Why PR clients are like cats?
When is PR, writing and general consultancy like sharing your life with a cat? Answer, most of the time actually.
If you’re a consultant working in the service sector then you might get where I’m coming from with this. Because, let’s face it, clients can be like cats. Hold that thought for a while.
They wander off, sometimes for long periods of a time. They do not always respond to calling and many don’t like being touched (some, disturbingly, like to be too close). Worryingly, clients (and cats) also have a tendency to find what they want elsewhere and might not come back for a while, if at all. Most of all, clients and cats like to be made the centre of attention, but always on their terms. Those signs in PR offices saying the client is always right, not withstanding his/her personality (I’m being polite here) are spot on.
So, imagine the relief in my household today when the errant, fickle, shallow but much loved ginger tom cat returned after being absent without leave for some considerable time. And guess what, he wasn’t keen on being picked up – but wolfed down the food and milk as if he hadn’t eaten for three days, which he probably had not.
That’s it then: clients are like cats. The only difference is that clients pay (most of the time) with money, not via purring and dribbling (which is a relief).
Tags: cats, clients, consultancy, PR
Lovely analogy Andy, and so glad he turned up.
Bearing in mind that we had our beloved B&W cat put to sleep this morning and I have just buried her next to our old ginger cat in the garden, I wonder what stage of the client relationship parallels that final, awful visit to the Vet?
Andy, great little post, glad he’s back. (This from a fretter who likes his cats to be home.)