Time cost

It is accepted in the PR industry that client over servicing is a given.  However, it is key to remember that over servicing is effectively giving your advice and expertise away for free.

Reasons for over-servicing:

• Runaway hours spent on the client
• Lack of delegation
• Inability to say no to client’s request for additional things

Although the PR officer strives to do their best for the client, it is important to remember that overall it is a business.

Through analysing timecost, the client discovered that they were overservicing their client base by a over £1m, and that this represented a significant lost opportunity for additional revenues

By looking at time cost and service levels in details, we were able to identify each client and determine their service levels by the team.

Over serviced clients:

• Too many hours – is this a short term situation, or is the client demands such that it requires a fee discussion.
• Lack of delegation – identify training needs and ensure each team member understands what is expected of them. Encourage the team to take on more responsibility from the more senior team member
• Free work – ensure work requests outside of the remit is charged for.

This was also an opportunity to learn from clients who are within the service levels, review how they are run to spread good practice across all clients

Equally important was to identify under serviced clients, make sure the team delivers the service within the remit, and on some occasions, go to the client and suggest a fee or a service review.

Result: A year later over servicing had dropped by £0.5m

Beyond client work we also looked at the time cost of non client work, e.g. New Business and networking.  From a business intelligence perspective, the Board was able to include these observations in discussions about the effectiveness of new business and networking efforts.