First thanks for your kind words about Inside PR and for the heads up that you were doing this post. You raise some very good points.

I completely agree about value for work – so, as you noted, I don’t think we should charge a client full-rates for work that could be done by a more junior person.

That’s where ‘investing in clients’ comes in – something I believe every good agency does. Let’s not kid ourselves, we’re all in the business to make money. But by making an investment, we demonstrate that we’re partners and not simply vendors.

I believe we covered this on the show, but I also think it’s important for senior practitioners to keep ‘working out’. We need to continue to experience work from the perspective of ‘the way things are’ versus ‘the way things used to be’ (in the old days – BP; before Pentium).

Then, we can help guide junior practitioners and have a more relevant context to understand their ideas and advice. And ultimately provide better value for clients.

We shouldn’t (and can’t) do everything. However taking our turn on the front lines helps us adapt to the changing landscape first-hand (and it is changing).