5 Signs That You Need A New Development Partner/Agency
Breakups are hard.
But, knowing when to cut your losses, especially in business, is a must. If you’ve landed on this blog, odds are high it’s time to let your agency go. If you’re still unsure, though, here are 5 clear signs it’s time to fire your agency.
1. You don’t know what they’re up to
If you find yourself wondering what your ecommerce agency is working on, that’s not a good sign. You should be provided with a clear and detailed roadmap at the start of a project, have a regular meeting cadence with updates on the progress of those tasks, and a monthly budget summary detailing exactly what was worked on and how your budget was used. Proactive communication is a vital component of a healthy relationship with any partner, and that goes for your agency relationship, too.
2. They don’t understand your business
Your agency partner will never understand your business as well as you do, but they should come close. After an initial discovery and onboarding period, you shouldn’t find yourself having to repeat the same information about your customers, products, and processes over and over and over again. Your agency shouldn’t make recommendations for new ways to spend your money that don’t align with your business goals and priorities.
3. They are always over estimates and asking for more budget
Estimates in their definition imply a degree of uncertainty, but if your agency is consistently coming in well over the time they’ve estimated and always asking for more budget to complete the work they’ve started, it’s a red flag. You don’t have an endless budget, and you need to work with a partner that can do what they say they are going to do on time and on budget.
4. They aren’t getting results
Ideally, the start of every project should involve goal setting and a discussion on the KPIs that will be tracked to determine if those goals are being achieved. Whether it’s time savings, organic traffic, new leads, or ecommerce revenue, if you aren’t seeing the results you were promised, it’s time to look for another partner that will set goals, hit them, and clearly report on them. An agency may be prolific at tracking and goal setting, but if they’re not the right goals or become less critical for your business, they should be willing to adjust what is being tracked.
5. They’ve made a mistake and aren’t owning it
Mistakes happen; that’s why they put erasers on pencils, and we make backups of code. It’s not fair to expect perfection from anyone or any agency, but you can expect your agency to own mistakes when they happen. Lack of accountability should be a dealbreaker. If you’re tired of the blame game when things go wrong, it might be time for a new agency partner that is committed to making it right if things go a little bit sideways.
How to break up with your agency (and what to do next)
If any of those signs struck a nerve, it’s likely time to fire your agency. Breakups can get messy, but they don’t have to be. Here are a few tips on how to make a strategic and clean exit.
- Review your contract to determine what you’re entitled to, what access you’ll retain, and what the termination clause stipulates about the notice period.
- Back up any data you have access to before you let your agency know you intend to part ways. You would hope all parties would remain professional, but we’ve handled rescue projects where agencies have withheld access to files and data.
- You don’t necessarily need another agency lined up just yet, but you should at least be doing research and ideally have some initial conversations. You want the next agency to be the right choice, but also don’t want to remain stagnant for too long as you search.
- Communicate with your agency point of contact in writing about your plans to end the relationship and, whenever possible, keep the door open for an amicable handoff to a new agency partner.
- Use what you’ve learned from the experience to help you define what you need in a new agency partner now that you know more about what doesn’t work for you.
Ready to get back into the agency dating scene?
Schedule a free pre-discovery conversation with us to see if there’s potential alignment. No pressure—just an honest chat about what you need and whether we might be a fit. And, if we’re not, we can help steer you in the right direction.
