Q&A: Transitioning from agency to client-side research

Bethan Blakeley has recently joined SimpliSafe UK as CX and Research Manager. The company is well established and successful in the US but has only been in the UK for a few years. She told us that this means “we are still finding our feet and working within that start-up, growth space, which is very exciting.” 

In taking this role, Bethan has moved from agency to client-side, previously working as a Research & Analytics Director at Boxclever, a full-service research consultancy in Leeds. 

“I've never been one to sit nicely in a box. Although I was in the analytics team, I was involved in all sorts of work streams, from content generation to activation and storytelling, qual and quant. I've always been passionate about staying involved with the research process from start to finish because I think it gives you a great rounded picture of the work and the impact it's having - plus I'm just too nosey to stay in one place.”

I wanted to interview Bethan to get her take on what it was like to transition to a client-side role after a long agency career. So let’s get into it.

My job here, as I see it, is to take as many business decisions as I can and make them more consumer centric, ensuring we're delivering on what we know consumers want and need, rather than what we think they want and need. As a business, we’re becoming more customer obsessed, with a new Customer Director amongst other roles, so we're all working together to ensure that customer obsession is living and breathing in the business, rather than just written down somewhere and forgotten. Easier said than done, though.

I love being much closer to what's going on — I'm not hearing things second or third hand anymore. I'm having conversations in the office with decision makers, or with call-center agents who are speaking to our customers every day. Through these conversations, I'm able to spot the opportunities for research and act on them straight away, which keeps engagement and excitement for what I can do really high. 

The more I built close relationships with some clients, the more involved I was getting and the more I was being positioned as an extension of their team. I loved it. I loved presenting to senior boards and discussing the next steps. But sometimes, I found that each time I was getting excited about the outcome of the research, it was time to hand it back to the client, so I figured it was time to become the client. 

I'm still making the change. To begin with it has been a lot of listening and planning and piecing different bits of the puzzle together, trying to link it back to the big picture; whereas the agency side was more about tackling things on a project-by-project basis.

Definitely. I think when you're new to a role, you've got a great opportunity to ask what you think is a stupid question. When you're new, you're much more like the people in the market you're trying to acquire, and therefore the business starts wondering whether other potential customers are also confused by these questions - meaning they're not stupid questions after all.

That there wouldn't be much ‘doing’ or much delivery, especially to start with. In agency life you're focused on getting to the next deadline and ticking things off your to-do list. Whereas here, especially to start with, it’s been about listening, learning and planning — which is a process that takes much longer and doesn't necessarily have tidy outputs at the end of the day where you feel like you've achieved something.

It wasn't until one of my very trusted ex-clients said, "Be kind to yourself. Listening is important, you don't have to deliver," that I began to feel better and really embrace not ‘doing.’

How little time they have! It's easy to forget you're not that agency's only client, and they're likely juggling several deadlines and clients in the same week, or even on the same day. Be mindful of that wherever you can.

The differences are about the short-term vs the long-term view: the immediate, "we need to finish this project" (and then move onto the next one) you get in agency life, compared to the much bigger picture view of client-side life. Client side, it's more about thinking "how will we be able to use this in 6, 12, 18 months? How will this affect business strategy?" 

The similarities are the methodological ones. If I'm honest, I felt (and still feel) a bit of imposter syndrome starting this new role, especially as I am the only internal expert now. I found myself wondering if I really did know how to write a survey, or if I really did know how to run a workshop, but of course I do. It's the same nuts and bolts in terms of techniques and methodologies.

It sounds really cheesy, but I'm most excited about being able to make a difference and seeing that difference happen in front of me. As I've only been here a month or so, a lot of it has been listening, learning and setting things up. 

So when I actually come to deliver something, I can't wait to be able to take it to the next stage and be involved in that process with decision makers, and see what comes out the other side. I'm probably most nervous about exactly the same thing.

But it's when you're both nervous and excited that the magic happens, right? Life would be boring otherwise. 

Try everything. Get your hands dirty. It's the only way you can truly work out what you love doing, and what you're good at. 

I loved hearing about what it is like to make that move from agency to client side. Many of us in the industry contemplate or have made moves like this in either direction and it can be a great way to develop new skills and bring a new perspective to an organization. Bethan has certainly taken her own advice to “try everything” and we wish her all the best for the future in her new role.