Nobody ever likes switching out marketing agency firms.

In our surveys, marketers tell us it’s one of their least favorite things to do.

Takes up a lot of time, they really don’t know where to turn, and they’re never quite sure if they’re asking the right questions or probing the right issues when evaluating individual firms.

Rather than simply just giving up the ghost and losing all hope if you’re not getting what you want, try to salvage the relationship.

There was love there once…maybe you can bring it back.

Here is list of 10 things you can do/questions you can ask of your agency to help you get yourself, your relationship, and your business to a better place:

  1. Have a sit down with the principal.  If your account team isn’t cutting it, go straight to the top to outline your concerns.
  2. Ask for a new team or new account executive.
  3. Ask to see what the agency is doing for other clients that share your challenges.  Find out why they aren’t doing that for you.
  4. Search the web and look at what other agencies and marketers are doing.  Come to the table with a list of ideas and try and understand why these things can’t be done for your business.
  5. Recommend a joint performance survey that can help both sides air their concerns.
  6. Ask the agency to present to you their plan with no holds bar.  See if your constraints are putting limits on their ability to think and create.
  7. Ask the agency to set some goals and benchmarks.  Maybe discuss some performance bonuses that are driven by business results.   On top of what they are already making.
  8. Change up the point person in your own company.  The relationship could be problematic because of someone in your organization.  Hopefully this would come out in the joint performance surveys.
  9. Simply let them know that you’re tired of their lackluster performance and that you’re going to start looking soon if they don’t get their act together.
  10. Begin to peel assignments off of them and start either managing things internally (if you have the capacity and talents) or start offering other agencies assignments.

Now obviously if you’ve tried some of these things or their behaviour has been a pattern you’ve lived with for too many months (or maybe even years), it may prove hopeless.  But as you all know, changing agencies is never an easy thing.  So if you can work it out with the firm you have, in the end, you might be better off in the long-run.