How do your clients really view your in-house creative team?

by Jackie Schaffer

In the area of client feedback, sometimes we like to think that "no news is good news." But I would challenge you to question that adage. Not knowing what your clients think of your team is risky management that leaves you vulnerable. If there is an opportunity to elevate your service levels or expand your capabilities, you may not know until it's too late. And we can all probably agree that "perception is reality," and if that perception is misguided, it needs to be addressed.

Conducting client feedback surveys can be a little unsettling as it may expose your vulnerabilities. But it's better to own the feedback than ignore it. By knowing what your clients really think of your team--the good and the bad--your team is better positioned for a successful future.

Let's start with the good feedback. Having documented positive feedback about your team can be very helpful when your manager or other stakeholders question your team--whether they are questioning your team's size, work quality, value, productivity or otherwise. In addition the favorable feedback is great for team morale.

The constructive feedback can sometimes feel like a punch to the gut when it's unexpected, but that's not usually the scenario. Usually we know the feedback, but don't necessarily embrace it for one reason or another. It's important to understand the trends in the feedback--one person's constructive feedback is typically not worth keeping you up at night. But when the same feedback comes from a wider cross-section of your business partners/clients, you need to listen and better understand the challenge and address it.

We hear of creative leaders collecting client feedback in a number of ways: after every project, after every Tier 1 project, during in-person conversations, through annual surveying and so on. Immediate feedback after select projects can be really helpful and provide tactical advice at the project and individual levels. But this leaves a gap--one that we at Cella think is important to address: overall performance across a sustained period of time. To this end, we partnered with Relationship Audits and Management ("RAM") to create PartnerPulse.

PartnerPulse measures team performance in relation to key performance indicators such as attitude, effort, people and skills, and more. In addition, PartnerPulse asks your clients to provide feedback such as "does the creative team regularly make a positive difference in your team" and "what is the single most important thing the creative team can do to improve its performance?"

While there is immense value in the responses to the 25 questions of the survey, creative leaders receive additional value in the benchmarking aspect of the survey. In addition to receiving your team's individual results, you also see how your team stacks up against other in-house agencies as well as external agencies--pretty powerful ammunition when you're presenting your team's value proposition. In addition, the results can help inform your team's strategic priorities for the upcoming year.
At the end of the day, I hope you'll consider PartnerPulse when designing your client feedback strategy. But most importantly, I hope you survey your clients in a formal method and create a plan to address that feedback. You and your team will be better for it.

To learn more about PartnerPulse and see a demo of the tool, please contact Cella.

Jackie Schaffer

Jackie, a 13-year veteran of Cella, serves as Global Head bringing digital talent, global capacity and solutions to our clients. She is well known for her deep understanding of the industry, strategic vision and commitment to delivering exceptional client experiences. Prior to her appointment as Global Head of Cella in 2023, Jackie was Cella’s Senior Vice President and led the managed in-house agency business, recruiting function and corporate departments. Most recently, she played a key role in Cella’s sale to Randstad in September 2021 and subsequently led the successful integration into our new parent company. Jackie was included in Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2021 “Global Power 150 — Women in Staffing” list in recognition of her success in the industry.

When Jackie came to Cella in 2010, she built and led the new consulting practice and quickly developed a first-in-kind training for in-house agency leaders, launched our hosted networking events and spearheaded the introduction of Cella’s In-House Creative Industry Report. Based on findings from our annual benchmarking surveys, the Report has become the standard for the industry.

At home in Maryland with her husband Joe and three young sons, Jackie cheers for the Terps as a loyal University of Maryland alumna. She’s also one of those Peloton fanatics, and she always finds time to enjoy watching her boys play any number of sports (though lacrosse is her favorite to watch), play tennis and hitting the slopes with her family.

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