Robert Solomon - The Art of client Service

ROBERT SOLOMON

THE ART

OF CLIENT

SERVICE

FOR ROBERTA, AGAIN AND ALWAYS

He who understands everything about his subject cannot write it. I write as much to discover as to explain.

ARTHUR MILLER

Writing a book is one of the last chances to do what you want.

TINA BROWN

CONTENTS

I wish that I had written this book. I should have. I could have. Many of us could have. But only Robert Solomon did it.

I am sure Robert has heard these words many times since he introduced The Art of Client Service in 2003 and its predecessor, Brain Surgery for Suits, in 2000. Each and every one of us in the advertising and marketing services business should be using the concepts in this book. The ideas discussed within these pages are simply universal and timeless. Whether you are a junior account person just starting out or the leader of the largest independent media planning and buying operation in the world, The Art of Client Service applies to what we do right now, right here, every day.

Like Robert, I come from the business side of advertising. And like hundreds of other industry professionals, for every experience he shares in the book, I have a similar example, both positive and negative. That is why this book is a must-have tool for anyone working with clients. At Carat, weve purchased hundreds of copies of Roberts books and made them required reading for our account managers.

Robert was the first advertising industry professional to record the concepts that will make us better account people, and he is among the few who are willing to share with readers examples of what not to do. Robert encourages young, rising professionals not to repeat the mistakes of the past. And with this book, he shows readers old and new to the industry how to avoid those mistakes.

One of my favorite stories about The Art of Client Services is one that Ive told many times. One of our senior account managers at Carat approached me after I sent him a copy of Roberts book. He strode up confidently after a meeting and said hed just finished reading the book on a flight from Los Angeles. Its a pretty short and easy read, he remarked. He added there wasnt one thing in the book that he didnt already know, and he didnt understand the hoopla and praise I had heaped on it.

I looked at him and simply said, Good. Now go out and do it.

Thats the great thing about Roberts writing and the book itself. Its full of practical common sense and information we can apply in our day-to-day roles. Like the famous Nike slogan, the key is to Just Do It.

The book has had a major impact on me and the organization that I lead, Carat Americas. When I arrived a few years ago, Carat was in the middle of growth spurt. We had surpassed 1,200 employees, expanded to 20 offices around the world, and had annual billings exceeding $5 billion. Despite this growth, I was concerned about one thing: client service. While I was happy with our growth, I was troubled because our growing team, our work, and our success could overshadow the most important thing in our businessour clients.

With that in mind, I invited Robert to present at the Carat Management Conference. I gave Robert the charge to make the case for client service to more than 300 of Carats senior management team. Certainly, we were all content with Carats success and felt we had been doing many of the right things to help our business and our clients. The challenge was, How do we build upon the momentum and keep the success from going to our collective head?

The book and Roberts presentation reinforced a focus on client service that keeps us headed in the right direction. The people in the room were reminded why client service matters, and they took that message to their teams throughout Carat. Since then, I have been an advocate of The Art of Client Service, frequently passing out copies to employees and referencing its concepts in presentations and meetings.

One of the things that Robert often talks about is the first rule of client service: no surprises. In The Art ofClient Service, you will find no surprises; rather, you will find unchanging concepts and simple anecdotes that will remind you what you can do to create great work, build strong client relationships, and become a great account person in any service organization.

Regardless of how many versions of the book Robert publishes, the foundation of The Art of Client Service is the same: client service matters.

I have only one more thing to say, and it follows the advice in the final chapter of this book: thank you, Robert.

David Verklin

CEO Carat Americas

Chairman Carat Asia-Pacific

May 2007

And I found myself out of work for the first time in more than 20 years. But Im getting ahead of my story. Let me start at the beginning.

After six-plus years at Ammirati Puris Lintas, most recently as president of its direct and interactive divisions, I set out on my own. I had been working for others before Ammirati at Foote Cone & Belding and before that at a predecessor to the agency known as Digitasbut I wanted to see if I could put my name on the door of something that was mine.

I founded Solomon Strategic in 1999. At first, business was great; I had lots of clients, including the agency Id just left. Just as one assignment would end, I would get another clients call. Business was easy; I actually felt halfway smart.

But those were the late 90s, when almost everyone dreamed of the next big idea and the private equity firms were the tooth fairies. It was as if every new venture could find a backer with an open checkbook.

One day, my friend Phil Palazzo called to say, Ive got the money to launch an idea, now all I need is the idea. My response was, If you have the money, I sure as hell have the idea. With that, Phil and I founded what would be the first design-centric holding companyThe Design Communications Groupbacked with private equity from Jordan Industries.

Phil and I spent a year building the business. In August 2001, we were about to close on our first two acquisitions when Jordan ran into capital allocation problems (whatever those are) and pulled the plug on our venture. We were surprised by the suddenness of the change, but Jay Jordan was generous and accommodating, and we parted on good terms.

But if our idea was going to evolve from a PowerPoint presentation to a business, we would need another backer. With Jordans support, we trolled for a new venture capital partner.

Then, on a beautiful late summer morning, as I was about to head uptown from my lower Manhattan apartment, my wife Roberta reported a frightening, thunderous sound overhead. Something awful just happened, she said.

We turned on the TV: a report from the World Trade Center, soon followed by another. We watched from the street as the South Tower fell. It was September 11, 2001.