How to sell to Heads of Sales at Agencies companies
Heads of Sales at agencies are primarily measured by their revenue growth targets. They respond positively when outreach demonstrates a clear understanding of the unique challenges in scaling client accounts, managing diverse teams, and optimizing sales processes to drive profitability. Showing familiarity with their specific agency model can turn a cold outreach into a conversation starter.
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
- inefficient sales processes
- client retention issues
- limited visibility into pipeline
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent client wins
Start by filtering for agencies that recently announced significant client acquisitions or project wins. Use platforms like PR Newswire or industry-specific newsletters to find these updates. Mentioning these wins in your outreach can create a connection and show you're informed about their success.
- 02
Research their sales team structure
Look for information on the agency's sales team composition on LinkedIn or their company website. Understanding how many team members they have and their roles can help tailor your message. Highlighting your experience in optimizing sales processes for similar team structures can resonate well.
- 03
Leverage industry-specific challenges
Focus on common pain points in the agency space, such as high employee turnover or the need for better CRM integration. Use insights from industry reports or forums to frame your outreach around these issues. This approach shows you understand their day-to-day struggles and can offer relevant solutions.
- 04
Address the budget cycle
Be aware of the agency's fiscal calendar and budget planning periods. Timing your outreach to align with when they are evaluating new tools or services can increase your chances of a response. Mentioning how your solution can fit into their budget cycle can help alleviate financial concerns.
- 05
Prepare for objections about ROI
Anticipate objections related to return on investment, as agency leaders are often scrutinized for spending. Prepare specific examples of how similar agencies improved their revenue after implementing new strategies or tools. This data can help counter objections and facilitate a more productive conversation.
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
- Scaling your sales team
- Insights for agency growth
- Boosting client retention
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales at agencies ignore outreach about sales tools?
- Many Heads of Sales are inundated with outreach and may prioritize internal challenges over external solutions. If your message doesn't immediately address a specific pain point or demonstrate clear value, it may be overlooked. Tailoring your outreach to their unique challenges is crucial.
- What metrics do Heads of Sales in agencies focus on?
- Heads of Sales typically focus on metrics like revenue growth, client acquisition rates, and team performance. They need to show tangible results from their strategies and may prioritize tools that directly impact these metrics. Understanding their KPIs is essential for effective engagement.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to agency sales leaders?
- To stand out, personalize your outreach by referencing specific agency challenges or recent achievements. Use industry insights to frame your message and demonstrate a clear understanding of their environment. A well-researched, relevant approach is key to capturing their attention.
- What objections do agency sales leaders commonly have?
- Common objections include concerns about budget, the effectiveness of new tools, and the time required for implementation. They may also worry about disrupting existing workflows. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can lead to more productive conversations.
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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