1. Communications Protocols
Odds are that your day-to-day dealings with your client are based on a communications protocol that you're both pretty happy with. If the client is in the habit of regularly checking email, you might conduct a lot of business that way. If the client is more of a phone person, conference calls might be the norm. More than likely, you conduct business through a variety of communications channels ranging from phone to fax to email to in-person meetings. Maybe you even make major decisions after an IM conversation with your client.
Different clients need face time at different intervals and times of the day. You might talk with one brand manager once a month on a face-to-face basis, while someone in marketing might require your presence at meetings a few times a week. In general, you feel this out over time and do your best to conform to whatever expectations your client has of your account management protocols.
Then, all of a sudden, you need to collaborate on a project with another agency. This has the potential to throw off the frequency of your communications with the client and the channels you use to funnel information back and forth.
For instance, I once worked with an interactive-based client whose marketing director rarely picked up the telephone. By and large, he made more calls than he actually took and preferred to return messages than take phone calls as they came in. If we needed a quick answer on something, the best way to get in touch with the client was through IM.
Meanwhile, another agency that came aboard to work on creative quickly found itself held up by a lack of timely answers to questions. The account manager relied on the phone too much and wasn't big on IM. Even though the client told the new agency that the best way to get quick answers was with IM, which would cut through the flurry of daytime phone calls, the new agency continued with the phone follow-up and its work suffered as a result.
Most communications snafus can be avoided if all the agencies and clients involved set protocols at the start of a project. Included should be a contact list of everyone involved in the project, their backups and various methods by which everyone can be contacted, including emergency numbers and such.
We've also managed to dodge communications problems by setting up email lists for clients who like email as a communications channel. We place everyone on a given project team on a mailing list named after the project. It seems to be easy for the client and the other agencies involved to remember to copy the list on project updates and vital bits of information that go out via email. It's also a great option if you rotate people from project to project from time to time. Simply take the old person off the email list and put the new person on; no one needs to remember new email addresses.