Articulate Client Charter

05-Best practice marketing processes-01

Working together we can achieve great things

Successful relationships start with mutual understanding. This charter explains what to expect from us and how to be a great client and get the best work out of us.

We solve for the customer

  • Build enduring relationships
  • Become trusted advisors and partners
  • Set the highest standards of professional service, respect, honesty and fairness
  • Admit mistakes and correct them quickly
  • Make recommendations based on data, analysis and our professional experience
  • Explain our recommendations clearly
  • Sometimes this means sharing hard truths
  • Sometimes this requires our courteous, professional dissent

We use open-book project management

  • Communicate consistently and openly
  • Seek informed consent
  • Confirm decisions and report actions in writing
  • Charge for tangible deliverables using points pricing
  • Be up-front and clear about costs and schedules; no surprises
  • Give clients access to the same data and information we use internally; no secrets

We communicate well

  • Meetings: turn up on time, come prepared, take notes, share agendas in advance, follow-up
  • We keep our cameras on during web conferences - it's nice if you do that too.
  • Give as much notice as possible about schedule changes
  • Respond to queries promptly and make decisions quickly
  • Escalate problems or complaints urgently if required to make progress

How to get our best work

  • We're not shy about constructive feedback, but we're human beings and we have feelings. A little consideration and courtesy goes a long way.
  • Positive feedback is hugely motivational; tell us what we did well and we’ll do more of it.
  • Get to know your client partner and your team.
  • Before you say ‘no’ ask us ‘why’.
  • Everybody here works on several client accounts and we value work-life balance. Last-minute rush jobs and pop-up requests do happen but they're best avoided if you want great work.
  • We work flexibly and across different time zones so don’t assume that someone here is working on the same schedule as you are.
  • We can’t move faster than you let us, we don’t know everything that you know and we can’t make decisions for you. So clients who turn up for meetings, share their knowledge, give good feedback and make decisions quickly see better results.
  • Clients who learn to trust us and let us get on with the things we can do independently make even faster progress. In other words, you don’t need to look over our shoulder all the time.
  • We build more effective relationships with clients who understand what we do and how we work. It’s ideal if our clients work with our processes and systems.
  • Our form of inbound marketing isn’t about instant results. It’s about developing your own audience and building trusted relationships. And that takes time.