Case Study · PR Agency
Hundreds of Requests a Day. Nobody Watches the Inbox.
A UK PR agency had three people checking the inbox three times a day, for 15 minutes each time. Now a system sorts the requests and drafts responses, with every outgoing message approved by the team.
Follow the transformation- The business
- PR agency · ~20 employees · a team of three watching the inbox
- The work
- AI build
- Delivery
- Built in 45 days
01 / The starting point
Hundreds of requests a day, and three people reading every one.
Reporters send out hundreds of requests a day looking for someone to quote. Answer fast and your client is in the paper. Answer late and you are nowhere. So three people each spent 15 minutes checking the inbox three times a day, request by request, asking themselves whether any client could speak to it. When we asked the team to walk us through how they did it, we got a different answer each time. That is always the tell. Nobody had ever written the job down. That is where bad AI projects begin, so we wrote it down ourselves before we touched a tool.
- Requests from reporters landing in the shared inbox
- 100s/day
- Time three people spent sorting them
- 11.25 hrs/wk
- How long a reporter waits before moving on
- Minutes
- Requests checked against the client list in any set way
- 0%
02 / The method
Understand it. Then build it.
Why we fix the work first
We wrote the job down ourselves before we touched a tool. When a team describes the same job differently every time you ask, nobody has ever written it down. That is where bad AI projects begin.
- 01
We drew it
We sat with the team and wrote the job down in front of them. Four fifths of it was sorting. One fifth was the part they were good at.
- 02
We designed it
A system behind the inbox that does the sorting, tested first in a spreadsheet, then taught to write in the team's own voice. It takes the boring four fifths. The team keeps the rest.
- 03
We built it
An early version was running during development. We completed the full build in 45 days: reading incoming mail, sorting requests, matching clients, preparing research and handing opportunities to the team.
- 04
It runs
It reads and sorts every request, all day. The team approves every outgoing message. Automatic sending is available through a configuration change.
03 / What we built
What we put in its place.
- 01
It watches the inbox
It reads the inbox throughout the day and brings matching requests to the team, replacing the scheduled manual checks.
- 02
It sorts every request
Each one is tagged by subject, how urgent it is and which paper it came from, before a person ever sees it.
- 03
It matches them to clients
Every request is checked against the live client list and the firms the agency is chasing.
- 04
It does the homework
It reads up on the reporter and the subject, then prepares a draft. Every outgoing message needs human approval before it is sent.
- 05
One click to pass it on
Send the chance straight into the client system, and the right person picks it up.
- 06
It keeps the receipts
Every match and every win is saved, so the agency can show it when pitching for new work.
| The work | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Watching the inbox | 15 min × 3 checks/day × 3 people | None |
| Hours a week spent sorting | 11.25 | Given back |
| Requests looked at | Some of them | All of them |
| Matching opportunities | Found during scheduled checks | Flagged for the team as requests arrive |
04 / The result
Every request sorted. Every outgoing message approved by a person.
- Times a day anyone sits and reads the inbox
- 0
- Given back to three people for client work
- 11.25 hrs/wk
- Incoming requests read and sorted by the system
- All
- Required before every outgoing message
- Human approval
The scheduled inbox checks were replaced by automatic sorting. People can focus on reviewing relevant matches and preparing a response. The system records matches and outcomes so the agency can use that evidence in client reporting and pitches.
“Every one of these jobs starts by drawing how the work flows. Once you can see where the money is really made, the technology is easy.”
Sound familiar?
Different business. A familiar pattern?
- Does someone on your team spend hours a week reading an inbox a computer could read?
- Do you lose work because nobody got to the email in time?
- When you ask your team how a job is done, do you get a different answer each time?
- Is useful information piling up in an inbox that nobody ever looks back through?
Your version starts with a conversation.
A free 15-minute fit call to explore your workflow and discuss the workshop, including pricing.
Start with a free 15-minute fit call.
We’ll discuss the right approach and pricing on the call.