Suppose you or your organization get to the point of deciding you need outside help on a communication project—with writing, editing, design, or layout, for a brochure, website, a book, article or other initiative. You may have even spent some time selecting the vendor, based on recommendations, interviews, proposals and bids.

One issue that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, however—apart from their capabilities and their pricing—is the question of how you will actually work together effectively during the project. Put differently, it’s the question of how you will get the most value from the relationship, with smooth going during the project and a better outcome than you would have achieved without their help.

You can’t tell everything from interviewing a vendor or studying their website, but there are some key issues you can try to touch on when talking to them or to others who have worked with them before. There are certain things you ought to be able to expect from a good communication professional, and other things you should never have to put up with. Here is a quick guide to both to help you in your decision-making process:

What a vendor should do for you:

• Coach and Consult. They should listen to you and help you crystallize your objectives and get them written down in clear and practical terms. They should help you create a comprehensive plan of your project, including costs, project scope, timeframe, resources needed, caveats, etc.

• Take Charge. Make no mistake: you are the client and you call the shots. But, when it comes to getting creative and solving the problems a communications project might present, you are hiring professionals partly to take charge—to ask questions and come up with ideas you don’t have the time and resources to come up with. They should proactively assess what you’re trying to accomplish, what obstacles may be keeping you from getting it done, and lay out a roadmap for ways to do so, including alternate routes.

• Collaborate. On the other hand, you don’t want to be left out of the process, either. They should collaborate with you, talk with you, and involve you as much as you want to be involved during the development process. Then, once the direction has been set and you have signed off on it, the vendor moves forward on his or her own steam, communicating at key points in the process, but not burdening you with all the details.

What they should NOT do:

• Just take orders. They should not simply parrot back in their planning or their work exactly what you have told them. While it’s essential that they listen to you and know what you want, you hired them to think actively and creatively on your behalf and to raise questions, challenge ideas, at any point when this might help lead to a better outcome. In other words, they should never just be order takers implementing a plan; they should be advisors helping to ensure that the plan itself is the best it can be, before they spend your money in executing it.

• Wait for you. They should not waste time waiting around for you to provide them with everything they think they need to get started with the work. They should coach you and even remind you about what you may need to provide them, including source materials, referrals to other people with knowledge relevant to the project, etc. They should do everything possible to make the process easy and painless for you.

• Get defensive. They should never defend something they did simply by saying it was what you told them to do. For that matter, they shouldn't defend anything by saying they didn't have enough time, someone was out sick, or any other reason. They are supposed to be thinkers, doing everything within their power to help you; not looking for excuses or ways to shift blame for something they did. Ask yourself, Whose interests do they seem most focused on protecting—yours or their own?

In short, communication vendors need to be more than just experts in their craft. They need to be skilled in managing the project, with a delicate, supportive, balance between proactive, creative leadership and sensitivity to the needs and desires of the client. It is not an easy balance to achieve, but it should be considered the price of admission for them to get your business and earn the fees they will charge you.



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