Robert Udowitz and Steve Drake, principals of RFP Associates, advocated for an agency selection process that mirrors the same rigor applied to recruiting key staff members, during their seminar at last week's PRSA ICON conference in Wash., D.C.
Udowitz and Drake outlined common pain points, including difficulty differentiating between agencies, boilerplate responses, bait-and-switch tactics, navigating procurement requirements, and seeking firms in international markets.
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| Steve Drake (L) & Robert Udowitz at PRSA ICON conference Oct. 28 - 30 in Wash., D.C. |
The presentation featured original research conducted through the Institute for PR, highlighting that one-third of clients pay over $1 million annually for their primary agency relationship but are not satisfied with their selection.
Survey respondents—61% at VP, SVP, or C-level with 73% having 20+ years of experience—work predominantly at publicly traded companies.
The research revealed a critical gap: most clients don't approach agency hiring with the same rigor they apply to employee recruitment, despite comparable financial investments.
RFP Associates advocates a five-phase structured approach mirroring traditional hiring practices:
1. Information Gathering – Defining why an agency is needed, what it will do, and assessing internal readiness to manage the relationship. This phase establishes search criteria, including geography, industry expertise, size, culture, and ability to collaborate with existing partners.
2. Agency Candidate Identification – Issuing a short anonymous online questionnaire to 25 or so agencies to gather intelligence on actual expertise, conflicts, and structure, then winnowing to 5-7 finalists.
3. Request for Proposals – Crafting a detailed RFP that includes organizational overview, department structure, scope of work, budget, selection criteria, and timeline. The presenters emphasized that well-written RFPs essentially create their own scorecards for structured evaluation.
4. Finalist Presentations – Selecting 2-3 finalists with candidate-specific requests and reference checks. RFP Associates stressed the value of NDAs to protect both parties—clients from the disclosure of sensitive information and agencies from the appropriation of ideas.
5. Selection & Onboarding – Treating the chosen agency as an extension of the internal team, with 3-month reviews, invoice monitoring, and early adjustments.
Udowitz and Drake recommended incorporating AI discussions into RFPs without restricting agency use. They urged clients to ask the pressing questions: whether AI has improved efficiency, how it's being deployed, and critically, whether it will translate to cost savings.
Before initiating searches, clients must ensure internal readiness through proper infrastructure, departmental cooperation, access protocols, dedicated internal team resources, realistic budgets, and appropriate timelines.
The presentation underscored a fundamental principle: with agency budgets often exceeding $500,000—equivalent to five or more staff salaries—the selection process deserves the same strategic rigor as building an internal team.
Udowitz and Drake concluded the discussion with a call for an honest and transparent process from start to finish, noting that ethics belong in agency selection as much as the other components of the profession.
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