The Changing Agency-Client Relationship

The client-agency relationship is different than it used to be. Clients expect and want agencies to deliver services differently, and agencies are working with clients in a very different manner from years ago.

One of the most significant changes between agencies and clients is in the relationship itself. Twenty years ago, agencies were more trusted advisors to client companies. They were held in the same esteem as other professional advisors, CPAs, attorneys, financial advisors. Over the years, for reasons not entirely clear, that relationship has changed. Generally speaking, relationships of today aren’t as strong as they used to be. On the client side, for example, 20 to 25 years ago the typical client contact was older. They had been with the company for 12 to 15 years in a senior position. They anticipated being there another 12 to 15 years. They were interested in a long-term, consultative relationship, based on advice, trust, and knowledge. Today, client contacts have often been in the company for a much shorter period of time, perhaps only a few months. They don’t anticipate being there much longer before they move on to the next world to conquer. When you have someone who has recently joined a company, the real impact that person can make is often by delivering something faster or cheaper. The relationship with the agency becomes more of a vendor-based relationship where they are asking you to deliver something faster or cheaper and not always better.

This unfortunately has strained the relationship between many agencies and clients and has been the cause of a less beneficial relationship between the two.

This has been very difficult on our industry. Our industry has been forced to find ways to do things much more quickly, much more cheaply, and that does not always mean doing them better. That has caused us to sometimes focus on hiring people based on how little we can pay them rather than how much they can benefit the company or the client. When you have to hire someone based on how fast and cheaply he will work, rather than on how much knowledge he brings to the client, you are rarely going to get as good a product or service for that client.