Amongst 5,348 other tasks, one of the jobs I have as President of Just For Laughs is being trotted out to meet the people we do business with. Be they sponsors, different levels of government or our media associates, they all want to meet "the new guy" (and hope he sticks around longer than "the old guy").
So last week, I met with some executives from the TVA network, who broadcast a whopping minimum of 16 hours of Juste Pour Rire content, and have been doing so for a number of years. After hearing my pitch about change, new direction, etc., France Lauziere, the network's VP Programming spoke up.
"This is all wonderful," she said softly. "But the most important change you can make is ensure that we're treated like a partner, not a client."
There are very few "no brainers" in business, but this is one. A big one.
When I was at Airborne, a term I despised (albeit common terminology in the tech biz) was a "vendor." A "vendor" was someone we turned to for a piece of technology or content that was crucial for the well-being of the overall project we were working on.
Without them, we were sunk (or at least stuck doing it ourselves), but the descriptive term made them sound like some sort of common corporate whore, plying their stuff to whatever corporate john wanted to purchase it. I was never overly comfortable "buying" from a "vendor."
So cut back to the TVA meeting. What France (and colleagues Pierre Taschereau and Isabelle Roy) stressed was that moving ahead meant moving together. Sounds like a cliche, but these days in every biz--particularly the media biz--not moving together means not moving at all.
Partners consult, look for ways to make one-plus-one equal four, and head off conflict early.
Clients make sales, look for ways to make the most money possible, and often clash when things are at deadline and cost more to fix...if they are fixable at all.
The TVA meeting reminded me of a situation I lived through during my first go around at Just For Laughs. The year was 1989, the "client" was CBC, and I was producing a series of stand-up comedy specials for 'em.
After delivering the six half-hour shows, the exec in charge, a no-nonsense woman named Carol Reynolds, requested a number of significant changes. Given that the shows had already been produced, going back and changing them would be time-consuming and costly, so I fought back on every change, performer-by-performer, joke-by-joke.
I'm proud to announce that I won every battle.
But when the show's contract came up for renewal in 1990, Carol said "I don't think so."
She had won the war.
Gulp.
To make a long and--believe me--very painful story short, a change in management at CBC the following year opened the door for us again. And the vow I took with the new exec team of George Anthony and Ed Robinson was that we'd be partners from Day One.
From that point on, every major decision would be discussed, and agreed upon, up front. If there was to be a battle, it would be settled then-and-there, not later-and-too-late.
From the selection of performers long before they hit our stages, to nightly reviews of them after their performance, we walked down the production path together. It made for a decade of peace, a great working relationship, and (most importantly) some high-rated, award-winning shows.
So, this week's learning?
Nobody who "buys" likes to be treated like a "client." A client is faceless, short-term, interchangeable and ultimately disposable. That's a one-way relationship, no matter what level, no matter what business.
A partner is a bond. A partnership an inter-dependable, long-term, two-way-or-more relationship. It makes it easier to succeed and harder to secede.
It's the way we worked with Twist Image and Favequest to launch our new website. (Read the release for this quote: "These guys I knew for sure would never let me down.")
It's the way we'll work with TVA. And CBC, CTV, Comedy Network, OMNI and HBO Canada this year...and for years to come.
And it's the only way to treat, and be treated by, people you do any sort of business with.