Shortly after I started working full-time with DeeterUSA in 1997, I clearly remember making the statement to a colleague that it seemed like the client/agency relationship seemed to have an average lifecycle of about five years. There were certainly some exceptions that either stretched or abbreviated that timeline, yet five seemed to be the “magic number.”
Since making that statement, I’ve kept an unofficial time clock running in my mind from the time we land a new account until the time that client and our agency determine it is time to go in a different direction.
According to Atlanta-based search consultancy The Bedford Group, in 1984, the average client-agency relationship tenure was 7.2 years. In 1997, that average was down to 5.3 years (so my five year observation was pretty spot on). Today, however, The Bedford Group believes the average relationship lasts less than three years!
I suppose that number might be accurate for our agency if you consider every piece of potential business that comes through our door. If you look specifically at those clients who are with us a minimum of six months however, I am fairly confident our current average client tenure is closer to Bedford’s 1984 number rather than their current data.
And when you think about it, that probably makes sense, too, being that our agency started in the same era as the original data when my father opened our doors in 1985.
So what is the secret to a longstanding client/agency relationship? While I’ve tried not to overanalyze things as clients come and go, I can report that there is a definite excitement when a new client signs on and there certainly can be times when frustration creeps in, things don’t go according to plan, and things just feel stale. Certainly these feeling play a part, yet if I had a definitive answer on how to keep a client, DeeterUSA would NEVER lose a client.
There are, however, a handful of principles our company was founded on that we still insist upon that very well may contribute to successful relationship building. These include:
Ultimately, we strive to execute developed and approved client plans within budget and on time. By working within this framework, we often find ourselves doing more than just managing a client/agency relationship. We build partnerships and create rewarding scenarios where everyone wins. And if everyone is winning, why look elsewhere for communications support?