Agency Management: So much admin, so little time

margins, yet they remain widespread.

A recent study by Aurum Data Systems (see panel opposite) suggests many
consultancies are failing to take the bull by the horns and address
problems that are undermining business performance. Although
unreasonable client expectations is one cause of staff dissatisfaction,
volume of administration and repetition of tasks also impact negatively
upon job enjoyment. Clearly agencies with systems to streamline working
practices, and keep client work within agreed parameters, are more
likely to be successful businesses.

'It is the joint responsibility of agency leaders and the client to
ensure service delivery is focused where most value is added,' says
Publicasity executive chairman Carl Courtney. 'If an agency is having to
stretch resources to fulfill a brief, it's not clever buying by the
client.'

Courtney goes so far as to argue that agency leaders have a 'duty of
care' to their staff to broach over-servicing with their clients.
Never-ending to-do lists from clients do not create an environment
conducive to delivering dazzling results. And, he adds, if you
over-service by more than 20 per cent, you will lose your entire
margin.

Shockingly, the Aurum study suggests 10 per cent of agency staff believe
they over-service their clients by 100 per cent or more.

The average over-servicing level to which PRCA member agencies admit is
24 per cent, but this is still too high, the body argues.

'PR is a buoyant industry at the moment but we need to look after our
staff if we are to maintain healthy growth and margins,' says PRCA
director general Francis Ingham. 'This means being more confident with
clients about the value we add.'

Caroline Johnson, senior consultant at Results International, a
specialist M&A and business adviser to agencies, says in her line of
work she sees three types of PR agency stereotypes. The 'do this for me'
agency is very client-led. The more evolved 'help me think' agency is
more customer-centric. Finally, the 'think for me' model applies to a
valued partner. The latter is by far the smallest group but also the
most profitable, able to charge for outcomes instead of just inputs, and
able to command net margins of around 35 per cent.

Johnson says these agencies have automated much of what they do in order
to focus on the big picture. They tend to run a tight ship, often using
management information systems such as Paprika or Access.

'There is no doubt many agencies still work on a largely manual basis,
as they have done for years,' says Vocus Europe managing director Andrew
Muir, whose firm supplies PR software. 'However, forward-thinking
agencies increasingly are using technology to automate the tedious,
repetitive administrative parts of their business.'

Property PR specialist BlueIce Communications has, says MD Elizabeth
Tagge, eliminated low-level admin jobs using support software: 'We no
longer require much photocopying or time spent on report preparation.
Junior team members are therefore able to devote themselves to writing,
researching and contacting journalists, which is far more useful for the
company and more interesting for them.'

Intriguingly, late last year tech specialist Text 100 took a different
approach, launching a Global Resource Optimisation service based in
Mumbai, India. In essence it is offshoring time-intensive activities.
Sister agency Lexis has (as yet) no plans to follow suit, but did
recently start using media database Gorkana, to allow staff to exchange
information more easily.

Firefly Communications head of consumer Brandon Stockwell believes there
is scope for efficiency improvements to be made when it comes to
cuttings: 'The challenge for the cuttings agencies is to provide a
service that really meets the agency's needs and the client's needs
rather than a plain van-illa service where everyone has to like it or
lump it,' he explains.

Although the majority of cuttings are now provided in a digital form,
many agencies and clients still like to receive paper versions to
display in office receptions. Stockwell thinks there is an opportunity
to develop a flatscreen digital cuttings display system for reception
areas, thus cutting the 'paper trail' even further.

'It is important team members record activities in detail so directors
can establish whether the problem lies with staff training or with the
client side,' says Kinross+Render CEO Sara Render. 'Where the issue is
training, the agencies need to re-allocate hours to internal training.
If the problem lies with the client then a full and frank discussion on
how they might reduce costs is a good idea.'

No one, on either side of the client/agency fence, wants to see admin
snowball. Red Consultancy CEO Mike Morgan says that a pie chart showing
the proportion of time spent on admin usually brings everyone to their
senses, while Lewis PR UK general manager Kath Pooley says she knows of
one client who discovered that 60 per cent of PR activity was
admin-based and put a financial cost on it. 'The shock of seeing the
impact in financial terms brought a swift change in focus,' she
says.

The Aurum Report 2008

Research from Aurum Data Systems paints a dispiriting picture of an
industry under enormous pressure, in which demotivated and overworked
consultancy staff make inefficient use of their time.

Client over-servicing is rife and in some places verges on the
commercially reckless: 10 per cent of respondents believe they usually
over-service by 100 per cent or more. Three times as many, 30 per cent,
think they over-service by a still worrying 75 to 100 per cent; while 35
per cent said they over-service by 50 to 75 per cent. With 20 per cent
giving clients an extra 25 to 50 per cent free of charge, and only five
per cent over-servicing by less than 25 per cent, it is clear that an
enormous number of hours are being clocked up with no financial return
for the agency business.

Coupled with long working hours - the average working week comes in at a
tiring 50.5 hours, with senior managers clocking up 59 hours - it comes
as no surprise that job dissatisfaction is high. For example, fewer than
one in five consultants at account executive level describe themselves
as highly motivated, with more than a quarter saying they are
unhappy.

In addition to long working hours, other major causes of job
dissatisfaction are repetition of the same tasks, volume of
administration and unreasonable client demands. However, dissatisfaction
relating to working environment, level of benefits and welfare packages
offered by employers is comparatively low.

Aurum CEO Peter Smith says despite the widespread use of technologies to
support smarter working practices, the PR industry remains over-reliant
on manual processes and huge amounts of unfulfilling repetitive work.
Addressing these problems, he argues, would help lift employee morale
and improve motivation.

Working hours per week

Senior managers 59

Middle management 52

Executives 48

Finance 43



Causes of job dissatisfaction - %

Repetition of the same tasks 47

Length of working hours 44

Volume of administration 31

Unreasonable client demands 26

Working environment 15

Lack of benefits/welfare programme 7



How many hours does it take to ... ?

Build media lists 2

Distribute a press release 4

Produce a media coverage report 4

Write a monthly progress report 6

Build a clippings book 4



How much do you over-service clients?

100% or more 10

75-100% 30

50%-75% 35

25-50% 20

Less than 25% 5

- Research carried out in the last quarter of 2007 and the first two

months of 2008. It involved 93 PR and IR agencies ranging in size from

15 employees to multinationals. Total sample was 269