# Is your agency really listening?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/10/agency-really-listening/
- Published: 2014-04-10T12:21:17+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

This week I visited an old client that has just had a poor experience of using consultants.

Two years ago, they hired a firm to develop an organisational strategy, create a
new case for support and advise on approaching grant makers. The agency has now 
almost completed the strategy, has drafted a case for support that the CEO is unhappy
with, has produced a business plan that appears to duplicate the strategy and has
messed up the approach to grant makers. Result: one unhappy client.

So how did this happen? The core reason seems to be that no one actually listened
to the CEO about what was really needed. Commissioned by the trustees, the agency
seems to have gone on to auto pilot and generated some standard outputs, which have
only served a) to slow down the development of the charity, b) to have cost a lot
of money and c) not to have delivered what was really needed. This does nothing 
to enhance the reputation of consultants.

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There is a saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth and that we should use
them in that proportion. It seems the agency simply failed to listen to the needs
of the charity and just trotted out its standard approach. The charity is not a 
large one and so was possibly not seen as important. But how different things might
have been if they had started off by checking what was actually required.

There is no such thing as a perfect agency and no one gets everything right, but
listening to clients surely has to be a key ingredient in delivering a successful
assignment. It was a good reminder to me that every successful job starts with listening
to what the client actually wants. Otherwise, you’re just guessing.

One positive outcome of this mess is that the trustees are now at least starting
to listen to their CEO!

My questions to you:

1) Are your suppliers (not just consultants) really listening to you or are they
just on auto pilot?

2) Are you listening to your donors – or just trotting out your usual fundraising
messages regardless?

 

_Photo: [listening](http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-71092255/stock-photo-girl-listening-with-her-hand-on-an-ear.html)
by Voronin76 on Shutterstock.com_

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