06/17/2026
Last quarter I had a conversation with a pet retail client that I think about a lot.
They came to me ready to cut their ad budget. Significantly. They were also ready to switch their entire management software vendor, and they wanted to DocuSign the changes that same week.
The desperation in their voice wasn't about marketing. It was about the management software. The vendor had been strong-arming them on pricing and contract terms, and they were at the end of their patience. They wanted out, and cutting the ad budget felt like the only lever they could pull immediately to start regaining control.
I had two choices in that conversation.
The first was the easy one: agree, sign the new contracts, keep the relationship comfortable.
The second was harder: tell them that cutting ad budget while they were already stressed about their software vendor would compound the problem, not solve it. That their sales would dip noticeably within 2-3 weeks. That the move they were making out of frustration was going to hurt them in places they weren't expecting.
I had the hard conversation.
I told them I understood why they wanted to make the change, but if they cut the budget now, they'd be cleaning up two emergencies in 60 days instead of one. The right move was to fix the software vendor situation first, get out from under that pressure, then make a budget decision from a position of strength — not panic.
Then — and this is the part that mattered — I helped them structure the exit from the software vendor properly. Not because it was my job. Because it was the right thing to do, and because they needed someone on their side who wasn't trying to sell them something.
The relationship didn't suffer. The opposite. The conversation we had that week is the reason that client trusts every recommendation I've made since.
The agencies that survive aren't the ones who tell clients what they want to hear. They're the ones who tell clients what they need to hear, then help them carry it out.
If your agency only tells you what feels comfortable, you don't have an agency. You have a yes-machine billing monthly.