The Chemistry Meeting: Questions Clients and Agencies Should Ask Before Working Together
Credentials show what an agency has done. A pitch shows what it can do with your brief. Neither tells you whether the two teams will work well together on a difficult afternoon when the deadline is tomorrow and the campaign is not performing. That is what the chemistry meeting is for.
Done well, it saves weeks for both sides. Done badly, it turns into a sales presentation that teaches nobody anything.
What a chemistry meeting is
A chemistry meeting is a short, mostly informal meeting between a client and an agency before a pitch or a contract. It usually lasts about an hour, and there is no creative work on the table. The aim is to see whether the people, the working style and the values fit.
It typically happens after the client has made a long list based on credentials and before it invites a shortlist of agencies to pitch. For smaller projects, some clients use a chemistry meeting instead of a full pitch. Either way, it saves time: the client does not ask five agencies to prepare unpaid work, and the agency does not invest weeks in a client it would not want to keep.
The meeting works in both directions. The client is assessing the agency, but a good agency is also assessing the client.
| Topic | The client asks | The agency asks |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Who works on our account day to day, and for how much of their time? | Who on your side will we work with every day? |
| Way of working | How do you prefer to receive briefs and feedback? | How quickly can your team give feedback and approvals? |
| Results | Tell us about a project that did not go as planned. | What does success look like a year from now? |
| Decisions and budget | How do you report on results, and how often? | Who makes the final decision, and is there a budget range? |
| History | How long have your key people been with the agency? | How did your work with previous agencies go, and why did it end? |
| Honesty and fit | Is there anything about us that makes you hesitate? | How do you prefer to communicate day to day? |
How to prepare
- Client: send a one-page summary of the business, the challenge and the timeline. Say who will attend from your side, and ask the agency to bring the people who would actually work on the account.
- Agency: study everything public about the client: website, social media, recent advertising, news. Prepare questions rather than a presentation. If you bring slides, keep them to a few.
- Both: agree on the format and length in advance. An hour is usually enough; much longer and it starts turning into a pitch.
Questions the client should ask
About the team:
- Who will work on our account day to day, and how much of their time will we get?
- How long have the key people been with the agency?
- Who covers for them during holidays, or if they leave?
About the way of working:
- How do you prefer to receive briefs and feedback?
- What does a normal week look like with a client like us?
- How do you handle a disagreement with a client about the work?
About results:
- Tell us about a project that did not go as planned. What did you change?
- How do you report on results, and how often?
About fit:
- Which of your current or past clients is most similar to us, and what did you learn from working with them?
- Is there anything about our business or this project that makes you hesitate?
The last question is the most revealing. An agency that answers honestly, for example "your timeline is tight" or "we have not worked in your category before", is likely to tell you the truth later as well.
Questions the agency should ask
An agency that only answers questions misses half the purpose of the meeting. Good agencies use it to understand whether the relationship can work:
- Who makes the final decision, and will they be involved from the start?
- How has your work with previous agencies gone, and why did it end?
- What does success look like a year from now?
- Is there a budget range for this work?
- How quickly can your team give feedback and approvals?
- How do you prefer to communicate: scheduled meetings, email, messengers?
The second question is uncomfortable but necessary. If a client has changed several agencies in a short time, the agency needs to understand why before joining the list. In markets where a lot of business communication happens on WhatsApp and Instagram, the last question also matters more than it seems: agreeing on channels and response times early prevents frustration later.
Signals worth noticing
The answers matter, but behavior often tells you more. Watch for:
- Listening ratio: who talks more? An agency that speaks for 50 minutes of a 60-minute meeting will probably do the same throughout the relationship.
- Honesty under pressure: does anyone say "we don't know" or "that would be difficult"? Confidence is good; overpromising is not.
- Who shows up: if senior people attend the chemistry meeting and then never appear again, you will feel it later. Ask directly who will be in the room in month six.
- Respect on both sides: a client who keeps the agency waiting, checks the phone and dismisses questions is showing what the next year will feel like. Agencies notice.
After the meeting
Score the meeting the same day, while it is fresh. A simple scale for four areas is enough: team, way of working, honesty and fit. Ask everyone who attended to score separately, then compare. Differences are useful: they show what each person valued and what they saw that others missed.
Then give feedback, especially to the agencies you do not take forward. A short, honest explanation takes ten minutes and builds your reputation as a client. In a small market, where agencies and clients meet again and again, that reputation decides who wants to work with you next time.
In my experience, the chemistry meeting will not tell you who has the best idea. It tells you who you can work with when ideas are not enough, and that is often the better predictor of results.
