There is a certain team that have been servicing a client for the past five years in a particular PR agency. This year too, the account got renewed despite many bigger agencies pitching for the client.Why did the client company decided to stay with the agency even when they have been having differences with the agency over media clips and other PR constantly? I bounced this question off to the client corporate communications person at the client companies who I happen to know personally.  

Some observations I had over the conversation:

1. Understanding of the client company: The agency team that handled the account had a good knowledge of his company, its products, and the market it conducts business in. So to renew the account with the existing agency was in a way saving them from training a new agency and familiarising a new team about their company from scratch.

2. Enthusiasm to work in that account: The client knew that though there were differences over results, the agency team had been forthright in their approaches and were honest with them. The agency team didn’t try to spin the client into believing that so and so media activity were out of bounds, or try to exaggerate a certain activity they have done. He said corporate communications people today are those who have been in agencies before. So they know exactly how the agencies function. He said most of the agencies perform at par and one cannot distinguish one’s performance from another  (which makes sense since people from one agency keep jumping to another). So enthusiasm of the client handling team at the agency to work at a particular account can be what actually makes that slight difference.

Take it in this way. suppose you are a client company and are looking for an agency, would you hire a big-time agency where you would be lost in the midst of its big-time clientele and be treated as a B-grade client, or would you rather hire a smaller agency where you are treated with utmost importance? Point is not let the client feel his account his B-grade.  

3. Price right: Nowadays, many agencies are charging no lesser than INR 1 lac per account per month, which is alright for big companies. But we should remember when we are charging that for organising a press conference, there might be a smaller start-up who can do the same job for 1/3rd of our price. This has happened so many times with us. We boast of our international affiliations, pan-India network, the people we have on board, and charge a fat fee, only to learn days later that an agency from nowhere has bagged the account. Companies with smart corporate communications department people see that it would not make much difference in the results even if they go with the lower price agency. For short-term media activity projects, may be it is better to be very price competitive, as a two-people agency can call and RSVP the media as nicely as a MNC PR company. For long-term projects where there are strategic inputs, crisis communications, government relations, etc. required, maybe agencies can show off their networks and expertise and thus charge more.