At H+K we’re fortunate to work with great clients, across a number of different sectors and industries.  On October 23 a few of our clients joined us in Toronto for a panel discussion, where they shared their perspectives on some of the challenges they face.
The speakers provided valuable insights on what it’s like to “be the client” and how, as a part of their team, we can help them achieve success.
Here are a couple of key takeaways:

• Know your clients. It’s crucial to understand your client’s business but true success comes when you understand their values, as this is the driving force behind what they do
• Listen. Ask. Give Feedback. It’s important to take the time to listen and ask questions so that you have a strong understanding of client challenges but it is just as important to provide feedback, even if that means having tough conversations
• Anticipate. Clients look to us to help them understand what’s next.  It’s crucial to stay on top of trends, new tools and connect these to business objectives
• Be flexible.  Client environments are in constant flux. As an extension of their team it’s important for us to be able to react quickly and support clients as situations change
• Think about the big picture.  It’s not enough to consider the communications implications, but as trusted advisors it’s essential for us to consider the overall business impact

These are all important things to consider as we work with our clients, so the question is, what can we do to make the above a reality for them?

• Share best practices & trends. Clients rely on us to keep them current on trends and developments in our space.  We can do this by monitoring industry activity, sharing case studies and providing insight on how these relate to our clients’ own objectives
• Use our network.  H+K is a part of the WPP family which provides us with a vast number of experts in a wide range of areas.  By tapping these resources and sharing that knowledge with clients we can provide different perspectives and stronger insights
• Think beyond the day-to-day.  Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in program execution and routine tasks.  By asking the right questions we can work with our clients to identify long-term strategies that benefit the business overall
• Integrate. Working with multiple partners, developing programs for a number of platforms, and doing it all on a limited budget can be a challenge.  Helping our clients integrate their message across all audiences will result in more effective programs and easier execution
• Meet face-to-face. In the connected world we live it is easy to work from anywhere and sometimes without even picking up the phone.  Meeting in person allows for more open conversation and more insight into each other’s working environments