# How often should I evaluate my agency?

**Short answer.** Formally once a year, briefly every quarter. An evaluation that only arrives once you are already unhappy is not an evaluation but an indictment, and by then the conversation is lost.

Formally once a year, briefly every quarter. The two do different things, and you need both.

## The annual review

The same questions as last year, answered on both sides, by several people, anonymously. Two hours of discussion, and a short list of agreements for the next year.

The point of "the same questions" is the series. One measurement is a snapshot and says little; three in a row show a direction, and that direction is the only genuinely informative part. See [how to evaluate your agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-evalueer-ik-mijn-bureau).

Schedule that review before the contract renewal date, not after. Otherwise you are confirming an extension that had already happened.

## The quarterly check

Twenty minutes, three questions: what went well, what ground, and what do we need from each other next quarter. No form, no score, but a short note afterwards.

This is the moment when small irritations come out while they are still small. Most relationships that break, break over something left unsaid for four quarters.

## Why you should not wait until you are unhappy

A review that only arrives once you are already unhappy is not a review but an indictment. The agency hears a reproach rather than information, and the first reaction is defence rather than improvement.

It is also usually too late: what you raise has been going on for months, and the people who could have fixed it have since been moved to another account.

## Two extra moments worth having

- **After a large campaign or a launch.** A short look back while everyone still remembers yields more than the same question six months later.
- **When people change**, on either side. A new account manager or a new marketing lead changes the relationship more than a new contract does.

The annual round is best run by someone from outside, if only because filling in an anonymous survey for your own manager does not feel anonymous. IKAg does that with COLLAB, under [Agency evaluation & remuneration](https://www.ikag.be/en/agency-evaluation).

See also: [how long an agency contract should run](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/looptijd-bureaucontract) and [what a normal satisfaction score is](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/normale-tevredenheidsscore).

## Related questions

- [How do I evaluate my agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-evalueer-ik-mijn-bureau): On three axes that move independently: expertise, process and attitude. Have both sides answer the same questions, because the gap between those answers is what the conversation should be about.
- [How long should an agency contract run?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/looptijd-bureaucontract): Long enough to earn back the investment in learning, short enough not to be stuck: one to three years, with a review after the first. An open-ended contract is not freedom, it is postponement.
- [What is a normal satisfaction score with an agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/normale-tevredenheidsscore): Across 137 COLLAB measurements where the brand rated its agency, the median is 7.33 out of 10. Attitude scores highest (7.68) and expertise lowest (7.30), and that has held for six years.

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IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19