Mekate Thursday: An Agency Story

Note: Those who have been reading me for a while, might remember that I also collaborate with

the blog mekate.com, where we mainly discuss subjects that have to do a lot more with

Communication and Advertising. But since it is written in Spanish, I like to post its entries in English

here at The daily and the not so.

Well then, here is the first post of the year in Mekate.com

 

An Agency Story.

My dear fellow mekateers! It’s been a while since I last posted an entry in Mekate, so I promise to

make an effort to post regularly.

I have to confess though that sometimes the main reason why a blogger stops writing is

becausehe/she feels he/she has nothing really important and valuable to share. 

But now though, boy do I have the perfect material to share with you! t is the thoughts and points of

view of 237 bloggers worldwide who through and enormous collaborative work, participated as 

co-authors of the new book  The Age of Conversation 2: why don’t’ they get it. 

So starting today I will try to frequently share and discuss with you the insights, take aways and

points of view I get from reading each chapter in the book.

Now, please take note that I will not be publishing the chapters here, If you want to read the book

(and believe me, you do) you should purchase it on lulu.com, there are two versions, hard cover and

e-book. 

Plus if you buy it you’ll be participating with a great cause, since all sales are being donated to

Variety International Children’s Charity.

Well let’s get to it! As you might know, from reading my blog The daily and the not so, for me one of
the most important skills in any professional is his/her attitude and ability to connect, sympathize and empathize with their clients, peers and people in general.

So it is no surprise that the first chapter I’ve chosen to share with you I the one written by Cam Beck, titled “An Agency Story” in which Cam narrates a very common but very often overlooked incident that frequently happens in Advertising agencies and organizations in general; specially with the bigger, more successful and famous ones, when the people who work for them, fall in love with their own voice and can’t stop talking about them and their company, some times even making it seem as if they were doing their clients a favor by working for them, instead of really listening to their client’s needs which, more often than not, turn out to be not what we supposed they would be: 

“Thank you, that’s all well and good. You’ve convinced me that you have reached the pinnacle of your industry. You are obviously proud — and you have every reason to be. Agencies, not only in the United States, but in the entire world should be envious of the awards you’ve received.” “But while you prattled on to brag about all the awards you received, you completely ignored my needs. You didn’t even ask what was wrong. A few questions and a little troubleshooting would have helped you make your case…”
Cam Beck, Age of Conversation 2: why don’t they get it. Page 72. 

Want to know what the client’s problem really was? Don’t forget getting AOC2 and read it on page 72.

 

And in the mean time, do not forget that no matter how big, successful or rich your company or the 

organization you work for is, in the end people doesn’t necessarily want to work with the most famous, powerful or richer ones. People want to do business with the people they like to interact with. And the best way to get people to like interacting with you is sympathizing and empathizing with them, having a great attitude that generates value for them, and you can only do this by closely listening to them, paying attention to their needs and not talking just to listen to your own beautiful voice.