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Selling clients to other marketing agencies

Marketing, social media, advertising

eliquid

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EDIT - I've never seen Agency A sell off the client to Agency B where the client actually becomes Agency B's client outright.

What I have seen is most times, an agency will have 2-3 "contractors" that are actually other agencies. During the contract negotiation phase, the main agency will pass the info to the others and come up with the cost needed to complete. Then the main agency adds on their markup for handling the front end ( calls, emails, account management, etc ) and their profit for the final cost.

The main agency will act mostly like an account manager, while the other(s) do the hands on work. I have seen example where the other agency does everything though ( meaning, the account and relationship management ) under the name of the main agency.

If I were to be frank, this method is more common than having the work actually done in-house.

These other agencies typically have an email address from the main agency too, to have it look like it's all in-house.

You would be amazed, AMAZED, how many agencies don't actually have staff ( employees ) for most of the work they do. They find someone JIT ( just in time ) as they land contracts.

In that, what I have seen, the client is never really the ownership of the 2nd agency. It's still the main agencies client, but agency B or C is doing 90-100% of the work.
 
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The-J

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A lot of newer agencies will make white label arrangements with agencies that have the staff and the experience, typically overseas.

It's a super common arrangement. In fact, that's part of what my company does. We do the work that newer agencies might not have the experience to do. Because I've been in the ad buying game for about 8 years now, they feel more comfortable having me and my people do the work rather than them trying to strategize and figure stuff out. My agency then gets whatever clients they're able to get.

I like white label but it has its challenges. The first is that you have very little control over the clients you actually get. The second is that you're not going to make as much money per account.
 
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Stargazer

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What do you mean sell a client?

I ask building company A to build my house. I know they will be using contractors for some of the work, eg groundswork, plumbing, electric wiring, etc, etc

My contract with all relevant timelines and clauses is with Company A and they have contracts with their contractors. Company A is my liaison throughout.

So this will be the same when contracting an Agency. I am looking for the competency of the agency to manage the project, liaise with and pay.

The only time I can envisage a Company B taking over is if they have bought Company A.

I would not expect Company B to turn up and say Company A have decided to sell me as they cannot do that. I have no contract with them. I will say get lost and Company A would receive a letter from the solicitors.

So J above and Eliquid are describing a point of contact company/Agency managing the entire project which is completely normal.

Dan
 

Talb

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Hey everyone, you can call me Talb. Thank you I'm glad to be apart of this forum @MJ DeMarco . I recently just signed up to Facebook Agency course to gain a skill. During the sales call, the guy mentioned something about agency owners selling clients to other agencies. I've never heard of something like this. Has anyone in this forum heard of or has done this before? Thanks!
 
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MJ DeMarco

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. During the sales call, the guy mentioned something about agency owners selling clients to other agencies. I've never heard of something like this.

Sounds like some kind of outsourcing...

Book the job for $2,000, sell it to XYZ Agency for $1,800 -- you keep the $200.

Not very transparent and a bit sketchy.
 

BlackSuperman

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The issue I see with that method is that the client might not get the results that they expected. In order to outsource/hire an expert, you have to do it yourself in order to know what works and what doesn't, and what to look for in an expert (whether they are bs-ing or not) about their skill and the results they can get.

I'd always suggest doing a skill/service yourself until you get results and then creating a system that can be followed and replicated by whoever you hire.
 

AidanSEO

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Sounds like some kind of outsourcing...

Book the job for $2,000, sell it to XYZ Agency for $1,800 -- you keep the $200.

Not very transparent and a bit sketchy.

That does sound a bit sketchy.
I feel like a better approach would be selling the leads, and being transparent about it.

Something like responding to the leads with "We're currently completely booked, but have a partnership with XYZ_COMPANY and will put you in contact", then selling the lead info to the company and it's up to them to make the sale.
 
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Ronak

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Depends on the structure-- if you're the agency and have people doing the work, that could be in the form of employees, freelancers, or 3rd party companies.

Ultimately, you are responsible for the results, because they are engaging you. You have to be prepared to vet them to be assured the results will be satisfactory. If you do this, then it is a legitimate approach.

If you really want to do focus on sales only, you could be a sales rep for others.

Lots of ways to do it.
 

The-J

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That's interesting. It sounds as if doing white label as a service would be hard to scale.

It has pretty much the exact same barriers to scale as any other marketing agency except your customer base is other agencies. and, with the rate at new marketing agencies have been cropping up in the past few years, there's always new customers.

I don't focus on white label but I do take them when I get them.
 

Talb

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It has pretty much the exact same barriers to scale as any other marketing agency except your customer base is other agencies. and, with the rate at new marketing agencies have been cropping up in the past few years, there's always new customers.

I don't focus on white label but I do take them when I get them.
Yeah, for sure. Even grandmas are starting agencies.It violates the Commandment of Entry. But I lack skills so this will have to do for now.
 

Talb

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Sounds like some kind of outsourcing...

Book the job for $2,000, sell it to XYZ Agency for $1,800 -- you keep the $200.

Not very transparent and a bit sketchy.

What do you mean sell a client?

I ask building company A to build my house. I know they will be using contractors for some of the work, eg groundswork, plumbing, electric wiring, etc, etc

My contract with all relevant timelines and clauses is with Company A and they have contracts with their contractors. Company A is my liaison throughout.

So this will be the same when contracting an Agency. I am looking for the competency of the agency to manage the project, liaise with and pay.

The only time I can envisage a Company B taking over is if they have bought Company A.

I would not expect Company B to turn up and say Company A have decided to sell me as they cannot do that. I have no contract with them. I will say get lost and Company A would receive a letter from the solicitors.

So J above and Eliquid are describing a point of contact company/Agency managing the entire project which is completely normal.

Dan
A lot of newer agencies will make white label arrangements with agencies that have the staff and the experience, typically overseas.

It's a super common arrangement. In fact, that's part of what my company does. We do the work that newer agencies might not have the experience to do. Because I've been in the ad buying game for about 8 years now, they feel more comfortable having me and my people do the work rather than them trying to strategize and figure stuff out. My agency then gets whatever clients they're able to get.

I like white label but it has its challenges. The first is that you have very little control over the clients you actually get. The second is that you're not going to make as much money per account.
EDIT - I've never seen Agency A sell off the client to Agency B where the client actually becomes Agency B's client outright.

What I have seen is most times, an agency will have 2-3 "contractors" that are actually other agencies. During the contract negotiation phase, the main agency will pass the info to the others and come up with the cost needed to complete. Then the main agency adds on their markup for handling the front end ( calls, emails, account management, etc ) and their profit for the final cost.

The main agency will act mostly like an account manager, while the other(s) do the hands on work. I have seen example where the other agency does everything though ( meaning, the account and relationship management ) under the name of the main agency.

If I were to be frank, this method is more common than having the work actually done in-house.

These other agencies typically have an email address from the main agency too, to have it look like it's all in-house.

You would be amazed, AMAZED, how many agencies don't actually have staff ( employees ) for most of the work they do. They find someone JIT ( just in time ) as they land contracts.

In that, what I have seen, the client is never really the ownership of the 2nd agency. It's still the main agencies client, but agency B or C is doing 90-100% of the work.
The issue I see with that method is that the client might not get the results that they expected. In order to outsource/hire an expert, you have to do it yourself in order to know what works and what doesn't, and what to look for in an expert (whether they are bs-ing or not) about their skill and the results they can get.

I'd always suggest doing a skill/service yourself until you get results and then creating a system that can be followed and replicated by whoever you hire.
That does sound a bit sketchy.
I feel like a better approach would be selling the leads, and being transparent about it.

Something like responding to the leads with "We're currently completely booked, but have a partnership with XYZ_COMPANY and will put you in contact", then selling the lead info to the company and it's up to them to make the sale.
Depends on the structure-- if you're the agency and have people doing the work, that could be in the form of employees, freelancers, or 3rd party companies.

Ultimately, you are responsible for the results, because they are engaging you. You have to be prepared to vet them to be assured the results will be satisfactory. If you do this, then it is a legitimate approach.

If you really want to do focus on sales only, you could be a sales rep for others.

Lots of ways to do it.
Thank you for the insights guys. On the sales call, I asked the guy about how to approach an exit strategy for a digital advertising agency. He made it sound like as if he sold off the relationship between agency and client to another agencies for an exit strategy. I never heard of anything like that before.

At the moment, I will be doing the the lead generation myself using Facebook and/or Google Ads.
 

Talb

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The issue I see with that method is that the client might not get the results that they expected. In order to outsource/hire an expert, you have to do it yourself in order to know what works and what doesn't, and what to look for in an expert (whether they are bs-ing or not) about their skill and the results they can get.

I'd always suggest doing a skill/service yourself until you get results and then creating a system that can be followed and replicated by whoever you hire.
I agree, plus ALOT of people seem to have testimonials.
 
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Talb

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That does sound a bit sketchy.
I feel like a better approach would be selling the leads, and being transparent about it.

Something like responding to the leads with "We're currently completely booked, but have a partnership with XYZ_COMPANY and will put you in contact", then selling the lead info to the company and it's up to them to make the sale.
Yeah it does sounds a bit sketchy. I believe the guy does retainers. You speaking about Pay Per Lead model right?
 

Talb

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Depends on the structure-- if you're the agency and have people doing the work, that could be in the form of employees, freelancers, or 3rd party companies.

Ultimately, you are responsible for the results, because they are engaging you. You have to be prepared to vet them to be assured the results will be satisfactory. If you do this, then it is a legitimate approach.

If you really want to do focus on sales only, you could be a sales rep for others.

Lots of ways to do it.
Yeah, being a sales rep for others is an option. I've considered it.
 

Talb

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EDIT - I've never seen Agency A sell off the client to Agency B where the client actually becomes Agency B's client outright.

What I have seen is most times, an agency will have 2-3 "contractors" that are actually other agencies. During the contract negotiation phase, the main agency will pass the info to the others and come up with the cost needed to complete. Then the main agency adds on their markup for handling the front end ( calls, emails, account management, etc ) and their profit for the final cost.

The main agency will act mostly like an account manager, while the other(s) do the hands on work. I have seen example where the other agency does everything though ( meaning, the account and relationship management ) under the name of the main agency.

If I were to be frank, this method is more common than having the work actually done in-house.

These other agencies typically have an email address from the main agency too, to have it look like it's all in-house.

You would be amazed, AMAZED, how many agencies don't actually have staff ( employees ) for most of the work they do. They find someone JIT ( just in time ) as they land contracts.

In that, what I have seen, the client is never really the ownership of the 2nd agency. It's still the main agencies client, but agency B or C is doing 90-100% of the work.
That's wild. I never would guessed that it happens THAT often.
 
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Talb

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A lot of newer agencies will make white label arrangements with agencies that have the staff and the experience, typically overseas.

It's a super common arrangement. In fact, that's part of what my company does. We do the work that newer agencies might not have the experience to do. Because I've been in the ad buying game for about 8 years now, they feel more comfortable having me and my people do the work rather than them trying to strategize and figure stuff out. My agency then gets whatever clients they're able to get.

I like white label but it has its challenges. The first is that you have very little control over the clients you actually get. The second is that you're not going to make as much money per account.
That's interesting. It sounds as if doing white label as a service would be hard to scale.
 

Talb

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What do you mean sell a client?

I ask building company A to build my house. I know they will be using contractors for some of the work, eg groundswork, plumbing, electric wiring, etc, etc

My contract with all relevant timelines and clauses is with Company A and they have contracts with their contractors. Company A is my liaison throughout.

So this will be the same when contracting an Agency. I am looking for the competency of the agency to manage the project, liaise with and pay.

The only time I can envisage a Company B taking over is if they have bought Company A.

I would not expect Company B to turn up and say Company A have decided to sell me as they cannot do that. I have no contract with them. I will say get lost and Company A would receive a letter from the solicitors.

So J above and Eliquid are describing a point of contact company/Agency managing the entire project which is completely normal.

Dan
He may have meant Company A receiving compensation for referring the client to Company B after the contract with Company A is up.
 

Talb

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Sounds like some kind of outsourcing...

Book the job for $2,000, sell it to XYZ Agency for $1,800 -- you keep the $200.

Not very transparent and a bit sketchy.
On the call, it seems as if he was suggesting flipping contracts or whatever as an exit strategy for an agency. He made it seem like an ordinary occurrence.
 
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