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Agency Tips - With Business, What Goes Around Comes Around

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First, we want to say: congratulations! Because if the time has come for you that a competitor agency tries to steal your clients away, it means you are a cut above the rest. Just like other businesses starting to pay attention to your employees is usually a good indicator of your company’s health and notoriety.

Know your blessings

First, let us clarify what “stealing clients” means. We are not talking about someone’s product outshining yours. Because this is the game rule and no matter how unpleasant, you cannot complain when someone moves on from your agency. However, there’s one thing you can do: question yourself. Was there something you could have done differently? Now, you might want to offer a follow-up call before canceling their account, consider a discount to win them back, but, in any case, don’t become clingy. Don’t be the annoying ex ;) Know when to give up and move on to a new project.

So, with that being said, what qualifies as “stealing clients”? It often takes the form of an unpleasant surprise such as this one:
The good news is, there’s usually only one way to find out about such activity: if a client forwards the message your way. However, only when you are blessed with a loyal client base can you expect to discover such moves. If anything, this is the perfect reminder that it pays off to treat your clients with the same respect and trust you’d like to receive in return. It’s a principle of reciprocity you want to start applying now if you don’t want to be singing this song, single:

Play your cards right

Once the crisis breaks out,  you are dealt an explosive deck of cards. Of course, you can play them any way you’d like. But, just in case, here is, in our opinion, the best practice. Don’t turn the other cheek, but by all means, shy away from retaliation.

Why? Because, to begin with, you first move should be to thank your loyal customer before planning any other course of action. Before worrying about the clients you might lose, show your loyal clients you appreciate them taking the time out of their busy day to let you know what was happening behind your back. 

And move on

Now’s the time to be the bigger person and walk away from the situation with a smile on your face. Before you do though, if you have some energy left to dedicate to the issue, you can use your best sense of humor to your advantage. Never full-on confront the author, just prove them wrong. Actions speak louder than words. Now’s the time to do what you do best: work on your clients’ projects like your life depends on it and trust that your hard work will pay off in ways far more efficient than any time spent undermining someone else’s efforts.

Finally, if this didn’t come across clearly enough above, we want to send you off with one last piece of advice: never stoop so low. Period. Coming across as aggressive, or worst, desperate, won’t help your business. At the end of the day, don’t you want your clients to gravitate towards you because they like your product? Just like with breakups, you don’t want to be the rebound, you want to be the love of someone’s life.