CEO Stories—How Agency Hopping Can Hurt Your Business

Prospect: “We have parted ways with our marketing agency. We didn’t see enough leads in the 3 months they did work for us. We are talking to you, and we heard you get results.”

BOT: “Were you pleased with the quality of the work?”

Prospect: “Pretty much. It looked great. The service was good, they were responsive, and they answered questions clearly. ”

BOT: “So the criteria for ending the engagement was that they didn’t generate enough leads in 3 months?”

Prospect: “Yup.”

An All Too Common Conversation

Agency hoping. It’s a red flag we look for when talking with a prospective client. By that, we mean they jump from one marketing agency to another in a relatively short amount of time. This is not uncommon.

“We didn’t see enough leads in 3 months. So we pulled the plug. Can you do better?”. 

Momentum is Key

3 months is a short amount of time for a marketing experiment. So we dug in with the prospect. We asked…

• How did you feel about the quality of the work?—“We liked it; it just didn’t turn results.”
• How did you feel about the service? — “They were responsive, answering questions clearly.”
• What metrics were you tracking? — “We kept track of impressions, conversion, and conversion rates. We understood the numbers.”
• Who followed up on the leads? — “Our sales team did that. They said the leads were ok. Thinking about buying but not ready to buy.”

So we asked for access to the Google Account and their CRM. Our review was that the agency’s strategy seemed appropriate. We saw opportunities in the work.

The time frame was more concerning. 

We explained to Prospect X that 3 months is simply not enough time to build any marketing momentum.

We told Prospect X that they likely were not giving their current agency a fair shot and that they should consider sticking with them for at least 3 more months. 

It’s important to note that this story would be different if the issue were about the quality of the work that was being put out. 

This was simply an issue of time and patience. 

Quitting Prematurely Starts a Cycle of Inconclusive Results

Marketing is about experimenting with what works and what doesn’t and if you quit on an experiment prematurely, you are risking starting a cycle of inconclusive results, which are the same as bad results.

Results Take Time

We recommend giving a marketing agency at least 6 months but preferably, 12-24 months before deciding to make a change. 

And remember, different marketing tactics deliver returns at different rates. 

For example, blogging results will take longer than Google Ads since you shouldn't expect to see any tangible results until you publish at least 50 blog posts. 

Watch the metrics

We aren’t saying don’t pay attention until month 12. Watch the metrics. Your agency should help you know which metrics you monitor in the beginning vs those at the end. In the end, you should always be monitoring ROI. 

So be patient with the marketing initiatives you put out and be sure not to quit on a firm before you give them a fair shake!