Client servicing: hitting deadlines and kicking ass

Sometimes when you’re working with a vendor, it feels like you put your requests into a black box. Then you wait patiently for some work product to pop out. We’d like to blow up that black box and shed some light on how we service our clients. A lot happens beyond the weekly status updates to make sure our clients are getting killer creative and marketing.

Every Client is Reviewed First-Thing Monday

Monday at 8:30 AM is when we have a team status meeting. One by one, we go through each client and discuss objectives and deadlines for the week. Every team member hears about every client so that we can mobilize resources without long-winded brief-ins.

Update in 2019: In an effort to be even more efficient as our team grows, we now hold client and internal stand-ups to manage our capacity and review clients.

Every Task Gets Prioritized

In with our production team, there’s a whiteboard dedicated to the week’s design-related tasks across all clients. Tasks get deadlines, but not just for final delivery. We focus on the most immediate check-in or touchpoint to keep moving things forward. Tasks then get assigned to a team member and put in priority order. Checking items off the list is probably our favourite part of it all. It’s hella cathartic.

Everyone Gets Shit Done

We’ve dedicated an entire day of the week to a zero meeting, zero client call policy. Get Shit Done Wednesdays give us large chunks of time to do big, creative thinking or tackle tough tasks. It’s also the day where we get groups of Stryvers together for working sessions and riffin’.

We Communicate Frequently

Weekly status calls are a given, but we work a lot faster than weekly cycles. We set our clients up with Trello to keep projects moving forward between calls. Sometimes, we’ll even connect on Slack for that instant messaging gratification. Unlike standard agency or vendor relationships, you won’t wait for us. We tend to be the ones doing the pestering and checking in on progress.

Everything is Iterated and Optimized

We’ve got a non-negotiable meeting booked in our calendars each week dedicated to constant improvement. We bring campaigns and tactics to the meeting and put them up against the critical eyes of the rest of the team. Even if something is performing really well, the question is always: “How could this be better?”

Everything is Open for Discussion

These might be our weekly processes today, but we’re not afraid to change it up as we find better ways to deliver for our clients. We’re proud to have a culture of psychological safety where any team member can bring up a problem and we’ll address it together. The same thinking goes for how we work with our clients. We’re completely open to exploring new processes and technologies to keep us working well together.