The posts of my co-writers on their love for PR and the anguish expressed over lack of respect for the profession made me ponder the reasons behind. While it is true there are many external factors one can think of, felt there is a certain lack of self-belief/respect that perpetuates it. Let me share with you some instances.

Sometime ago, used to encounter clients who at the time of signing up bad mouth the agency that worked before portraying them as irresponsible, unethical, unprofessional and what not. Used to take their word at face value and actually express surprise and anguish at such behaviour of a peer firm. It is only when the firm I run received a bitter taste of this that I woke up and realized the folly. A client whom we felt was unreasonable, adopted the familiar tactic of saying what we delivered was not of value etc. as a ruse to avoid payment. When we confronted firmly and pushed hard we found to our shock that the trigger was not just the client but another PR firm whom they had hired after us. In another instance the client who bad mouthed the previous firm turned out to be so unprofessional and unbearable we had to sign of the account after few months and actually sympathize with the firm before who must have endured the same ordeal.

As speaker and active participant in many industry forums and meets I do end up socializing and chatting up large number of professionals across levels. One striking common thread is that when the conversation veers to their/other PR firms very little of what is said is objective and positive. I am sure there is no lack of good work going around in our business and leaders as well. Considering how less forums we have to share best practices or access leaders from other PR firms these personal tête-à-tête often offer a great opportunity to share and learn. Alas, we are not interested or see any value.

Next is the abrupt change in behaviour I have observed in PR pros who switch to corp. comm. or marcom. How much ever popular opinion is different, I am clear and firm that being on the agency side is a conscious decision I have taken despite many offers to switch. I treat and see myself as an equal and not otherwise. However, the behaviour of many of our peers when they cross the fence is truly surprising. Particularly the attitude when they sit across the table. Instead of leveraging it positively to have empathy for the agency and working like partners in unison often have seen the agency exposure being used as a stick to beat the agency with. My contention is that agency business is no magic and am sure nothing changes just because someone switches over to the other side. This beating down particularly happens in the area of media relations where despite knowing its glorious and documented uncertainties, the newbie corp. comm. pro., would probe as to the logic of how certain key messages were missing in the article etc. among others. While as a professional, I do not shirk responsibility, it is nice to have someone on the other side who not only understands how you work but actually factors it in objectively and works with you to fill in and make it a success. My poser is – fine you pay the fees but is it not the client firm that really wins from a successful PR campaign than the agency?

Finally, the lack of respect and inability to give credit to the senior pros. I will never accept that building or running a medium or large PR firm is a cakewalk and happens due to sheer luck or due to one benevolent and powerful mentor or whatever. It needs perseverance, planning and a whole lot more like any other industry if not more. If we all believe our leaders compromise more, how less do the leaders of our client companies have we seen compromising? How come we have different yardsticks? Yes, the factors I mentioned above helps but it is not the be all and end all.

Here are the resolutions have made for myself:

 -          what goes around, comes around, if I pass and actively support agency bad mouthing, in no time it comes back to haunt your firm as well, so, why do it in the first place

-          insist on and strive to have clients treat you as partners and push that envelope all the more with ex-PR pros turned clients

-          there is no agency that can deliver 100% to all the clients; it is simply impossible and every agency will have its cupboards adorned with few failures and that is part and parcel of life and no barometer to judge

-          PR account management and relationship building is still in the realm of subjectivity and hence when it goes sour, it will lead to frayed tempers; rather than feeding on or building onto it, one would be better off to move on in the most amicable manner possible

-          Will try my best to learn from other firms and leaders as much as they allow (recently offered to work as a associate with a very senior professional whom I admire and who runs his own consultancy for two weeks just to learn and be exposed to how he does things? He was taken aback when I made the request but was insistent and said I will not bring to the table the fact that I run my own agency and he can shout at me and do what he does to his team?)

-          Finally like employees, clients come and clients go; the reason for a client to stay with a PR firm is often a function of many factors, some of which the firm has no control over (once we lost a client because he grew faster than we did and when we chose to go with the largest firm in our country we were frank enough to say that gradual expansion is our strategy and we are not going to relook at it because of one client); so be professional about it

Am ending here not because there are not words to express more on this topic but because would not like to break the golden rule of being crisp in the blogsphere. Love to hear from all of you. 

Xavier Prabhu, an entrepreneur owns and runs PRHUB. He can be reached at Xavier@prhub.com

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