I believe there is a disturbing pattern in the agency business: far too many client/agency relationships last a mere 18 months.

There is a sad adage that goes something like: the day you sign on your new client you are one day closer to losing them. Put another way, it takes nine months to secure a client, and nine minutes to lose one. Why? There appears to be a recurring theme that we are increasingly finding ourselves experiencing; it's at the point that I'm going to call it a plague on agencies and those charged with hiring them. We must both be smarter about the choices we make and with whom we choose to work.

Let's face it, agencies jumping through RFP hoops can be a nightmare, as they are often asked to provide speculative work with little to no knowledge of exactly what the real goals are or if the client is just sending out blind RFPs simply to procure free ideas. It's challenging enough just to secure new clientele, and the work involved in this can be, at times, overwhelming, particularly for a small- to mid-sized agency. Be sure the work involved in securing that client is well worth the effort.

Whether a search firm or corporate marketing executive, anyone charged with finding and selecting an agency needs to understand four simple yet key items in order to make better, more informed decisions when selecting an agency. And for agency executives, these simple rules should also apply to agreeing to work with a given client. All clients are not right for all agencies.

Author notes: Susan Applegate is president of the Applegate Media Group. Read full bio.