By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

Here is how to buy a marketing agency before it is shopped: get known by the owner peer groups, coaches, platform partner managers, freelancers and specialist agency advisors who talk to agency owners every week. Agency owners tell those people they are tired or planning an exit months or years before a buyer list exists.

Here is the scene. An agency owner with 22 people and four anchor clients sits in a peer group meeting. She says she is done carrying every pitch herself and wants a plan for the next three years. Eleven other owners and a facilitator hear it.

Later, someone in that room is asked if they know a serious buyer. They name whoever has been in touch with them lately.

Who hears first when an agency owner wants to sell?

The people closest to the owner’s work, and they are specific in the agency world.

Start with owner peer groups. Agency Management Institute, founded by Drew McLellan, runs live and virtual owner peer groups for agency owners, plus COO and CFO groups. It also offers a workshop called Getting Your Agency Ready to Sell and a succession planning program. The people who run and attend those programs hear which owners are getting ready.

Then the communities and associations. The Bureau describes a community of agency owners, operators, creative directors, project managers and business development people. The 4As, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, runs events, training and consulting programs for member agencies.

Then the platforms. The HubSpot Solutions Partner Program is built for service firms, consultancies and agencies, and HubSpot runs a partner directory where customers find them. Partner managers at platforms like this watch an agency’s client book and certifications, and they notice when an owner stops growing.

The age clock applies here too. Over half of US employer business owners, 51 percent, were 55 or older in the Census Bureau’s 2019 Annual Business Survey. In the IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse for Q2 2026, retirement was the top reason owners went to market in every deal segment.

Who should you get to know in the agency world?

Here is my map. It is a framework, not data.

Person	What they see	Why they would mention you	How you show up
Peer group facilitators and members	Owners saying out loud they want out	A good home for a peer’s team and clients	Earn intros, never pitch inside the group
Agency coaches and consultants	Margins, client concentration, owner fatigue	A buyer who treats their client well	Ask for their read on the market
Platform partner managers	Client growth, certifications, a partner going flat	Keeping the partner and its clients active	Tell them you will keep the partnership
Freelancers and white label partners	Who is overloaded, who stopped hiring	Keeping the work coming after a sale	Ask who they work with and how it is going
Fractional CFOs and agency accountants	The real numbers and the owner’s plans	A clean buyer for a client’s exit	Be specific about size and structure
Specialist agency M&A advisors	Mandates and owners not ready yet	A buyer who closes	Send a one page profile, update quarterly

The owners are the targets. The other rows are how you hear about them early.

How to buy a marketing agency the owner will trust

The asset is people and client relationships. If the clients belong to the owner, the agency leaves with her. Every conversation should show you understand that.

Four questions to answer before you get serious, from the owner’s own words and later from diligence.

1. How concentrated is revenue? How much comes from the top three clients.
2. Who holds the relationships? The owner, or account managers who would stay.
3. Retainer or project? Retainers carry forward. Projects have to be won again.
4. Who stays? Which creative and account leaders would stay after a sale, and what they would need.

Say who you are plainly. “I want to buy and run one agency in healthcare marketing for the long term, and keep the team” makes sense to an owner. A vague holding company pitch does not.

What does a 90 day plan look like?

Here is how I would run it, for one niche.

1. Days 1 to 14: pick the niche and write the profile. Industry served, size range, platform focus, region if it matters, your capital and who runs creative. One page. The wider system is in deal flow for business buyers.
2. Days 15 to 30: meet the coaches and consultants. Ask your contacts who coaches agency owners in your niche. One call each. Ask what owners are struggling with.
3. Days 31 to 45: meet platform partner managers and freelancers. The partner manager for your target platform, and three freelancers who serve agencies in your niche.
4. Days 46 to 60: get on two or three advisor lists. Find the agency M&A advisors your contacts mention by name. Send each your profile.
5. Days 61 to 90: one owner coffee a week. From the intros you earned. Ask how they built it and who on the team they would want looked after. Log any timing.

After day 90, the work is staying recent. A real reason every six to eight weeks for each coach, partner manager, advisor and owner.

What do you text an agency contact?

Short and specific. Illustrative texts, under 40 words each.

To a coach: “[Name], thanks for the call. Your point about owners stuck being the only rainmaker was sharp. If a client of yours ever wants a quiet conversation about options, I would be glad to listen.”

To an owner after an intro: “[Name], really enjoyed hearing how you won your first hospital client. No agenda here. I would just like to stay in touch as you think about the next few years.”

To a freelancer: “[Name], congrats on the new brand launch you posted. Still looking for one healthcare agency to buy and keep intact. If an owner you work with mentions it, I would value an intro.”

To an advisor: “[Name], updated profile attached. Still healthcare and life sciences, now up to 40 people. Happy to see anything early.”

How do you find owner direct agency deals in your own phone?

Look for people one step from agency owners: your own agency, the marketing heads you know who hire agencies, the CPA who does an owner’s taxes, a friend who freelances. The method is in how to find owner direct business deals in your network. If your niche has a trade group, see trade association acquisition targets.

Most owners will say not now. Write down when. The deal goes to whoever is still in touch on that date.

Where this breaks

In the quiet months. You met a coach in March and a partner manager in May. By fall, an owner tells the coach she is ready, and the coach names whoever texted her last.

That is the job I built FRONT OF MIND for. It opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person has a one line reason why today: they posted, their company was in the news, you met at an event weeks ago and never followed up, or they are going cold. Every draft is a text style message, 40 words max. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. Ask Liala “who do I know who coaches agency owners” and get the right people with why.

It runs in your phone’s browser and can be saved to your home screen. There is no native iPhone app yet. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export or delete anytime. It is free for your first 25 contacts and 1 intro, then $29 a month.

Start free with your first 25 contacts and see which agency contact comes up first.

See how it works