If you work in an advertising and marketing agency, giving your client 'options' is a powerful technique for:

Keeping project momentum
Pushing creative boundaries
Upselling work

Now, I don't mean trading on the stock market type of Options, although sometimes it can feel like rolling the 'sign off' dice.

It's about a wise use of choice for the mutual benefit of everyone involved.

And people love choice.

Empowering clients with choice gives them a sense of control and involvement in the decision-making process and that leads to everyone getting what they want.

Let me break it all down for you.

1. Keeping project momentum

More the sum of my other 2 points.

Moving your project forwards is important for many reasons. But overall, It helps to reach the point of completion as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, your client wants what they are paying for as soon as they can have it. Thus reaching their own goals and those of their organisation. This makes them very happy.

For your agency, it keeps people motivated and excited by the work.

It also helps with billing.

Depending on your agency’s revenue model, finishing the job means it can be invoiced in full and your agency can recognise the revenue. Your Account Director will thank you.

Revenue = the life-blood of any business. Always remember that.

2. Pushing creative boundaries

Everyone in your agency should be there to create great work. Great work, certainly in the case of advertising, is about creative ideas.

And ideas can win awards that elevate your agency to the next level.

This is good for business and for your company brand as an employer. It makes everyone feel like they are part of something special.

So how do you push creative boundaries?

You present multiple creative ideas for the campaign, not just one.

2 or 3 of those ideas could be pushing the brief. They could be a little edgy-a little controversial. But they might stand out and make an impact by cutting through the noise getting your audience’s attention.

Giving your client options will likely lead to quicker sign off rather than going back to the drawing board when they don’t like the work. It’s a classic: time spent up front will save TIME later.

You can use this technique with website designs too. Banner advertising layouts. Social media copy. Email newsletter topics. You name it.

3. Upselling

As a project manager you may not think it’s your job to bring in extra revenue, but you’re in the perfect position to upsell.

You can scope extra features that your client didn’t ask for, but you and the team think will make an impact.

You can bring forward ideas that developers have in your stand-up meetings. Fully scoped complete with the effort vs the impact and the cost.

Use traditional upsells like creating change requests for extra rounds of feedback when your client realises they have another person that needs to approve the work on their side.

Source and create options for hosting; for example, with extra security features or a greater up-time. No client wants their website going down at the weekend!

Or simply talking the client through your scope of work can make them think of features and content they didn’t ask for originally.

Bottom Line?

Options give your client control. They keep the project moving. They push creative ideas further. And they can lead to more revenue.

So, the next time you’re working on a new project, don’t just deliver the minimum. Think about how you can use choice for everyone’s benefit and elevate your own profile at the same time.

The power of giving your client ‘Options’: Atomic techniques for keeping your project moving AND raising your own profile.

How I give my clients choice, in order to keep project momentum.

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