Growing Current Client Business & Creating Defensible Scopes of Work

According to J. Mark Riggs , CEO and founder of consulting firm Pemberton , PR stands for “problem resolution.” Agencies need to constantly work to understand the business needs of their clients and frequently present them with innovative solutions to problems.

Start with small, achievable goals, and gradually work to expand the scope of work as the relationship grows.

Agencies should check in regularly with their clients to discuss how they are performing against agreed expectations and identify new opportunities. Mark suggested that agencies try offering a free day of brainstorming with clients with the expectation that the day will end with a list of to-dos and next steps.

“Ultimately, a person or group of people are going to decide whether to spend more money to solve a problem, leverage an opportunity, etc. so you've got to get professionally intimate with how your client makes decisions.”

Mark shared the rule of three: in three months of working with a client, he wants agencies to:

1. Find 3% revenue growth?
2. Have introduced three new products or services that solve a problem. (Mark shared the below product deployment map to strategically ground recommendations.)
3. Have met three new people on the client side.

If you can find 3%, you can find 7%. If you can find seven, you can find ten. Change your team’s muscle memory and approach from being a reactive mode to a proactive business solving mode that delivers business solutions. Mark shared a product deployment map to strategically ground recommendations.

“To manage expectations, you must set expectations.”

To have the opportunity to secure incremental revenue, agencies need to create defensible scopes of work that clearly outline the services provided and their cost for the initial assignment. Poorly defined scopes of work often lead to scope creep and over-servicing, which eats into the agency’s profitability. Mark Riggs highlighted common pitfalls in agency scopes, such as the use of vague terms like “ongoing” and “as needed,” which leave room for clients to demand more without additional payment.

Rather than include everything the client asks for in an SOW, Mark urges agencies to act as “doctors” and prescribe what the client needs, in what he calls the “Eight Item New Business Agenda.” Strategically grounding recommendations in the business challenge or opportunity builds trust, which opens the door to more work.

PR Council Members: To watch the full webinar recording “Uncovering New Opportunities with Existing Clients” as well as Mark’s session on “The Dirty Words of SOWs” make an account on our website here and access them in the Resource Library.