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GIRAS
c/o
Peter Bütikofer & Company
Schaffhauserstr. 339
CH-8050 Zürich
Tel  +41 44 447 12 12
Fax +41 44 447 12 13
info(at)giras.ch

Choosing an IR Agency

Thanks to their regular contacts with institutional and private investors, analysts, financial journalists and other market forces, such as the stock market, IR consultants benefit from extensive experience and great expertise. In addition, they enable the company concerned to understand how it is viewed by the world outside.

Careful selection of a suitable agency requires an overview by the client of potential partners and a pre-defined selection procedure to assure a uniform briefing and assessment criteria based on it. GIRAS advises a step by step approach:
  1. Obtain an overview of the market
  2. Determine the selection procedure
  3. Briefing
  4. Decision

Step 1: Obtain an overview of the market

The individual websites of the GIRAS members give a first overview of the Swiss IR service provision market. They represent the majority of agencies offering professional IR services on the Swiss market. GIRAS also recommends:
  • Talk to business partners and friends about their IR agencies and their experience in this regard
  • Find out which particular agencies work for your direct competitors
  • Ask for agency documentation and obtain references.

Step 2: Determine the selection procedure

      

A) Direct selection

The client invites an IR agency to a discussion, without charge, at which the specific tasks will be examined. If the client gains a positive impression on this occasion, he will decide in favour of cooperation. Direct selection is often used because of its efficiency (cost/time) for both parties.


B) Agency presentation (beauty contest)

The client invites several IR agencies (generally three to five agencies). In the presentations, the agencies introduce their company and show the first tentative solutions to the task in hand. The presentation is made by the agency without charge to the client.

There are several possibilities of how to proceed:
  • The client decides in favor of an agency.
  • The client gets a number of agencies to make an offer based on a specific, practical task.
  • The client invites 2 to 3 agencies to a competitive presentation.

C) Competitive presentation

As a rule, two to three agencies are invited to take part. On the basis of a detailed briefing and generally also of a discussion with the client, the presentation is expected to point up specific strategic considerations and possible solutions for appropriate measures to be taken.

For the competitive presentation, the agencies thoroughly analyze the client. A significant amount of time is used for the preparation and therefore, the agencies are to be compensated for their work with a flat-rate payment. The compensation for a competitive presentation depends on the scope of the specified tasks. The recommended fee is CHF 10,000 to CHF 25,000. The mandated agency usually renounces the fee for the competitive presentation.


Step 3: Briefing the agencies

The briefing is very important in the process of selecting an IR agency. The more detailed the information the agency gets from the client, the more precisely it can deal with the client's requirements and in the presentation. Furthermore, a professional briefing will produce more concise and comparable presentations.

Check-list for the briefing of agencies. PDF-file / 6 pages, 108 KB


Step 4: Decision

Both rational and emotional criteria influence the decision in favor or against an IR agency. In addition to the specialist knowledge, the client must also be convinced by the human component of the agency.

List of criterias for the evaluation of agency and competitive presentations: PDF-file / 2 pages, 76 KB