How having a wash (up) can improve your relationships - with clients AND suppliers
“Going into the lion’s den” or “throwing ourselves to the wolves” would be phrases I’d have heard (or even used!) in other jobs when talking about heading into a client project wash up or relationship review.
But something I value so much about running our own business is that we get to control how we want our client relationships to be. We have direct contact with our clients, all the time. We’ve got a real opportunity to nurture truly open, honest and healthy relationships with our clients - and that, I can say from experience, is a rare thing indeed.
We don’t have an account management team - everything is handled by myself and Matt. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with some truly brilliant account handlers over the years and I’ve no doubt that many of the skills I use today I learnt from them. But a part of the way we work at marmalade that I love is building that direct relationship in a way I haven’t been able to before.
Yesterday afternoon we ran a wash up session for our first Haven shoot of the year which took place two weeks ago in the very rainy Lake District (more on that later 🌧️), to chat through things we loved, things we lacked and things we learned from that shoot. We try to do this after every shoot if we can, or at least a couple of times a year once the shoot season is in full swing.
It’s a bit of a wild situation when you think about it - we’re literally asking our clients to give us criticism. They've got the potential to be quite daunting sessions. But the thing is, we always really enjoy them. We love that our client teams feel comfortable to give us honest feedback about the good things and the not so good, and that we in turn feel comfortable to challenge them on areas to improve, and to admit our failings. Every shoot is an opportunity to succeed, to fail, to learn and grow - for everybody involved.
Our advice? Go in with an open mind
You need to go in to a session like this prepared to hear whatever feedback comes your way, and prepared to give your opinion too. There’s no point having a wash up in which the team don’t say what they really feel. It’s a clean slate, an even keel - everyone is equal and encouraged to input, no matter what their role on the project was. The photographer’s opinion is just as important as the brand manager’s, the producer’s just as important as the art director’s. We all have a role to play and a responsibility to make sure we’re all (a) enjoying ourselves and (b) getting the best work from each and every member of the team. It can feel unnatural at first, particularly from a supplier side making a comment about something your client can improve, but these open lines of communication are what help us to grow.
These sessions, if anything, bring us closer together and help us align on our ultimate goal: making better work together, and enjoying the process along the way. So we don’t think of them as "the lion’s den" - lions are just big cats, anyway, and Matt’s a cat person so... 😺