We want to work with you. But it might not be right fit. Here’s why.
At any given time, our firm has between 60 and 80 clients. That’s a lot for our small full-time team — though our recent merger with Athena brings new staffing and services opportunities — but after 30 years in business, we’ve found an operational strategy that allows us to work with clients of all sizes and interests while also keeping our team busy without burning anyone out.
Most of our clients find us by word of mouth. Thanks to several clients with whom we have worked with for years, our team’s vast experience and our guiding principle to value relationships over business — we’re almost always writing a proposal for someone.
That means we’re also always carefully evaluating the work that makes sense for us to tackle. Something that sets our firm apart from others: we’re not here to take your business if we don’t think we can deliver.
Here’s why we sometimes turn down work:
Conflict of interest
When considering new clients, we always discuss whether the services needed could present a conflict with the work we do for others. This is a transparent process. We make prospective as well as current clients aware up front and proceed only if all parties are comfortable.
Not the right fit
This vague terms covers a lot of ground. It’s not uncommon for a prospective client to seek us out on a referral only for us all to realize that we may not be the right match for the scope of work. Ultimately, we want to craft successful campaigns that help clients achieve their goals. We’re not always the right fit for what some prospective clients need.
- Skills match: Between our capabilities, Athena’s services and our preferred outside vendors, there’s not much we can’t do. But when the work needed really doesn’t fit our expertise, we’re honest with clients. Often, we end up working with these clients on other projects later on that better match our skillset.
- Values match: We don’t lie. There’s no astroturfing here. Though there are plenty of campaigns that require short-term activations, our work is rooted in building support, not manufacturing it. If we can’t trust a client’s motives or they can’t share the information we need to effectively communicate to their audience, we can’t be successful together.
- Expectations match: You’re probably not going to get 5 earned media hits a month. Your Facebook post is unlikely to go viral. The governor probably can’t make it to your event on three days’ notice. Things move quickly and situations evolve, but generally speaking, communications campaigns take time. They require multiple, consistent tactics to be effective. If we sense a client won’t be responsive to our time-tested strategies, we may need to pass.
Capacity and resources
Remember how our team manages 60 to 80 clients at a time? If an opportunity arises that requires significant staff time or expertise that’s already committed elsewhere, we may have to turn down the new work. It wouldn’t be fair to a client to commit to a campaign we know we can’t fully support, and it would chip away at team morale if everyone is overworked. Similarly, if the project budget is too small and the scope can’t be adjusted, we need to rethink the work. We don’t have huge margins on our client agreements, but our time is valuable.
Proven strategy
It’s hard to say no to work. We love what we do and we often genuinely like the people we have to say no to. But “no” usually means “not right now” instead of “never.” We stay in touch with clients long after proposals fall through and contracts end. We recommend other firms and agencies better suited to their needs. And we usually find a way to work together on projects that make sense for everyone.
