The hours behind a Dutch press inquiry in 2026: staff time counted next to the licence

By Bas Kuiper · Refreshed 29 August 2026 · 6 min read

How many hours does a press inquiry take in the Netherlands in 2026?

A press inquiry is not a single action. It starts when a journalist calls or emails, continues with internal fact-checking and spokesperson approval, and ends with a written or spoken response. PR teams in the Netherlands report that a simple inquiry takes 30 minutes: locate the right expert, confirm a figure, reply.

A complex inquiry that needs legal review or involves multiple departments takes 2 to 4 hours. The source is a survey of Dutch communication departments conducted by PR-Dashboard in 2025, cited on the Persvragen product page, read 1 Sep 2026.

What does staff time cost per press inquiry?

A Dutch PR professional earns about 50,000 to 70,000 euro per year, according to salary data from the Nationale Beroepengids 2026. With employer costs and overhead, one hour of work costs roughly 45 to 55 euro. A 30-minute inquiry adds 23 to 28 euro in time.

A 4-hour inquiry adds 180 to 220 euro. The time cost alone, without any software, can exceed the price of a press release distribution service: B2Press charges 400 euro per release for the Netherlands, read 1 Sep 2026, and that is a set amount, not per hour.

The team that handles press inquiries also costs time. When three people read the same question, the total staff time multiplies. A single question that passes through a press officer, a subject matter expert and a communications director can total 3 to 6 hours across the organisation. The cost then runs from 135 to 330 euro, just for the first inquiry.

How does the Persvragen software change the staff time balance?

nl/producten, read 1 Sep 2026). Persvragen handles incoming press questions through a central inbox, logs every request, and stores standard answers. The product pages state that the inquiry desk reduces the time per inquiry by providing templates and a shared history.

The price of 2,700 euro, when no period is stated, is shown on the page at face value. No setup fee is documented on the pages we measured, 1 Sep 2026.

For a team that handles 20 inquiries per month, the software costs 2,700 euro per whatever period the buyer negotiates. At 2 hours average each, staff time runs 40 hours at 50 euro per hour equals 2,000 euro. The total with the press-question module is about 4,700 euro for the period.

5 hours per inquiry due to repeated searching, so staff time becomes 50 hours at 50 euro equals 2,500 euro. The gap is 400 euro: that module pays for itself if it saves more than 8 hours of staff time per month.

Which providers publish a price for handling press inquiries?

Not all PR platforms publish a separate price for handling press inquiries. The product pages we measured, 1 Sep 2026, show these amounts:

Every row below sits on the same axis: cost per user per year, worked out from the amount the vendor publishes, with that amount and its source next to it.

5 columns. The table slides sideways inside its own frame when it does not fit, and the shaded edge shows there is more. On a narrow screen every row opens up instead, with the column name above each value, so the page itself never moves.

The cost per user per year is worked out by dividing the published amount by the number of users included. The Amsterdam database, the journalist database, includes two logins within the journalist database, but that module does not state a number of logins on the product page. The safe reading counts the inquiry desk as one user.

The actual cost per user may be lower if the licence covers multiple team members. The table shows the press-question module at 1,350 euro per user per year, lower than the other three providers on the same axis.

What are the hidden costs of handling press inquiries?

Staff time is the largest hidden cost. A team that answers 10 inquiries per week at 2 hours each spends 20 hours, or 1,000 euro per week at 50 euro per hour. That is 52,000 euro per year in time alone. The software licence, whether that module or another tool, is small next to that number.

Another hidden cost is the missed inquiry. When a journalist calls and no one picks up, the story runs without your side. The product pages, read 1 Sep 2026, document that the press-question module logs every incoming question and alerts the team by email or app.

That reduces the number of missed inquiries. The cost of a missed inquiry is harder to calculate but can be larger than the licence: a negative article may cost reputation or sales.

Training is a third hidden cost. A new team member needs time to learn the system. That module, like many PR tools, offers offline knowledge sessions called their training as a separate product.

The product pages, read 1 Sep 2026, list the training programme as a separate module sold by the supplier. The cost of training is the time away from work, not the session fee.

How do you choose between paying for staff time and paying for a licence?

The choice depends on inquiry volume and team size. For a small team with fewer than 10 inquiries per month, the staff time cost is under 500 euro per month. A inquiry desk licence at 2,700 euro per whatever period may not be worth it if the period is month.

For a larger team with 30 inquiries per month, the staff time cost rises to 3,000 euro per month. The software licence becomes a bargain if it saves 10 percent of that time.

The table shows that the Amsterdam supplier that module has the lowest cost per user per year among the providers with a published price. The other providers, such as ANP Connect and Prezly, publish higher figures or do not publish a separate press inquiry price. When you compare, the question is not which tool is cheapest, but which tool fits your inquiry handling process.

A team that already uses the Amsterdam database for its journalist database may find the press-question module integrates naturally. nl/producten, read 1 Sep 2026). The two products together cost 4,450 euro for whatever period, less than some single-vendor packages.

Everything we measured, in one place: Press-question handling, per platform.