There is quite a bit of wisdom online for identifying the ways for you, the Marketing Professional to succeed — and excel — at your job. Most of the advice is centered on the social and interpersonal skills needed to achieve success inside the walls of the company that you will be working for. There are sites that embellish the job description of an MP, identifying that you must have leadership qualities, good organizational skills, and one even says that you need to be entrepreneurial.

Since the Marketing Professional is primarily responsible for marshalling all available resources in order to attract potential customers, it is critical that one key skill must rise to the top and be present in any great MP — the ability to motivate and inspire others. And, from my selfish perspective, that is especially true when “the others” are your marketing partners at The Agency.

In order to motivate, you really need to understand how an agency works. The internal politics of an ad agency are complex and dangerous. Mega-egos, crowded into a space that is constantly infused with impossible deadlines and crushing demands, produce an environment that is so unique, it is foreign to a client-side MP who needs to figure out how to work with this complicated “partner”. Some on the agency side will argue that the best client is one who has worked within the walls of an agency in a prior life. In my experience, that is often true.  They understand why the account manager at the agency can’t just tell the creative team that the client re-wrote the first paragraph last night.

The simple truth is, in order to be the best Marketing Professional that you can be, you need your agency to be the best that they can be. You can achieve that by treating them with respect, and expecting it in return. And respect starts with allowing the agency to do their job. If you are always second-guessing them and you’re continually disappointed in their work, get a new agency. If, not, get out of their way. Let them do their job.  Be inspiring and be grateful. Let them be great at what they do, and you will be great at what you do too.