Clients, costs and knowledge

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone is enjoying their placements.

I have just finished my second week at PPR. I have continued to learn so much from the tasks given to me. I feel like I have become more efficient in my work this week. Once again numerous tasks were passed onto me by the consultants.

One of the main tasks I undertook this week was assisting one of the consultants in collating media clippings and media coverage statistics for presentation to the client. It seemed like a pretty easy task at first; however it turned into quite a beast of a project. I was asked to firstly calculate the annual figures for media coverage and formulate that information into a graph so it could be presented to the client. Each event or campaign that was held throughout the year fell into smaller sub categories and for each sub category the annual figure was also required to be calculated. I ended up creating six different graphs which was quite an achievement as I have never created bar graphs in PowerPoint before. There were some slight calculation errors but for the most part the consultant I was assisting was happy with the work I had done. This is another small skill that could be very useful later on in my career. I was also required to gather all the media clippings from the past year so they would be able to be printed and presented to the client. I found through this task I learnt the importance of media coverage to a client’s campaign and how this information must be presented to the client.

One of the other tasks I consistently took part in during the week was obtaining costs and quotes for different products or services. Firstly I was asked to obtain quotes to print a factsheet for a client. I discovered the PPR has preferred printers they like to use and it was as simple as contacting those printers and getting a quote. I also assisted one of the consultants in sourcing small magnets required for gift boxes for a function. You may say getting quotes or sourcing items is simply, I soon learnt that there is more to magnets than meets the eye. I was flooded by complex mineral names and different grades of magnets. I was unsure of what price is expensive and what is normal. All I wanted was a normal magnet! In the end I successfully sourced the required magnets at a reasonable price, it was a small win for me. I also assisted in obtaining a costing for travel packs for a client sending stakeholders out to a mine site for a visit. This was made quite easy for me thanks to Coles and Woolworths having online shopping now. I learnt that obtaining costs and quotes can be easy or hard at times and you need to know exactly what you need before you start looking.

Three main things I learnt through my past week at PPR;

1. Knowledge – understanding the importance of knowing a little bit about everything this includes knowing average prices for services and products so you can obtain the best price for your clients. Also sharing your knowledge about new products, trends or materials is important in building a strong work environment.

2. Asking questions – taking time out to speak to those people in your organisation who have been in the industry for a long period of time. They have a wealth of knowledge and expertises that you would never find in a textbook. I sat down with one of the Senior Account Managers this week to discuss how PPR runs as a consultancy in terms of client – consultant relationships and a number of other questions. She was more than happy to share her knowledge with me and I feel I am better for it.

Here are some extra tips that may be useful to think about into the future for both common knowledge and perhaps achieving more media coverage. http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10145.aspx

3. Proving your worth it – this applies to anything you do, especially applying for graduate positions. Consultancy is all about the client – consultant relationship and it is important to prove to the client that the money and time they are spending on you is worth it, for both them and their business. A consultant can show this to their client by producing outstanding results time and time again, this is one thing PPR prides itself on.

I hope you are all learning great things that will stick with you for the rest of your PR careers.

Deanne

Bentley Campus