# What does switching agencies cost me?

**Short answer.** Count on half a year in which less happens: the notice period, the selection, and the time a new team needs to learn your brand. You pay that learning cost twice if you switch too early.

Count on half a year in which less happens. That is the real cost, and it appears on no invoice.

## The four items

**1. The notice period.** Three to six months in which you pay for an agency that knows it is leaving. Even with the best will, their best team is already somewhere else.

**2. The selection.** Two to four months, plus the internal hours of everyone who briefs, listens and decides. With three agencies that quickly runs to several man-days per person. See [what a pitch costs you internally](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-kost-een-pitch-intern).

**3. The new team's learning curve.** The first months go on questions you have answered before, a first proposal that is still off, and a team that does not yet sense your sensitivities. You had already paid that cost at your previous agency.

**4. The handover.** Source files, access, running licences, historical data. Done well it costs days; done badly it costs weeks, and sometimes work that has to be remade. See [how to make sure the handover goes well](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/goede-overdracht).

## The item nobody counts

The campaigns not made during that half year. Marketing running at half speed because the attention sits in a procedure is lost return that gets booked nowhere but exists all the same.

## When it is worth that cost

When the problem is structural: a team that changed three times, proposals you systematically have to rebrief, or an agency that has outgrown your category. Otherwise you keep paying that cost every year in the form of mediocre work.

When it is **not** worth it: one disappointing campaign, a price discussion, or a new marketing lead bringing their own agency. See [when to switch agencies](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wanneer-van-bureau-wisselen).

## The calculation to make

Put the four items in hours and euro next to the expected gain from switching. If you cannot name that gain, that is your answer: you are switching on instinct, and instinct is an expensive adviser here.

The item you can compress most is the second: a selection run tightly, with a longlist that holds up and three agencies instead of six. That is what IKAg does under [Agency selection & pitches](https://www.ikag.be/en/agency-selection).

See also: [how to end things with an agency properly](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/een-bureau-opzeggen).

## Related questions

- [When should I switch agencies?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wanneer-van-bureau-wisselen): Switch when the problem is structural rather than personal: the team changed three times, every proposal needs rebriefing, or the agency has outgrown your category. Disappointment in one campaign is not a reason.
- [What does a pitch cost me internally?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-kost-een-pitch-intern): More than all the pitch fees together. Add up the hours of everyone who briefs, reads, listens and decides, and with three agencies you are quickly at several man-days per person involved.
- [How do I make sure the handover goes well?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/goede-overdracht): Ask for source files, access and running commitments while the relationship is still live, not afterwards. A handover clause costs nothing at the start and weeks after the fact.

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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