There are 4 steps in an agency break-up you should follow to make the transition to a new firm not quite as painful.

There comes a time in a marketing agency’s life where it no longer provides meaningful value to its client.

It happens.  The world is moving quickly.  There are agencies that simply can’t keep up.  They can’t deliver at the level that you, your management, and your business needs to effectively compete in the marketplace.  You need an agency break-up.

We see it all the time.

Check out what former Richards Group Creative Director had to say about agencies that lose their value.

It’s hard to tell Grandma you don’t like her.

We recently had a client come to us who had been in a 20-year relationship with an agency and found that the relationship was now more of a tactical “do-er” relationship versus a relationship where the agency was driving innovation and strategy for the client.

They were driving the agency to innovate.  They pushed the agency to get ahead of the curve in the digital space and they either didn’t care, or simply weren’t capable of getting the marketer to where they needed to be/wanted to be.

It’s tough – for both the marketer and the agency.

Especially for the marketer.  The last thing you want to do – or the last thing you have time to do – is find a better agency that can deliver at a better level for you…but it’s necessary.  You need to make the change.

Agency Break-up 101

Here’s how to best manage the end of a relationship with a long-standing agency.

1. Honesty.

If you’re in a position where your agency isn’t delivering like it used to, we would argue that the best policy is honesty.  Let your agency know that you’re frustrated. Let them know you expect more.  Let them know that they really need to dial it up if the relationship is going to last.

2. Define your time frame

Give them a timeline – let them know that you want to be fair and give them a chance – but also let them know that you need to dial it up – and quickly.

3. Take an inventory of your assets

Know what you have done and what you have to do and while there’s never a best time to make a switch, find the time when you will be least vulnerable in terms of the assets exposed.  Think about what your agency controls and how to best get what you need back from them.

4. Start looking and do some thinking

At the same time this is happening, we would argue that it’s best to start looking around…as the likelihood is, things aren’t going to change – or they might change for a bit, then they won’t.  We’ve seen it.

As you start looking, start thinking about what went wrong in the relationship and what kinds of things you would want to see in a new agency partnership.  If you don’t take an inventory of those things, and do things to correct it, you’re going to end up in the exact same situation…maybe not a year from now, but eventually the same pains will surface again.

Here is a post we recently wrote about finding the “must have” agency.

Create a list of all the things you really like about your existing agency and all the things you hope you never experience again.  And as you start looking at firms, ask them questions about how they operate in different situations with different clients so you can get a good read on how they might partner with you.

Explore the tenure of their client relationships.  Do they have a whole host of long-standing relationships?  If so, that could be a good thing – assuming these clients are like you – wanting and expecting a lot from their agency.  Ask for references, talk to some other companies that have partnered with the agency so you can get a sense as to how much what they demand from the firm is consistent with what you want.

And lastly, get a sense as to where your company will sit relative to the other clients the agency has – in terms of size of your firm and amount of your spend.  Hopefully, you’ll be among their top 5.  If you’re the biggest, that can be a problem because you might be taken for granted.  If you’re not in the top 5, that could also prove a problem as you might now be important enough in the agency’s portfolio to demand the kind of attention you feel you need.

So, breaking up is never easy.  But more often than not, it’s the right thing to do.  Just follow the steps above and manage it methodically and with enough foresight to set yourself up for a successful relationship down the road.