# How do I compare two agencies with each other?

**Short answer.** Put them side by side on the same five axes and fill those from the same source, otherwise you are comparing sales stories. Two sets of annual accounts are comparable; two presentations never are.

Putting two agencies side by side only works if you fill both columns from the same source. If you do not, you are comparing their sales stories, and the agency with the better storyteller wins.

## Fill both columns from the same source

**From the annual accounts** (free, comparable, and filled in by nobody with an interest): EBITDA margin on gross margin, gross margin per full-time equivalent, the three-year trend, and equity. IKAg's factsheets calculate those four per agency, with the market median beside them, so you see at once which side of the threshold each one falls.

**From their proposal**, provided you asked exactly the same question: the scope in units of work, who executes it, and the price. Two proposals on different briefings are incomparable, however neat they look.

**From the meeting**: who works day to day, how long those people have been there, and what share their largest client represents.

## What you can never line up

Two presentations. One had three weeks and a team of five, the other two weeks and a team of three; one got your question verbally and the other in writing. Presentation quality always gets measured whether you want it or not, and it weighs more heavily than anyone admits. The only antidote is a grid you fixed in advance.

## The comparison that is worth nothing

The hourly rate. Two agencies at the same rate can differ eightfold in the amount of work on the same line. So compare price per unit of work, not price per hour. See [what a normal hourly rate is](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/normaal-uurtarief-bureau).

## A detail that makes the difference

Check whether they hang off the same group. Two candidates from one holding is not a fault, but it makes your comparison less independent than it looks. The factsheets show the group per agency, with an [overview by group](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/groepen).

See also: [which criteria to use](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/criteria-om-bureaus-te-vergelijken) and [how to judge pitch presentations fairly](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/pitchpresentaties-beoordelen).

## Related questions

- [Which criteria do I use to compare agencies?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/criteria-om-bureaus-te-vergelijken): Five axes are enough: the work, the team you actually get, the fit with your sector and your way of working, the price per unit of work, and the stability of the business. Weight them before you see the first presentation.
- [How do I judge pitch presentations fairly?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/pitchpresentaties-beoordelen): Fix the grid and the weights before the first presentation, have everyone score alone before the discussion, and only then talk. Otherwise you are measuring persuasiveness in the room, not the proposal.
- [How do I know whether an agency is financially healthy?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/is-een-bureau-financieel-gezond): Four of the five numbers you need are free at the National Bank: EBITDA margin, gross margin per employee, the three-year trend and equity. Only the share of the largest client has to be asked.

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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