I gotta know. Does everyone tell little white lies to clients? And yes an omission of the truth counts as a white lie. Sugar-coating the truth just tastes so sweet. It helps to avoid confrontation and lessens the blow of bad news. There's also a lot of pressure in agency-land to keep clients happy, boost those NPS and keep billables rollin' in. So a little white lie here or there helps with those objectives and our sanity...right?
But what's the actual impact on yourself, your agency and client relationships? We unpack:
Types of lies (and whether any are justifiable)
The most common agency lies
Why we lie
What it says about you
Types of lies
There's a plethora of white lies we tell in agency-land (and life in general):
Social lies - "Sorry I can't keep chatting. I have another meeting to get to" / True meaning: I don't want to hang with you.
Protective lies - "Yes dear client, your designer did a good job with the branding but perhaps we push it further" / True meaning: Damn those designs are garbage but we can't completely trash the client without throwing them a bone first.
Blatant falsehoods - "Yes we've worked with Shopify Plus before" / True meaning: Google - differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus.
In my experience, agencies mostly dabble in the realm of:
Exaggerated lies - "Yes we have plenty of experience working with government" / True meaning: We've worked with government once, but that's enough right?
Lie via omission - "We don't use an out of the box theme for our website builds" / True meaning: But we do have an internal template we start our design and development from.
Your average list of white lies agencies tell
First let's start with a few white lies I've heard over my time as an account and project manager.
"Yes we've started your project" / True meaning: We haven't started your project but overcharged and need to chew up a bit of time OR (more likely) we haven't started your project because I mismanaged the schedule and we'll now need to make up for lost time internally.
"Hey guys, if we don't get sign-off by end of the week we can't lock in your project timeframe" / True meaning: We just want you to hurry up and pay us some money already. The schedule is fine.
"Yes everything is on track for our original delivery date" / True meaning: No it's not, but we'll work some magic to fix this before delivery OR we'll have to awkwardly face the music later, but that's future me's problem.
"Our creative director has reviewed these designs personally" / True meaning: No our creative director hasn't reviewed your work, but we want you to feel special OR yes our creative director briefly glanced over these designs.
"Your work is the priority right now" / True meaning: We say this to a heap of clients to make them feel special and valued.
"Yes we've done this kind of work before" / True meaning: I'm sure we can figure it out. That's what Google's for right?
"This has been scheduled in first thing tomorrow" / True meaning: Yeah it's in the schedule but we'll get to it when we can.
"Sorry I missed your call, I was caught up in a meeting" / True meaning: Actually I was avoiding you and wanted to respond via email instead.
"This was trickier than expected and took x hours in dev" / True meaning: We're padding out the quote for this work.
What do agencies lie about most often?
Everyone does it. I have. You have. Your colleague sitting at the desk near to you has...for sure. Just look at em. Totally guilty.
It's pretty common for agencies to inflate their capabilities during the sales phase of a project. The pressures of an average 10% attrition rate within agency-land lead to a few embellishments or exaggeration just to get that deal over the line.
The most common lies from people like us (who manage others) are based on:
Budget constraints
Deadlines and timeframes
Taking credit for an idea that wasn't their own (and 1 in 10 of these people think it's harmless to do so)
White lies = a gateway drug
People convince themselves a little white lie or omission is the norm. The more frequent they become, the more blaze we feel about them. We're desensitised to the guilt and fear of being caught out by a white lie and suddenly, we're able to find excuses for their regularity or severity.
It's easy to say that they're:
Benefiting the client
Minimising stress (on both client and agency sides)
Limiting client confusion on the nitty-gritty details
Ultimately securing a stronger relationship
Until they don't.
It completely shatters any client-agency trust that has been built up, which can take a long time to repair (or in some cases is irreparable). It topples your stellar reputation within the industry. It breeds a nasty internal culture that starts to bubble with more stress and anxiety.
Why we lie
It's who you are
Some people are just dawgs. Prone to lying is in their personality to inflate their position, manipulate others or as a means of self-serving motives. Others do so for self-preservation. Less sinister reasons like embarrassment or fear of criticism and blame.
Either way, you peeps need to do some self-reflecting before you bring that filthy mouth into the office.
It speaks to your workplace satisfaction
If you're a serial liar, then it's likely you're unhappy at work. Lying and job satisfaction go hand in hand with 41% of dissatisfied employees lying once a week, if not more. These types of employees are also telling more harmful lies about a project (blatant lies) than the light fluffy fibs (social lies).
It's breed into your agency culture
Some workplaces need to take a hard look in the mirror. An agency that fails to reprimand, downplays or even celebrates lying breeds a toxic culture. It also comes back to the people in power setting an example. Lyng behaviours trickle down the hierarchy and tend to infiltrate day to day ops.
I've worked at an agency where I was taught to use a 'busy schedule' as a tool to push client approvals in quicker (whether we were busy or not). I hated doing it and felt dirty using it as a sales tool, but the expectation from others around me was clear.
Unrealistic expectations
I'd be negliable not to mention the sometimes harsh, unrealistic expectations that agencies often have. Whether it's damn tough KPIs or a competitive environment that pits employees off one another - lying is the likely outcome.
The challenges & benefits of honesty
Although maintaining a transparent approach to client relationships does result in harder convos and stressful situations, it also strengthens your relationship in the long term. Clients recognise your openness and develop a deeper respect for your crew. In return, they are also more likely to speak candidly with you which leads to more fruitful project outcomes.
It also challenges you as an account or project manager to confront those tricky situations head on and improve your communication + management skills.
So no more word vomit of white lies to your clients thank you!