Every consultant, agency and service provider has at least one client horror story.  The same could be said for companies who hire us (and I mean you, me, anyone and everyone in the service business).  In most cases we can peacefully (and productively) coexist. But as they say, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

So when a SNAFU arises, and things get out of sorts, it begs the question: what could have been done to avoid it?  If you are on the client side of the equation, here are a few things to consider (even if you don’t engage a consultant, agency or service provider, these questions can be equally applied to your internal resources):

• Did you clearly articulate your goals and measurement criteria (and were you realistic)?  You want that e-book to go viral (don’t know if anyone can even guarantee that request). You want Walt Mossberg to review your product? You want 100,000 downloads of your new widget on the day of the launch? These are all good goals, and to a certain extent can be achieved with the appropriate planning. But you need to take baby steps and build on your small successes first (which requires time and budget).

• Are you providing the right content? Maintaining a blog, integrating video and participating in social media conversations are new channels to create awareness and communicate with your audience. Are you creating such content, or empowering your agency to do so, giving them access to your business so they can help drive this process?

• Do you respect the urgency of deadlines? Marketing, PR and social media are opportunistic in scope. You need to strike while the iron is hot; otherwise opportunities can go cold in hours if not minutes.  If your agency facilitates a briefing with an influential blogger or reporter, are you willing to pull out all the stops to take advantage of it? Or do you try to back them into your “busy” schedule? Achieving buzz is contingent on you being “always on” and available for the media, blogs and other influencers in your sphere.

• Are you open to new ideas? Do you listen?  Every company has their own tolerance to risk. Some are daring and others more conservative. Being open to new ideas can be risky but they can also be instrumental in opening up new opportunities. Have an open mind with ideas and foster an environment where your agency can be creative.

• Do you have competitor envy? Keeping tabs on the competition is critical to any business. But being obsessed with what they do and losing sight of what you have to do can hinder your agency’s effectiveness. After all, your competition is tracking your moves and likely going through their own fire drills to keep pace with you.

• Do you understand the process required to be successful? Launching a new Web site, maintaining a blog, implementing a media relations campaign and other marketing programs can be easy to get started, but requires a ton of hard work to keep them going. It’s necessary for an agency to guide you through the process, and imperative for you to understand (and embrace) it.

I am sure there are so many other questions that can be asked. Please share them in the comments below.

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