When agencies win business they may establish a retainer with their new client. This means they allocate ‘X’ number of people to service the account and the client pays a fee to cover said resources.
In theory, this is a great idea. But oftentimes it doesn’t quite translate into practice. Agencies can struggle to maintain a full roster of employees; especially in recent times where there has been a distinct talent shortage in the market. This in turn means that clients can be paying for resources that aren’t there. The work may still get done, but it’s done by overworked employees, which can impact the quality of the work. These overworked employees can then end up burning out and sometimes quitting, which obviously only compounds the issue.
As a client, it’s also not fair to be paying for a resource if it simply isn’t working on your account. It sometimes doesn’t take long for a client to feel neglected or simply that the standard of work isn’t up to par. They may question the need to pay the full retainer, or worst case may look for a different agency to manage their account.
So what’s to be done? Using freelancers to plug the gaps is a seamless and worthwhile solution. They are professionals at what they do and know how to hit the ground running. With them in place, the agency has the time to work out a permanent solution to their resourcing issues and their employees feel supported. Additionally, the client is happy that their account isn’t negatively impacted and can enjoy the same quality standards they expect and deserve.
As they say… it’s a win win!
