PR agencies should invest significantly more in client retention and pay greater attention to the way they evaluate their own services, according to a report published this week.
Relationship Audits and Management, which audits client-servicing companies, carried out over 2,000 client audits. The results should act as a warning to PR bosses.
The survey found that the majority of appraisals initiated by agencies involve sending the 'same questionnaire to each client once a year'. This, despite the fact that 75% of clients who change agencies cite 'poor service'.
The report says that although large agencies spend up to five per cent of their income on new business development, less than one per cent of agencies even have a specific client retention budget, beyond standard travel and entertainment allocations.
'Agencies invest inordinate amounts in chasing the 'new' when it is significantly more profitable to build on the existing,' wrote authors Carey Evans and Simon Rhind-Tutt.
More than 90% of clients surveyed said that 'ongoing relationship monitoring or tracking was negligible despite being desirable'. Many clients (66%) believe that agencies incentivise new business wins but just 17% of clients feel the account team is then rewarded for good management.
PR WEEK 07/04/2000 P2
