Why would a client pay when there are plenty of firms lining up to pitch for free? The issue is the oversupply of PR agencies; for every agency that wants to charge, there will always be one willing to pitch for free. So the cost of pitching is priced into an agency's overheads.
The only way it could work would be if the industry switched wholesale to a payment for pitching model under the campaigning leadership of an organisation such as the PRCA or PR Week.
Stephen Waddington, MD, Speed Communications (from prweek.com/uk)