How clients can get on Santa’s Nice List this Christmas

Dear Santa,

Hello! It’s Alex here. I wanted to let you know what a good client I have been to my agency partners this Christmas. I so hope I will be on your Nice List, and that you will grant me my one big wish for 2024.

Santa – I have absolutely done the right thing this December. I have been a fair, considerate, and reasonable client, and have treated my agency partners with the respect they deserve – while ensuring my business and brands get the support they need.

Here are my big four on my ‘do the right thing’ report card score sheet.

1. I have approved everything I can approve for a January fast-start

I know January can be a very challenging month for my agencies. We clients are often away, and approval processes to start work can drag on to Australia Day and beyond. And then we push for fast delivery with short deadlines!

Not me, Santa! I have given my agencies the go-ahead for work that can be started immediately in early January and issued purchase orders.

I won’t be back until 15 January, but that won’t slow my agencies from making important progress.

2. I’ve pushed for payment or paid overdue invoices

I know the payment of agency invoices might be delayed over the holiday season.

So, I have checked on all overdue receivables and ensured they have either been paid, or have done my bit (and more) to encourage the finance team to pay them before the break, or in the first week back.

I’ll be checking in to ensure those invoices have been paid before I return to work mid-January.

3. My urgent and important pitch is super-streamlined

Santa – we have a genuinely urgent pitch underway, and need an agency selected by Australia Day. The brief, just issued, asks agencies to pitch the week of 8th January.

I know this puts enormous pressure on agency staff. They will want to give it their best shot, but it will involve upheaval of holidays and family time. So, I have short-circuited the pitch process.

We’ve pre-qualified a longer list of agencies by examining credentials, case studies, capabilities, and chemistry. And asked only three agencies to respond.

Requested deliverables are kept to a minimum. And we will be available throughout the pitch process.

4. Non-urgent but important pitches get the right timelines

Santa, you know Naughty List Clients drop ‘urgent’ pitches on agencies over Christmas that are simple not urgent.

I have been slow in getting a brief out for a longer-term engagement. It’s important, but not urgent.

We’d like to short-list by late January, and appoint by end February. So, we’ve been careful in our expectations of pitching agencies over the holidays. Our ask of deliverables is ‘lite’. Deadlines for responses is stretched to late January. And we’re available (even from a deck chair in Byron) to answer questions.

Final Word

I value my agency partners deeply, Santa. They are not always perfect, but neither am I. It has been a tough year for all, and we all deserve a break.

Of course, important business imperatives will and must be addressed, and ever-eager agencies will take up the challenge. But I am playing my part, Santa, to ensure we act with consideration, fairness and respect with those who work so hard to support our success.

I do hope I made the Nice List, Santa. And if so, my wish for 2024? Love. Just more love. Please. Because, as they say, all there is is love.

Merry Christmas!

Your adoring Client,

Alex

Chris Savage is an agency growth advisor and chairman of the PRIA’s Registered Consultancy Group

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