How to sell to Heads of Sales at Agencies companies in United Kingdom
Heads of Sales at agencies are primarily measured on revenue growth. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their specific challenges, such as managing client expectations and optimizing sales processes. Highlighting how your solution can streamline their sales operations or improve client retention is key to engaging them.
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
- high turnover in sales teams
- inefficient sales processes
- inconsistent revenue growth
The playbook
- 01
Identify agencies with recent client wins
Use LinkedIn to filter for agencies in the UK that have announced new client acquisitions in the last month. This indicates growth and potential need for enhanced sales strategies. Compile a list of these agencies to target your outreach.
- 02
Highlight challenges of scaling sales teams
Craft your message to address common pain points like high turnover rates and difficulties in onboarding new sales reps. Illustrating an understanding of these issues will resonate with Heads of Sales who are often focused on team effectiveness.
- 03
Utilize case studies from similar agencies
Select case studies from agencies that faced similar growth challenges and successfully implemented solutions. Tailor these examples to show how your offering can directly benefit their specific situation, making your outreach more relevant.
- 04
Time your follow-ups around quarterly reviews
Schedule your follow-up emails for just after the end of the quarter when sales leaders are assessing performance. This timing can increase your chances of a response, as they are likely reflecting on what tools or strategies they need moving forward.
- 05
Address common objections about budget constraints
Anticipate objections regarding budget by preparing a clear value proposition that outlines ROI. Acknowledge their budget concerns upfront in your outreach and position your solution as a cost-effective investment in their sales growth.
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 agency's sales efficiency
- Strategies for better client retention
- Overcoming sales team challenges
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales at agencies ignore cold outreach?
- Heads of Sales often receive numerous cold outreach attempts, making them selective about responses. If the outreach does not immediately address their specific pain points or demonstrate an understanding of their industry, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What common challenges do Heads of Sales face in agencies?
- Common challenges include managing client expectations, scaling their sales teams effectively, and ensuring consistent revenue growth. These issues often lead to a focus on improving internal processes and client engagement strategies.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to agency sales leaders?
- To stand out, personalize your outreach by referencing specific industry challenges or recent news about their agency. Demonstrating a clear understanding of their unique situation and offering tailored solutions can significantly increase engagement.
- What metrics do Heads of Sales prioritize?
- Heads of Sales typically prioritize metrics such as revenue growth, client retention rates, and sales team performance. Understanding these metrics can help tailor your outreach to align with their goals and demonstrate how your solution can impact these areas.
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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