You know, you are the first head of digital that I’ve worked with (and I’ve worked with a few), that has just told me the truth. When campaigns don’t go well, you’ve told me. You’ve broken it all down in the ways that make sense to me.

This stuck with me, as it told me 3 things:

1. Most agency delivery managers don’t tell their clients the truth.
2. Clients can see through it.
3. Respect is only earned through honesty and trust.

I’ve maintained throughout my career that just being straight up with people is the best way to do business. Even when I mess something up royally, I’m just open with it.

Why? It builds immensely strong trust and bonds between you and your clients and staff.

There’s a phenomenon called “Illusory Superiority”. It’s when you overestimate your skills and knowledge compared to others.

Trying to lie to, or mislead clients is a form of this. These people are business owners. It takes a certain intelligence to run a successful business.

(I’ll accept there are some exceptions to this!)

Point is, they can smell your BS a mile away. And that will erode your relationship with them.

People are generally quite polite though, so you probably won’t realise there’s anything wrong until the day they hand in their notice.

If you’ve built a relationship on integrity, you’ll be having the open conversations with them. This will stop issues before they become deal breaking.

So, do yourself a favour and be real.