Alliansis : Optimize Agency Partnerships

Two people cycling side by side holding hands, representing a strong client-agency partnership

Optimizing Client-Agency Relationships: The Role of Formal Agency Evaluations

No agency is perfect, and no client-agency relationship is without its challenges. But with a structured agency evaluation program, marketing procurement leads and agency management teams can open communication lines, assess performance, identify improvement areas, and forge stronger, more productive partnerships. Discover how formal agency evaluations drive better outcomes for both sides.

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Man gets unpleasant surprise as he walks off a cliff, his vision blinded by not looking

Avoid Costly Surprises: Reduce Risk in B2B Service Engagements

For successful IT engagements, identifying and mitigating risks with a Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) is vital. An RBS, a hierarchical model of project risks, encourages comprehensive risk identification, effective response planning, improved risk communication, and ongoing risk monitoring. Creating an RBS, while requiring effort, is achievable with a structured approach. By categorizing risks as technical, management, organizational, and external, then regularly updating, an RBS can greatly reduce negative project outcomes.

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Firefighters applying maximum effort as a team, illustrating how measuring effort reveals the real dynamics of agency relationships

Could the Customer Effort Score Transform How You Evaluate Your Agency Relationships?

Satisfaction scores only tell part of the story. The Customer Effort Score (CES) offers a powerful new lens for evaluating agency relationships — measuring how easy or difficult it is for both sides to get things done. Discover how marketing procurement leads and agency management teams can use CES alongside traditional metrics for a more complete and actionable view of agency performance.

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Two hands held out in the dark illustrating blind spots in agency relationships

Managing Agency Relationships? Here’s How to Avoid Being Blindsided

Have you ever been blindsided by an agency relationship that was quietly falling apart? During a busy campaign or project, stakeholders hesitate to raise issues for fear of creating friction. Formal agency evaluation surveys provide a safe, structured channel to surface hidden problems before they escalate — helping marketing procurement leads and agency management teams stay ahead of relationship risk.

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Telescope pointing to the sky, illustrating how agency evaluations bring distant relationship insights into focus

What Agencies Actually Want from Your Evaluation Process (And How to Deliver It)

Much has been written about agency evaluations from the client’s perspective — but what do agencies actually want from the process? Discover how balancing formal and informal feedback, delivering results promptly, and creating genuine action plans can transform your agency evaluation program into a tool for mutual growth and stronger long-term partnerships.

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A butterfly with one half creatively painted illustrating the magic of agency output, and the other half line drawn illustrating the logic of operational excellence

The Magic and the Logic: How to Evaluate Whether Your Agency Excels at Both

Great agencies must deliver on two dimensions: the “magic” of creative excellence, innovation, and strategic insight — and the “logic” of efficient account management, financial transparency, and reliable delivery. Discover how marketing procurement leads and marketing directors can use this framework to evaluate agency performance across both dimensions and build more balanced, productive partnerships.

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Climber scaling a mountain, each step closer to better agency evaluation feedback

10 Ways to Get Better Feedback from Your Agency Evaluation Program

The quality of your agency evaluation program depends on the quality of feedback it generates. From setting clear expectations to building accountability and structured follow-up, these ten guidelines can transform your agency evaluation from a box-ticking exercise into a driver of real behavioral change and stronger client-agency relationships.

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Person looking at a design driven project plan up on the wall

Evaluating Agency Campaigns Using the 4D Framework: Discover, Design, Develop, Deliver

The 4D framework (Discover, Design, Develop, and Deliver) gives procurement teams and agency managers a structured way to evaluate agency performance at every stage of a campaign. Rather than waiting for the final deliverable to judge whether an engagement worked, this framework breaks the relationship into four phases, each with its own success criteria. The result is a clearer picture of where value was created and where things went off track.

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