# How do I know whether an agency has experience in my sector?

**Short answer.** Do not ask whether they have experience but who they served, when, and who from that team is still there. The factsheets list stated sectors and reference clients per agency, and you can browse by sector.

"Do you have experience in my sector" is a question whose answer is always yes. So do not ask for experience, ask for evidence, and that evidence has three parts: who, when, and who is still there.

## What you can check before you call

IKAg's factsheets show the stated sector focus and reference clients per agency, and you can [browse by sector](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/sectoren). That gives you a list of agencies active in your market in ten minutes, with names attached.

Beyond that: the trade press reports who won which assignment, and award sites show the client and the agency per campaign. Search there for your competitors rather than for agency names; that gives you the agencies genuinely serving your market.

## The three questions to ask

**1. Who exactly, and when?** A list of sectors is a claim. Ask for three clients in that sector, with the years. A reference from seven years ago is not current experience.

**2. Who from that team is still there?** With median staff turnover of 34.6 percent a year in this market, there is a real chance the people who knew the sector have gone. Experience an agency claims but no longer holds in house is a sales argument.

**3. What was not allowed there, and why?** This is the question that exposes real sector knowledge. Anyone who can list the pitfalls (which claims are forbidden, which approval route applies, where the sensitivities sit) has actually worked there. Anyone who can only list names has the logos.

## Mind the conflict of interest

Experience in your sector almost always means the agency serves or served a competitor of yours. Ask which one, and ask how they organise separation: separate teams, separate files, and an agreement about what happens if your competitor knocks tomorrow.

See also: [which agency fits your sector](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welk-bureau-past-bij-mijn-sector) and [which clients an agency has](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welke-klanten-heeft-een-bureau).

## Related questions

- [Which agency fits my sector?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welk-bureau-past-bij-mijn-sector): Sector experience helps with regulation and hurts distinctiveness: an agency serving five players in your market knows the rules and has already applied them five times. Search by sector in the factsheets.
- [Which clients does an agency have?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welke-klanten-heeft-een-bureau): Stated reference clients are on the factsheet, but the questions that matter are which client left recently and which one sits in your category. That last one decides whether they may take your brief at all.
- [Do I need a specialist agency for B2B, pharma, retail or public sector?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/bureau-voor-b2b-farma-retail-overheid): Only where the rules drive the work. Pharma and public sector carry their own legislation and procedures that a generalist learns at your expense; in B2B and retail you are mostly buying audience knowledge, and that can be briefed.

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IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19