Client-Agency Relationships

The client-agency relationship is the state of interaction between an organization (or its representative) and the public relations firm it hires to represent it. Their relationship can be the most important factor in the success of the client's public relations program and the firm's ability to serve the client well.

Much of the pressure to maintain the relationship rests with the agency. The ability to build a strong client-agency relationship is one of the most important skills a practitioner can offer. Serving the client requires that the agency staff keep the client's best interests in mind and share the client's [Page 125]understanding of and passion for its business goals, while at the same time working toward the agency's own goals.

Some client-agency relationships have been so strong that they make history. For example, the widely praised handling of the Tylenol product-tampering crisis in 1982 was the result of the bond between Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson and its firm, Burson-Marsteller. This case is widely recognized as one of the most important in the history of the practice of public relations and exemplifies the ideal client-agency relationship qualities of mutual respect, trust, and understanding of the client's needs.

Client confidence in the agency, free-flowing communication, willingness to compromise on both sides, and collaboration between client and agency are also key. The client wants the feeling of being top priority regardless of what other accounts the agency is working on. The most successful account people remember that on and off the job, they represent not only themselves and the agency but the client as well, and they must exhibit professionalism at all times. In addition, thoughtfulness and consideration of both the agency staff and client contact's work and personal situations can help the relationship flourish.

The client also wants the agency to be problem solvers. Industry leader Harold Burson once said that the counselor's main objective is to identify and deal successfully with a problem. Burson also advised taking advantage of opportunities; developing a set of options and a range of their advantages/disadvantages; honing the ability to get up to speed quickly on a problem and to listen; and knowing the client's business.

The most valuable commodity the agency can offer is its counsel—the ability to advise the client on the proper course of action. The ability to counsel comes with experience, but it also means being able to sift through issues and information and make a recommendation. Even the most junior-level staff member can demonstrate this skill.

The practitioner must balance serving the client with an obligation to the public at large, urges the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the world's largest professional society for public relations practitioners. In its Member Statement of Professional Values, PRSA says the practitioner must serve in the public interest while remaining loyal to the client. PRSA also advises that the agency must disclose on whose behalf it operates, and avoid deceptive practices. The increasing use of technology has seemingly presented new ways in which agencies and their employees are tempted to disregard these tenets, yet they do so at the risk of losing their client relationships and moreover damaging the reputation of the industry.

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