How to sell to Heads of Sales at Agencies companies in Canada
Heads of Sales at agencies in Canada are primarily measured on quarterly revenue growth. They respond to outreach that clearly outlines strategies for improving client retention rates, as this directly impacts their ability to meet targets. Demonstrating an understanding of the competitive landscape and how to enhance client relationships will capture their attention.
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 client churn rates
- inconsistent sales performance
- difficulty in upselling services
- pressure to meet revenue targets
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with declining client retention
Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter for agencies in Canada that have reported a drop in client retention rates over the last two quarters. This indicates a potential need for solutions that can help them maintain their client base.
- 02
Highlight recent industry changes
Research recent trends affecting the agency sector in Canada, such as shifts in digital marketing regulations or client expectations. Mentioning these changes in your outreach will show that you are aware of the challenges they face and can offer relevant solutions.
- 03
Address common objections about budget constraints
Prepare to counter objections related to budget by presenting case studies of cost-effective solutions that have led to increased revenue for similar agencies. Be specific about the ROI achieved to make your argument compelling.
- 04
Follow up after major industry events
Schedule your outreach to coincide with major industry events or conferences in Canada. This timing allows you to reference the event in your communication, making it more relevant and increasing the chances of a response.
- 05
Request a call after sharing valuable insights
After sending an initial email with insights tailored to their specific challenges, request a brief call to discuss how you can help improve their client retention. Make sure to suggest a specific time to streamline the scheduling process.
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 strategies
- Boosting agency revenue growth
- Navigating agency sales challenges
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales at agencies overlook cold outreach?
- Heads of Sales often overlook cold outreach due to their focus on immediate revenue-generating activities. They prioritize existing client relationships and may perceive cold outreach as a distraction from their primary responsibilities, especially if it lacks clear relevance to their current challenges.
- What common goals do Heads of Sales in agencies prioritize?
- Common goals for Heads of Sales in agencies include increasing client retention, improving upselling rates, and driving new client acquisition. They are particularly focused on strategies that enhance the overall client experience and lead to sustainable revenue growth.
- How can I better engage with Heads of Sales at agencies?
- Engagement can be improved by leveraging insights from industry reports and trends that directly impact their business. Providing actionable strategies and demonstrating an understanding of their unique challenges can foster a more meaningful dialogue.
- What are common pain points for Heads of Sales in agencies?
- Common pain points include managing high client churn rates, pressure to meet aggressive revenue targets, and the challenge of upselling additional services to existing clients. Addressing these issues in outreach can capture their attention effectively.
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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