…you have to get out of the kitchen.

As clients, it’s tempting to want to see work in progress to verify that the agency is on the right track. We can provide them with useful information that may help them get it right. If they were aware of certain preferences or knew some specifics about how the product actually works, they’ll be able to develop more relevant creative, right?

Well, let’s think about it in this way for a second. You’re at a restaurant and you look at the menu. You’re not quite sure what to order, so you ask the waiter for some recommendations. He asks you a few questions about what kind of food you’d like to eat and any preferences. Based on what you’re looking for, you put in your order.

What do you do next?

Do you ask to go back into the kitchen to see how things are going? Do you suggest how much of certain ingredients you think would be preferable? Do you ask them what techniques they’ll be using? Do you tell them about another dish you had that you loved?

Would any of that really make the meal any better?

We always have a choice of what restaurant to go, which menu item to order and whether we actually liked the meal in the end. But after the order, it’s important to let the chef do what they do. Anything in between just gets in the way.

Now, I ashamed to admit as a client and an account person, I’ve made this mistake as well. Which, honestly, is the reason I’m writing this. To remind myself to take a step back and trust the process.