- You feel like you have to hunt them down to get a reply or a deliverable.
- You aren’t excited to get on a call or pitch a new project to your agency team.
- You feel a constant general level of stress when it comes to the work the agency is doing.
- Even if you are on a retainer, it seems everything is a nickel-and-dimed upcharge.
- They gaslight you by making you question if you remember conversations correctly.
- Your agency complains to you about other clients regularly – they are probably telling their other clients complaints about you too.
- Feedback on calls is becoming harsh instead of honest. You want honesty and expertise, not cruelty masquerading as it.
- They are keeping score. You are always waiting for the scorecard to come out and show all your prior wrongs.
- You are keeping score. You want to have a healthy, productive work relationship. Keeping track of wrongs against your agency is a sure sign your relationship needs to change or end.
- The agency no longer amplifies your strengths. Outside marketing partners are all about highlighting your current strengths. When the focus shifts to your weaknesses, your relationship has become toxic.
Having a toxic relationship in any sphere of life isn’t healthy. At least with friends and family, there is an incentive to work it out. If you are in a toxic relationship with your marketing agency, get out now. It rarely improves. The slow burn of a souring relationship will impact the quality of their work for you. And it may effect your overall success too.
Here is the bottom-line: you hired them, and you can let them go. Find an agency that relieves stress instead of creating it!
