How to sell to Founders at Agencies companies in United Kingdom
Founders in agencies prioritize client retention, measured by repeat business rates. They respond to outreach that demonstrates an understanding of their unique challenges, such as managing fluctuating client demands while maintaining a strong team culture. Highlighting solutions that directly address their operational pain points can prompt a response.
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 retention issues
- team burnout
- project overload
- inconsistent cash flow
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with recent client wins
Use LinkedIn to filter for marketing and creative agencies in the UK that have announced new client acquisitions in the past month. This indicates growth and potential interest in scaling operations, making them more receptive to solutions that enhance efficiency.
- 02
Pinpoint founders active in industry discussions
Search for founders who are engaging in relevant discussions on platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn. Focus on those who frequently share insights about managing agency challenges, as they are likely to be open to new ideas and solutions.
- 03
Craft messaging around team management solutions
Draft outreach that emphasizes how your solution can alleviate the burden of managing diverse client needs while ensuring team morale. Reference specific scenarios, such as balancing project loads during peak seasons, to resonate with their daily experiences.
- 04
Anticipate objections about implementation time
Prepare to address concerns regarding the time needed to implement new solutions. Offer examples of quick wins or phased approaches that could be integrated without disrupting their current workflow, ensuring they see immediate value.
- 05
Suggest a specific time for a brief call
In your outreach, propose a specific time for a 15-minute call, ideally within the next week. This creates urgency and makes it easier for them to say yes, especially if it aligns with their schedule.
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
- Boost your client retention
- Managing project overload
- Solutions for team burnout
Questions
- Why do founders at agencies ignore outreach about operational tools?
- Founders often overlook outreach if it doesn't immediately address their pressing pain points or if it seems too generic. They prioritize solutions that can demonstrate a clear understanding of their unique operational challenges, especially around client management and team dynamics.
- What makes a founder at an agency respond to an email?
- A founder is more likely to respond to emails that provide insights or solutions tailored to their specific agency challenges, such as client retention or team management. Demonstrating knowledge of their industry and offering actionable ideas can capture their attention.
- What are common objections from agency founders?
- Common objections include concerns about the time required for implementation and the perceived disruption to their current processes. Founders may also question the ROI of new tools, especially if they are already stretched thin with client demands.
- How can outreach be tailored for agency founders?
- Outreach should focus on the unique challenges faced by agency founders, such as managing fluctuating client demands and maintaining team morale. Personalizing messages to reflect their specific situations and suggesting practical solutions can increase engagement.
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.
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