We never worked with these people. Not for a single day.
Talking to different agencies when they reach out is worth doing. When someone contacts you first, it tells you they have capacity, they're looking for new clients, maybe they're genuinely interested in your brand.
It's worth a conversation to get ideas, hear different approaches, and see if there's something there. Even small ones, even boutique ones you've never heard of. Sometimes you find someone good that way.
This was not one of those times.
It was a brother and sister running what they called a boutique influencer agency. They reached out to us first.
The call that felt like an interrogation
I replied politely, explained we were a small startup, not a big brand with a large budget, but open to hearing what they could offer. A discovery call. That's all I was expecting.
The call started, and within minutes, it felt like I was applying for something. Instead of showing what they could bring, the brother immediately went into interrogation mode.
"Are you profitable?" "How many products do you sell a month?" "Can you afford this?" "Are you sure this is a brand influencers even want to work with?"
I wasn't there to justify my business to them. Aren't agencies there to help brands grow? That's the whole point. If that's your job, show me how you'd do it. Show me what kind of influencers you work with, what your strategy looks like, what you've done for other brands. I asked exactly that. What followed was not an answer.
"They reached out to us. Then spent the call deciding we weren't good enough."
Brand awareness. Not sales. Never sales.
The sister barely spoke. When she did it was in a tone that was both bored and condescending. "Oh your brand, hmm, well maybe I can find someone to post it."
I asked what their actual approach was. How do they help brands grow? "Brand awareness. Not sales. Never comes to sales."
Right. Influencer marketing is never directly about sales, I understand that. But a marketing agency should be thinking beyond one channel. What happens after awareness? Where does the customer go next? What's the strategy that connects it all? None of that came up. No campaign ideas, no influencer examples, no timeline, nothing.
Looking back, I think I know what they actually were. Not a real agency with strategies and thinking. Just a retainer operation. Hired by big brands, send mass samples, and collect the fee. An intern could do the same thing. Probably better.
The line that ended it
The brother cut back in: "Well, let us know when you actually have the money to pay us."
We had a budget. We wanted to scale. Of course, we weren't the size of a brand investing millions, but we were real and we were growing. But even if I'd had ten times more to spend, I wouldn't have given it to them.
They didn't come to this call to help. They came to sense whether there was money to extract. And that's what was so striking about how rude it was. You can decline to work with someone without making them feel small. Everyone starts somewhere. Every brand you speak to deserves basic respect, regardless of its stage or budget.
I've talked to a lot of people building things from nothing, and even the ones who couldn't work together were kind about it. These two weren't.
I ended the call, thanked them, and never replied again.
"Everyone starts somewhere. That's not something to look down at."
Everyone who is building something works hard for it. A startup deserves the same respect as an established brand. You don't have to be rude to decline someone. You don't have to make people feel small to say no.
If an agency or a partner reaches out to you and treats you like you need to prove your worth before they'll even explain what they do, that is not a reflection of your brand. That is a reflection of them.
Don't be disappointed when you meet people like this. Don't let it make you question what you're building. They don't know you. They don't know your story, your work, or where you're going. Move on quickly and find the ones who are genuinely glad to be in the conversation with you.
