A new agency model.

There's a old Yiddish saying (there's really no such thing as a new Yiddish saying) that says "A kluger farshtait fun ain vort tsvai." 

That expectorant sums up, I think, what we're supposed to do when when we work with clients.  It's translated as, "A wise man hears one word and understands two."

In other words: Listen. Study. Think.

In other other words: Breathe.

In other other other words: Be wise.

When you meet with a client, listen to what they're saying as well as what they're not saying. Listen hard and deep. Listen to the engineers. Listen to the finance people. Listen to the C-Level. Listen to the marketing people. And, importantly, I think, read the annual report.

Too often in agency life, we prepare a 44-page powerpoint and we talk at our clients. We are avid to give them all the answers when we haven't yet even heard their questions.

Imagine if agencies, instead of trying to prove how smart they are, tried to show how well they listen.

We hear a lot in our business, a lot of blather if you ask me, about new agency models.

Imagine an agency modeled on listening. On hearing twice as much as has been said.