How to sell to Heads of People at Agencies companies
Heads of People at agencies are primarily measured on employee retention rates. They respond positively to outreach that clearly addresses the unique challenges of talent management in a fast-paced, creative environment. Demonstrating an understanding of their struggle to maintain morale and engagement during high-pressure projects will prompt them to engage with you.
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
- high employee turnover
- low employee engagement
- burnout during peak projects
- difficulty attracting top talent
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with high turnover
Use LinkedIn to filter for marketing and creative agencies that have reported recent layoffs or high turnover rates. This indicates a potential need for better talent retention strategies, making them more receptive to your outreach.
- 02
Research recent employee feedback
Look for reviews on platforms like Glassdoor or Indeed to gather insights on employee satisfaction at the agency. Highlighting specific pain points or recurring themes in your outreach will demonstrate your understanding of their current challenges.
- 03
Connect through industry events
Identify upcoming industry conferences or webinars that focus on talent management in agencies. Mentioning your shared attendance in your outreach can create an immediate connection and increase the likelihood of a response.
- 04
Acknowledge the creative culture
In your email, reference the unique challenges of managing talent in a creative environment, such as burnout during peak project periods. This shows you understand their specific context and can tailor solutions to their needs.
- 05
Propose a brief discussion
Suggest a 15-minute call to discuss innovative approaches to talent retention that have worked for similar agencies. This direct ask, coupled with your understanding of their pain points, can help secure a meeting.
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 retention in creative teams
- Addressing agency talent challenges
- Boosting morale in high-pressure environments
Questions
- Why do Heads of People at agencies ignore outreach about talent solutions?
- They often receive numerous pitches that don’t address the unique challenges of the creative industry. If your message doesn’t demonstrate an understanding of their specific pain points, it may be overlooked as just another generic sales email.
- What are common objections from Heads of People regarding talent management tools?
- Heads of People may object due to concerns about implementation costs, disruption to existing workflows, or skepticism about the effectiveness of new solutions. Addressing these concerns with relevant case studies can help alleviate their fears.
- How can I ensure my outreach stands out to agency Heads of People?
- Personalizing your outreach by referencing specific challenges they face, such as high turnover or burnout, can make your message more relevant. Additionally, showcasing your understanding of the agency's culture and values will help you connect.
- What timing is best for reaching out to Heads of People in agencies?
- Reaching out at the beginning of a quarter or after major project deadlines can be effective, as they may be reassessing their talent strategies during these times. Avoid busy periods like the end of the fiscal year when they are focused on closing projects.
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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