Conversations amongst PPC professionals often gravitate toward nightmare clients. The ones who called at all hours of the day, dictated what should be done in the account and when, or were never satisfied even by exemplary results. Looking through these situations, it is inevitable to consider that nobody is happy. The manager feels belittled or berated and the client wants better results and is frustrated; a no-win situation in every sense. So, here’s a painted picture of the perfect PPC client.

Know Your Goals. This is going to be one of the first questions a reputable service will ask you during a sales call. What is your CPA? What is your conversion rate? What is lifetime value? As a client you should already know these metrics. They are the foundation of success in PPC because you can use them to back into your PPC bids and you have a standard to judge performance against. Without them, you’ll struggle to know what’s profitable and what isn’t. To be the perfect client, know these numbers beforehand. If you don’t, and you want your PPC manager to help you figure that out, then you need to build that into your expectations, which is our second point.

Know Your Expectations. This may seem obvious but it’s the core of a successful relationship. When reputable services get answers like “Make a lot of money”, they at once know that the clients haven’t thought through what they expect. Even after digging it seems like they just want to reduce their workload or they only recently fired the last guy and need a replacement fast.

When you know your expectations you can accurately determine the fit between the manager and yourself. For example, if you expect weekly reports and calls and the manager only does monthly reports and calls, you know right away that even if they agree to your terms it’s not habit for them, they’ll simply be going out of their way to accommodate you. If you’re therefore picking them because they’re the low-cost bid, there is the potential to create resentment.

Know How You Communicate. Note that this implies good communication. That is a must, but you also need to know how you communicate best. If you prefer a well-written email, look for a manager that writes good emails in the sales process. If you prefer a quick call, look for a manager that is well-spoken and organized on the phone, even when the call is impromptu. Finding a good match on communication style will help ensure that communication is effective and this will go a long way towards creating a happy client/manager relationship.