Sergio Pérez -- Senior Director of Omnichannel at Bojangles

Agencies are only as good as the directions you give them, and client-agency relationships are much more likely to succeed if you set clear expectations and ground rules from the beginning. However, at the same time, you should also give your agency the space to be creative and innovative. In this episode of the YouShouldTalkTo podcast, our host Daniel Weiner welcomes Sergio Pérez, the senior director of Omnichannel at Bojangles. They talk about the essential skills you should look for in an agency (especially within the food industry), how to allow for creativity, and how a client-agency relationship is similar to marriage.Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: Sergio Pérez -- Senior Director of Omnichannel at Bojangles.💡 Noteworthy: Sergio is an innovative marketer who drives results by launching best-in-class digital platforms and developing strategies that drive sales. In his role, he is focused on redefining the way Bojangles’ customers experience, engage, and purchase by digitally transforming and modernizing the brand. In 2022, Sergio was named on QSR Magazine's "35 Young Leaders to Watch" list. Prior to Bojangles, he worked at Church's Chicken, Johnny Rockets, Huddle House, Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, and Garden Fresh Restaurants.💡 Where to find Sergio: LinkedInKey Insights ⚡Having industry knowledge is essential for agencies working in the food industry. Industry experience is not a must in every industry, but when it comes to the restaurant field, agencies need to know the ins and outs of it. Sergio says, "Having agencies that understand the complexities and the intricacies of the business is critical because, one, it enables us to move quickly, and it gives us a competitive advantage in terms of speed to be able to make better decisions for restaurants and restaurant brands versus having to spend an awful lot of time teaching an agency how business works, the impact that operations has on the business, so on and so forth."⚡Set clear expectations with your agency but allow for creativity. While clear directions are key to a successful client-agency collaboration, you should still allow your partner to be creative and innovative. Sergio explains, "I've always believed that agencies are only as good as the direction you give them. For us, the responsibility from a client perspective is to make sure that we're giving very clear direction in terms of what are our objectives and what are our goals. What is the problem that we're trying to solve? But also balance that with giving an agency room to think and to be creative and to do their work. So what I've found to be the most successful in working with agencies is establishing really clear expectations, really clear guidelines because you get closer to delivering the result."⚡Client-agency relationships are a lot like a marriage. A client-agency relationship is about trust, belief, and communication, just like a marriage. Sergio explains this metaphor, "The way I would describe it is: agency-client relationships are a little bit like a marriage. You're in it together in health and in illness. But I do believe that, similar to a marriage, there's a point where I think one or the other partner feels like it might be over, and it might be time to get a divorce, if you will. And because our relationship with agencies is, one, a partnership and us being transparent and them having a seat at the table, it becomes very evident at some point when it's time to move on."