the kindly spokesperson. The kindly date kindly of kindly the kindly travel and kindly what kindly is kindly he kindly going kindly to kindly speak kindly on kindly. (delete kindly if you want to get the meaning, kindly is used as a tactic word to please the client).
Client: He’s going to be here by the second part of last quarter of the third day of the week after this one. Still waiting for the plan OK. (Sorry, a bit of exaggeration but this is how clients make it sometimes).
Now comes the real client servicing action. The agent applies all his heart, soul, and what all is left of his mind to examines past news coverage and documents to carefully jot down the possible talking points. The main heads of the usual talking points include:
1. Investment figures
2. Spokesperson’s role in the organization
3. Acquisitions/ventures/collaborations if any
4. Future outlook of the company
5. Company effective role in community contribution.
There are many more that can be added in that list but as I said these are the main ones.
Now back to our story, after the careful assessment and evaluation of the talking points a plan is not that difficult to be carved out. So its done. The PLAN is made and presented to the almighty client for inputs & approval. Again this process reminds me of my school days …..I am sure all of still remember ‘Fill in the blanks’. The document is presented to client for him to fill in the blanks. But here is the reality. The client very conveniently fills in all the gaps and shares it with our friend. On close evaluation he finds out:
1. Investment figures: The organization was sharing the same numbers since the past 2 ½ years.
2. Spokesperson’s role in the organization: Plays an important role in the development of our friend’s misery.
3. Acquisitions/ventures/collaborations if any: IF ANY (get the picture)
4. Future outlook of the company: Given; no matter how much I try to sabotage this points image it can be used at any point of time with media.
5. Company effective role in community contribution: None what so ever considering the fact that our friend belongs to the community.
Of course he was not able to get the obvious choice ET, TOI and sadly confessed before me by saying: “Saurabh, I feel like I’ve flunked”
I admit this is a very acute case of the widespread disease CED (Client Expectation Disorder) but we all know how to handle situations. With a little bit of experience we learn to create mountain out of molehills, generate news out of nothingness.
P.S: I believe the industry is changing from the other side. I believe, as shown in signs in previous posts the client is becoming more sensible towards media and more sensitive towards the limitations of the agency.
On Sep 17, 2008, Vidhya Srinivasan said:
This is hilarious but so close home! And to top it all we get labelled as “PR agencies who dont even know anything about your client” , “no homework”, “shallow” !!!
On Sep 17, 2008, Soul Searching said:
Ideally I should take offense at this, but it’s too damn true & hilarious!!
I totally empathise with this..been there, had that!!
Fortunately, I work in the HQ of my company, so 90% of the spokespeople are here itself.
No amount of explanation can make some people understand that no PR agency/consultant/professional can “guarantee” coverage EVER!!! (Oh, but how could I forget? That is ‘coz we don’t have the “right connect” with the journalists!)
On Sep 17, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Vidhya,
Thx for the insight. Somehow I get the feeling we sometimes know more than the prsn representing the client itself…..
On Sep 17, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Soul Searching,
M glad to know that some1 being there at the other end can empathize with these situations. Honestly I hold the opinion that every client at the end of the day does empathize but fails to acknowledge it,,,,may be coz they are also answerable to some1. What do you say.
On Sep 17, 2008, Bhavna said:
I tried to be critical while reading this post but couldn’t help myself except to agree with your experience. I think being a PR professional what we should try is to educate our clients about the true meaning of PR which is far ahead of only media relations or being coverage driven.
I kindly really kindly enjoyed kindly reading kindly this kindly post hahahahaha……….
On Sep 17, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Great post, Saurabh. Good read, and entertaining. We need more post like this here that are easy read. Too much of gyaan posts…
On Sep 18, 2008, Soul Searching said:
Hi Saurabh,
Being on the client side I can still empathize, simply because not very long ago I was doing the exact same thing! Making plans for some spokesperson flying in from some small unheard of town in the US of A!!
As far as my experience on the client side goes, as PR Manager, yes, I do have to answer to someone who in turn has to answer to someone else & so on & so forth! No matter how much I try to explain my point, I’m either met with a stony silence or polite indifference! The bottom line being -the agency does not have a good “rapport” with the media!!
No offence to anyone, but it’s all ok to talk about educating clients about PR. Are there any suggestions on how it should be done?
On Sep 18, 2008, Vidhya Srinivasan said:
Dear Soul Searching
We do try and take all our clients through a one day workshop on why we ask for what we ask, even get media to interact so that they hear it from the horses mouth - tell them who writes the headlines…. That works in setting right expectations and avoid such situations.
But it is difficult when they say - “We know media”
I had a client who had a plane stranded after faulty landing in a small town with one runway and expected me to keep it off media - when the airport had to cancel all flights for the next two days !!!
On Sep 18, 2008, Soul Searching said:
Hi Vidhya,
Thanks for the info! Guess I need to pass it on to my agency!
But the problem is here at office, everyone “knows the media”. So, not much help there!!
In any case, strange client requests are really something, don’t you think? Maybe at some later stage when we retire we can laugh about it with our cronies over creaking knees & steaming cocoas!!
On Sep 18, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Vidhya,
I am glad to know abt this workshop that you do for your clients. In my past experience a competent colleague of mine had managed to get a big piece in TOI for a tech client. Obviously the corp comm manager was happy. The real bump in the head came wen the corp comm found out (thru his sr.) that the story is actually negative. (thses things happ frequently if you are wrkin on IT clients).
The time has come wen these kind of workshops become mandatory for every new client. What do you say guys
On Sep 18, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Soul Searching,
Yesterday only I was in a conversation with my colleague, very well versed with media on a national basis. He mentioned something not that remarkable to an experienced campaigner, he said “Its not that hard to Know The Media, its hard to RETAIN THEM”….Do u agree?
On Sep 18, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Palin,
Thanks for the comment. Just wanted to ask how is the media survey going????
On Sep 18, 2008, Bina Emanvel said:
Hey Saurabh,
Fantastic post. Can’t agree with you more on the disease CED. Very well written! Cheers
On Sep 18, 2008, Saurabh said:
HI Bina,
Thanks for the comment. I really don’t know how many people will agree with the CED but it most certainly does exist…..(exceptions are there Soul S.)
On Sep 19, 2008, Soul Searching said:
Hi!
Thanks for the compliment Saurabh! I still treat my boss & the rest as clients…so I have no clue where that leaves me!!
In any case, if you hear some of the completely unreasonable expectations I’ve got since 10am this morning, you would probably understand why I still distance myself from the “client”!!
On Sep 19, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Soul S.
I am not glad to say this…but as I so spk on many’s behalf……Welcome to our everyday world
On Sep 19, 2008, Soul Searching said:
Hi Saurabh,
I don’t feel like I’ve ever left the everyday world, in spite of being on the client’s side!!
On Sep 19, 2008, Saurabh said:
Keep searching for the silver lining Soul
On Sep 19, 2008, Vijay Kapur said:
Hey Saurabh
very nice article, well written. Welcome to the world of PR. Didn’t the boss tell your friend to develop “CHEMISTRY, physics and if possible “BIOLOGY” with the client……ha, ha, ha . Enjoy and all the best !
On Sep 20, 2008, himanshu kapadia said:
hmm, u did remind me of school, only difference i see is that good students did there homework daily and some smart ones did last minute before the exams, both passed but whom would you like going with, same with agencies…….and clients…….. if you do your regular work , updates, relationships etc on regular basis, however the big event- exam you will come out flying colours no mater what the other side feels:)
On Sep 20, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Vijay,
The boss masters at all these subjects themselves so no scope for my poor friend. On a serious side I wish to see PR and other communication fields remain distinctive from all these unethical practices.
On Sep 20, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Himanshu,
was waiting for your comment. watever u said is true but the last six words in ur comment is he whole story….it always matters wat the other side feels!!!
On Sep 24, 2008, Vikas Kumar said:
This is something very obvious one can think of the PR agency. Again client expect PR agents to generate press coverage. For them PR persons are magicians who can create remarkable stories for them. It’s an old practice from clients not to share the relevant figures with media. But I think to tackle this problem PR persons need to think beyond investment figures, marketing strategies etc. I am working on this, so will let you know once I’ll get the alternate solution.
On Sep 27, 2008, Abhilash said:
Very well written. And even better explained the scenario… Really the simple and hard fact.
On Oct 1, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Vikas,
Would wait for your post on on the “alternate solution”.
I do agree with you news is more than figures and core operations…..much more.
On Oct 1, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Abhilash,
Thanks for the comment. I just wish we continue working towards solving and for the betterment of the prevailing scenario.
On Oct 5, 2008, Sudhakar Rao said:
Hi Saurabh
That was hilarious man…! But so true and how many of us would be actually going through this grind…! Gr8 reading
On Oct 7, 2008, Saurabh said:
Hi Sudhakar,
Thanks for the comment. Many of us are going through this grind, but soon we’ll change it……