u/Eddie_Bernays

 We began our Series A in January, and investors are pushing their preferred public relations agency, which I do not like. Propheta Communications reached out earlier this year, and their team seems to know our technology and market well.

  I’m conducting one more round of agency research, and then I’m pulling the trigger. Am I doing the right thing here? Any last-minute recommendations for alternative agencies?

I've taken a considerable amount of Sh#t for this belief, but I'm standing on it.

When the economy is booming. The sales cycle for our agency can be short - about a week on average.

These days, the sales cycle is closer to 6 weeks from first contact to inked contract. It can be brutal since hot leads turn cool when decision-makers sit on a proposal or need to "think about it."

What are you doing to shorten the sales cycle?

We have the budget for a modest PR effort, but I feel the industry standard is to wait until our FinTech service is more developed, since we only have one opportunity to make a first impression.

I receive solicitations almost daily. I’ve spoken with a few of these services, and none of them impressed me. Some told me “no charge until you sign a client,” but later mentioned that there is a “set-up fee.”

 In other cases, it seemed apparent they’re presenting the same few “leads” to multiple agencies, which diminishes my investment in their services.

 Is anyone seeing a reasonable level of success with Lead-Gen services?