How to sell to Founders at Agencies companies in Canada
Founders at agencies in Canada prioritize client retention rates, which directly affect their bottom line. They respond positively to outreach that showcases a deep understanding of the unique challenges in agency operations, such as managing client expectations and balancing creative output with profitability. Demonstrating knowledge of their specific pain points will encourage them to engage.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 558 agencies company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- client turnover
- cash flow issues
- creative resource allocation
- meeting client expectations
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with recent client turnover
Use LinkedIn and industry news to find agencies that have recently lost major clients. This indicates potential pain points in client retention. Target your outreach to founders of these agencies, as they are likely seeking solutions to improve stability.
- 02
Highlight case studies on client success
Craft messages that include specific examples of how your approach has helped similar agencies enhance client satisfaction and retention. Focus on metrics like increased repeat business or improved NPS scores that resonate with founders' goals.
- 03
Address common founder objections
Anticipate objections such as budget constraints or prior negative experiences with vendors. Prepare responses that emphasize the ROI of investing in solutions that improve client relationships, showcasing long-term benefits over short-term costs.
- 04
Engage during industry events
Monitor industry calendars for events or webinars where agency founders are likely to participate. Use these opportunities to reach out with personalized messages referencing the event, creating a natural conversation starter.
- 05
Follow up after initial engagement
If you receive a response, follow up within three days to maintain momentum. Reference any previous discussions or questions they had to show you are attentive and invested in their concerns, increasing the likelihood of securing a call.
Can agencies companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 558 agencies companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.8% of 1–10-person companies against 55.4% of the largest — 39 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving client retention rates
- Strategies for agency growth
- Tackling client turnover challenges
Questions
- Why do founders at agencies ignore outreach from vendors?
- Founders often receive numerous vendor pitches and may ignore outreach that doesn't immediately address their specific pain points. If the message lacks relevance to their current challenges, such as client retention or resource management, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What messaging resonates with agency founders?
- Messaging that highlights proven strategies for improving client satisfaction and retention tends to resonate well with agency founders. They appreciate concrete examples and case studies that demonstrate how similar agencies have benefited from specific solutions.
- How do agency founders prefer to communicate?
- Most agency founders prefer concise and direct communication, often via email or LinkedIn. They value messages that respect their time and get straight to the point, focusing on solutions that can help them overcome their immediate challenges.
- What timing is best for outreach to agency founders?
- Reaching out early in the week, particularly on Mondays or Tuesdays, tends to yield better responses. Founders are often preoccupied with planning and strategy on these days, making them more receptive to new ideas and solutions that can enhance their operations.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
Try it on your site