Setting client expectations in the AI era
In this episode, Chip and Gini explore the impact of AI on client expectations. They discuss how AI is perceived to speed up work, leading clients to have unrealistic expectations regarding turnaround times and pricing. The duo emphasizes the need for agencies to set realistic boundaries and manage expectations from the outset. They share stories about AI’s inconsistency, particularly in generating imagery and written content, and stress the importance of educating clients on the limitations and potential of AI. Ultimately, they advocate for leveraging AI’s efficiencies while maintaining transparency and setting clear guidelines with clients to avoid morale and operational issues within your agency. Key takeaways Chip Griffin: “The advice that we always give that as soon as you spot unrealistic expectations, you need to call them out and adjust them, that becomes even more important now.” Gini Dietrich: “You can’t just input a prompt and expect that you’re going to get an output and then send it over to the client. That’s not how it works.” Chip Griffin: “Nothing has changed with AI. We still need to focus on education and expectations with our clients no matter what tools or technology we’re using.” Gini Dietrich: “Sometimes you might over deliver, getting things done sooner or things like that. But those should be like delight and surprise kinds of experiences, not an all the time kind of thing.” Related Setting expectations for agency clients What does ChatGPT and generative AI mean for PR agencies? View Transcript The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy. Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin. Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich. Chip Griffin: And Gini I, I used some AI and so we’re gonna conclude this podcast in just about a minute because we’ll get to all the key points that quickly because of the technology. Gini Dietrich: The instant output, are we getting? Chip Griffin: An instant output. Instant amazing, instant results. Amazing. And we can move on with our day. Gini Dietrich: Okay. But before we get to that Chip Griffin: mm-hmm. Gini Dietrich: Happy belated birthday. Chip Griffin: Thank you. I appreciate it. Gini Dietrich: You’re welcome. I didn’t get to wish you happy birthday last week because the coffee shop and the satellite office and the wifi, blah, blah, blah. So happy belated. Chip Griffin: Thank you. It is, it is nice to have you back in your home office so that we don’t, Gini Dietrich: it’s very nice to be back. Chip Griffin: We, we don’t have to, to figure out all the technical issues every week. Yes. And, and figure out can we record, can we not record? Yes. Yes. But I think, I think we only had two weeks where we couldn’t make it work, so Yeah, you’re right. That’s not, that’s not too bad given the challenges of recording in a coffee shop environment. Gini Dietrich: Yeah. Summer school is over. Yay. Chip Griffin: Well, there you go. Alright. We are gonna talk about AI and we are gonna talk about AI making us faster, but perhaps the bigger problem is clients and prospects thinking that it would make us even faster. Than fast. Gini Dietrich: Mm-hmm. Chip Griffin: And so it does tend to lead to unrealistic expectations about how much you can do, how fast you can do it, and of course what that means for pricing. And so these are all challenges that agencies are facing and, and we’re all excited about the technology around us and how we can leverage it. But, but how do we manage those expectations effectively with clients and, and how do we integrate it effectively with what we’re doing so that, that it adds to the, the results and, and doesn’t just give us a giant headache. Gini Dietrich: Part of the reason I like this topic for today is at six o’clock this morning, I saw a client in a Google Doc, a shared Google Doc making some changes, and then at 7:30 he emailed and said, have you upda