The old-school marketing agency has a trick they pull virtually every time.
Here’s how it works:
- Sell the dream
- Show you the A-team
- Close a 12 month deal
- Sub in the C-team
- Do mediocre work
- Send invoices
- Bring the A-team back at the end
- Sell another dream
- Rinse & repeat
I hate it.
Let’s go deeper…
1. The proposal stage
The agency wants to sell you the dream.
- More business
- More revenue
- More [insert whatever you ask for]
And throughout the entire process, all you see is the A-team. You’re talking to execs, directors, the CEO—all the heavy hitters.
Once they’ve got you bought in?
“We require a 12-month commitment…”
And just like that, they’ve got you on the hook.
2. The first 2 months
Early on? That A-team is still around.
They join the weekly calls, they’re active in Slack, they’re sharing ideas—they don’t want you to get cold feet in the first quarter of the game.
60 days in, you’re feeling pretty good about your decision.
That 12-month commitment is feeling GREAT right now.
Meanwhile, in the agency’s internal Slack channels…
“2 invoices down, 10 more to go.”
3. The middle 8 months
Andddd just like that, the bottom falls out.
That A-team?
Nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, they have a “conflict” during the weekly calls. They haven’t popped up in Slack in weeks. You’re lucky to get 30 minutes of their time in a month.
Now, you’re working with junior team members.
These junior folks may be lovely people, but they weren’t the dream you were sold and they haven’t put in enough reps to confidently call the strategic shots.
As a result…
❌ Performance falls off
❌ Deadlines start to get missed
❌ Your confidence level goes to zero
And all along the way, the agency doesn’t care.
As long as they’re sending invoices, they’re happy. You wanna fire them? Great, just pay out the remaining months and we’ll call it even.
Until finally…
4. The last 2 months
Like magic, the A-team is back!
Hallelujah.
Your saviors have arrived—here to clean up the mess left by *checks notes* themselves!
Suddenly, you’re the most important client on the roster. They’re on every call, responding to every message, making it crystal clear that you’re the “priority” right now.
And because performance sucked for 8 months straight, the reports now look bright green in comparison.
Their goal?
Lock in 12 more months, baby 💰
*Sigh*
How can you avoid the “282” cycle?
It’s fairly simple, really…
No 12-month minimum commitments.
If they know they’ve contractually “caught” you for the next 12 months, the incentive is gone for them to do good work. At least until the clock is ticking and it’s closing time again.
Instead, work with small teams on flexible models.
✔ The A-team doesn’t vanish
✔ The incentive is always there to deliver
✔ You work directly with the experience folks
Far, far, far better experience IMO.
And as you’ve probably guessed by now—that’s exactly how we structure every Backstage SEO partnership. No sneaky minimum commitments, no “gotcha” clauses if plans change—just a genuine partnership where both parties WANT to keep working together.
If you’re interested, let’s hop on a quick discovery call. It’s free and it’ll just be a friendly conversation to see if it makes sense to work together—no pitch slapping, that’s a promise.
