Thinking of Changing Your Marketing Agency? Think Again
Why you need to look internally before changing your marketing agency
Agency spend is up 45% year on year. Sales say the leads aren’t good enough. The agency arrives with slick reports showing improved metrics. Your instinct? Fire the agency and find another.
I see this a lot. But most of the time, the agency isn’t the real problem at all.
A Story I’ve Seen First-Hand
I’m working with an MD at the moment who will probably recognise this story when he reads it, and chances are you may recognise it too. His sales team were convinced the agency was failing. The agency, on the other hand, presented improving engagement metrics and explained away rising costs as the result of increased competition. Neither side could prove the other wrong because nobody was tracking how agency activity connected to actual sales opportunities.
Traffic was up. Costs were rising. Sales were flat.
Before changing agencies, we paused and looked at what was really happening once an enquiry arrived. It turned out “qualified opportunity” had never been defined. Worse, enquiries were being filtered inconsistently before reaching sales. Good prospects were slipping through the cracks.
The agency wasn’t failing. They were simply optimising around the wrong things. Once the MD redefined success, simplified the sales process, and gave the agency a clearer brief, everything changed. Costs fell, results sharpened, and the agency relationship actually improved.
Neither side had been wrong – they were just working to different definitions of success.
The Real Issue
Most businesses change agencies when they should be fixing their own sales process first. Agencies aren’t out to mislead you. They want to deliver results. The problem is that unless you’ve given them clarity about what success looks like, they’ll default to measuring what they can: clicks, impressions, and conversions.
The Google Problem
Google has done a remarkable job educating marketers. They’ve taught an entire profession how to measure what Google can measure. Agencies arrive with certifications, attribution models, and glossy reports. Ask them about business results and you’ll hear about platform performance instead.
None of this is malicious – it’s the framework they’ve been trained in. But while they’re showing you a falling cost per click, your sales opportunities may actually be deteriorating.
The Warning Signs
You’ll know you’ve slipped into this trap when:
-
The agency leans heavily on their Google Partner status.
-
Reports are dominated by platform metrics, not sales outcomes.
-
Rising costs are explained away as algorithm changes or competition.
-
“Your website needs optimising” is the stock answer when sales don’t improve.
All of these may contain some truth. But none of them address the fundamental question: are we driving the right enquiries, and what happens to them once they arrive?
What to Examine Internally
Before changing agencies, take a hard look at your own process.
-
Conversion handling – Who follows up enquiries, how quickly, and with what consistency?
-
Qualification criteria – Can sales clearly define what a “good lead” looks like?
-
Measurement gaps – Do you know how many enquiries actually turned into sales conversations?
-
Sales capacity – Are you able to handle more qualified opportunities if they arrive?
One professional services firm I worked with thought their agency was delivering poor leads. In reality, 40% of enquiries never received any follow-up, and those that did waited five days on average. That wasn’t a marketing problem. It was a sales process problem.
Working Together on What Matters
Before your next agency review, change the conversation. Ask: “Can we work together to connect last month’s spend to actual sales opportunities?”
If they can’t provide that data, don’t sack them – work with them to build the measurement. Set targets in business terms, not platform terms. For example: “We need 20 qualified conversations per month that result in at least four proposals.” Then work backwards to the marketing activity.
Most agencies will welcome this clarity.
When to Keep Your Agency
Stick with your current agency if they can adapt once you give them a clear brief. They already know your business, your market, and your systems. Often, better direction is all they need.
When to Change
Only change agencies once you’ve sorted your internal processes and defined what success looks like. If your current agency can’t adapt to that, then it’s time to find one that can. But don’t fall out with them. Recognise that without a clear brief, the failure was as much yours as theirs.
And a Word to Agencies
If you’re an agency, you’re not off the hook. Stop hiding behind platform metrics. Ask harder questions. Push your clients to define success in business terms. Audit what happens to leads once they arrive. Help clients improve their own measurement, not just yours.
The best agency relationships aren’t built on Google dashboards. They’re built on shared accountability for business results.
Why This Matters
The businesses that get the best results from agencies are the ones that understand their own sales process first. They can define what a qualified lead looks like, how many they need, and what those leads are worth.
Agencies aren’t usually the problem. Business process is. Fix your internal processes, define success in business terms, and then decide whether your agency can deliver it.
The real question isn’t “Do we need a new agency?” It’s “Do we understand our business well enough to direct any agency effectively?”