The Keys to Building a Successful Agency-Vendor Partnership

An evergreen goal for almost any seller in any industry is evolving from just being another vendor to becoming their client’s trusted partner. There might not be a “secret sauce” to achieving this goal, but our sales team has figured out an approach that helps achieve key goals for clients — and has also made Viant a household name for agencies across the U.S. 

To share more about building a successful agency-vendor partnership, we recently sat down with Sales Director Kara Gibbs and Account Director Evie Cashen. 

Q: Kara and Evie, just to set the stage, when we think about developing a business relationship with a client, can you share the process of transitioning from being just another vendor to a true partner?

It often starts with working alongside the agency to change the conversation around media. This involves moving away from just CTR (click-through rate) and traditional media metrics and, instead, towards a true data-driven approach. The  agency can then grow their media billables by bringing on net-new media clients who can utilize various new tools, like our Advanced Reporting suite, to prove return on ad spend. 

In a recent client success story, we started proving campaign success in CTV through our reporting suite, and after, introduced Sales reporting through Circana to showcase incremental sales. This allowed our agency partner to measure what really mattered for their clients and change the conversation on how media drives success for their business.

Q: Working with the client mentioned above, how did you build a foundation for growth in the partnership?

Most of our clients consist of the media/programmatic teams at agencies. What we found with this recent client success story was, by also connecting with the Account/Brand Management teams, we were able to uncover additional business needs that we could help solve. By bridging this gap, we were able to come in as consultants to provide additional education to help grow their team’s knowledge. Said simply: Building relationships across teams at an agency can help you to understand client business objectives outside of media.

Q: What gave this agency confidence to continue to invest more in Viant?

Outside of our technology, the specific Viant team that has worked and continues to work with the client is what keeps the agency investing. As a sales team, we need to make sure we are understanding their campaign strategy so that we are all working towards the same business goals for the agency’s clients. I think this quote from the client’s brand director really sums it up: “Viant thinks in the same way the agency thinks: having the end result in mind and using data to tell the story. It’s business strategy, not just campaign strategy.”

Q: How does a seller gain trust to become ingrained in the agency and brought in on things such as new business pitches? 

The key to building trust with our clients is to consult in all areas of their business. This means going above and beyond a standard media proposal, and taking the time to educate all teams and bring new ideas to the table. From a sales perspective, you need to be willing to take the time to educate and train all team members, who may not even understand what a DSP is. Being willing to have conversations without a dollar amount tied to it can go a long way from the agency’s perspective. 

Q: What advice would you give to Viant partner teams on how to best work with their agencies to drive success? 

Do: 

• Get in the weeds with your client
• Walk in their shoes
• Think through the business strategy/goals not just the campaign strategy, otherwise you miss opportunities to grow partnerships

Don’t: 

• Make assumptions with how information is received
• Always think efficiencies are the only way to win