Reducing the pain of an agency handover
One of the biggest concerns for PR and marketing managers when they are dissatisfied with the services of their agency is the handover period between the outgoing incumbent and the incoming consultancy. Rainier PR has developed an eight-point plan to manage a seamless handover.
28 January 2008
The potential ‘pain’ of the handover process often puts off PR and marketing managers from changing agency, preferring to endure the same poor levels of service with which they are dissatisfied rather than chance a new consultancy and all the re-education that this would entail.
If marketing managers do elect to change agency, the chances are that during an often lengthy notice period, they would not receive the same level of service that they would have had during their retained period. It’s a sad-but-true fact that PR firms, once they know the game’s up, will focus on consolidating and growing their existing client base at the expense of those accounts on their way out.
Potentially, for a period of three months after notice is served and a few months after the new agency joins, your profile could seriously be at risk from underservicing. This means failure to appear in features that you should expect to be in, falling search engine rankings and other missed opportunities to comment. Building up the trust of journalists during any such quiet period could also take a while.
To counteract this threat, Rainier PR recommends a number of tactics that marketing managers can deploy to ensure that handover results in minimal impact to service.
1 |
Transformer: Look for an agency that will offer a ‘specialist transfer manager’ to oversee the entire process |
2 |
Handover of Power: Handovers with the incumbent should take place a month before its contract expires, not at the last minute. A meeting taking place at a neutral venue with all parties present is advisable |
3 |
Interior Designs: The incoming account team should hot-desk at the client’s offices to get a feel for the company and its ongoing programmes |
4 |
Media Frenzy: Incoming agencies should get in touch with the client’s five key contacts to introduce itself as the new agency and email others. A media audit of coverage should be carried out for the client and its main rivals |
5 |
Communication Flow: The new agency must be communicated internally and introduced to sales teams and C-level executives either in the internal newsletter or group-wide email. Consultants from the new agency should present its credentials and the on-going PR plan to key executives |
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Template for Success: In the month before handover, the client and incoming agency should agree PR and reporting templates |
7 |
Winning on the Web: One of the key frustrations for incoming PR agencies is when the client does not update new PR contacts on its website |
8 |
Share the Wealth: To ensure the smooth handover of PR materials, especially for larger clients, Rainier PR recommends building a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to upload PR materials from the client’s source and download onto its own system |
Too many PR agencies are getting away with poor service because their clients are concerned about ‘intellectual downtime’ during the handover. While this is a legitimate concern, following some or all of the above steps can reduce the pain traditionally associated with changing PR agencies.
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