Exclusivity

[farout117]

Hi all

So about 2 weeks ago I received a call from Agency A to forward me to a client of thiers but they told me to give them exclusivity which I did by email. However in these last 2 weeks, I have not heard anything from them, after also sending them 2 emails to see what is going on.

Now Agency B have approached me for the same client, and I told them that I gave exclusivity to Agency A, however its has been already 2 weeks since I have not received any feedback from Agency A. Now they want to represent me exclusively themselves by going into an email agreement.

How do you guys go about this exclusivity issue? Should I do it? I was going to reply back and tell him to give him exclusivity for 2 weeks, and if I do not get any feedback, then I can go with someone else.

[chef]

Hi all

So about 2 weeks ago I received a call from Agency A to forward me to a client of thiers but they told me to give them exclusivity which I did by email. However in these last 2 weeks, I have not heard anything from them, after also sending them 2 emails to see what is going on.

Now Agency B have approached me for the same client, and I told them that I gave exclusivity to Agency A, however its has been already 2 weeks since I have not received any feedback from Agency A. Now they want to represent me exclusively themselves by going into an email agreement.

How do you guys go about this exclusivity issue? Should I do it? I was going to reply back and tell him to give him exclusivity for 2 weeks, and if I do not get any feedback, then I can go with someone else.

this

[northernladuk]

this

that

[craig1]

this

With one exception. If they're contracting directly with the client on an already existing agreement or have authority from the client to find a contractor then I'll happily give them a week or so of exclusivity. If they're in a chain of agents or don't convince me of the prior sentence then I usually ask more questions around whether they're just speculatively submitting me; I don't mind on the odd occasion for a role I'd truly no idea was out there but they're not getting exclusivity beyond a day or two.

[farout117]

With one exception. If they're contracting directly with the client on an already existing agreement or have authority from the client to find a contractor then I'll happily give them a week or so of exclusivity. If they're in a chain of agents or don't convince me of the prior sentence then I usually ask more questions around whether they're just speculatively submitting me; I don't mind on the odd occasion for a role I'd truly no idea was out there but they're not getting exclusivity beyond a day or two.

The problem is how would you know that they are the preferred agency of the client? Everyone says that actually.

[craig1]

The problem is how would you know that they are the preferred agency of the client? Everyone says that actually.

Get it in writing. Here's an example I routinely stick to my confirmation email:

"I commit to giving Agency X exclusive rights to market me to Client Y for one calendar week on the condition that they have pre-arranged authority from Client Y to present contractors to them for this role. This exclusivity only applies once Agency X commits by email that they have that authority."

[chef]

the only problem with that is the following scenario

"Dear Craig we hereby confirm that we (agent x) have authority to market you to client Y.
kind regards
Gel Boy"

Gel Boy then gets better candidate (who commands a lower rate) on the phone and markets them to Client Y knowing you're gonna do nothing for a week

OR

Gel Boy then uses you to try and get on Client Y's PSL and if he fails after 1 week, meh, he tried.

meanwhile the real PSL Agent of Client Y phones up cr@p candidate and submits it to Client Y who mull over it for 6 days and finally accept it as there is nothing better coming from the PSL agent.

[craig1]

the only problem with that is the following scenario

"Dear Craig we hereby confirm that we (agent x) have authority to market you to client Y.
kind regards
Gel Boy"

Gel Boy then gets better candidate (who commands a lower rate) on the phone and markets them to Client Y knowing you're gonna do nothing for a week

OR

Gel Boy then uses you to try and get on Client Y's PSL and if he fails after 1 week, meh, he tried.

meanwhile the real PSL Agent of Client Y phones up cr@p candidate and submits it to Client Y who mull over it for 6 days and finally accept it as there is nothing better coming from the PSL agent.

Aye... that's the problem. There's really only so much you can do to sift out the dross agencies and speculative roles. Generally though, an agent will often refuse to put that confirmation in email if they're not on the PSL.

[farout117]

Get it in writing. Here's an example I routinely stick to my confirmation email:

"I commit to giving Agency X exclusive rights to market me to Client Y for one calendar week on the condition that they have pre-arranged authority from Client Y to present contractors to them for this role. This exclusivity only applies once Agency X commits by email that they have that authority."

Good tip Craig, although in the current market, I am sure they will do everything they can.

[CiderEagle]

the only problem with that is the following scenario

"Dear Craig we hereby confirm that we (agent x) have authority to market you to client Y.
kind regards
Gel Boy"

Gel Boy then gets better candidate (who commands a lower rate) on the phone and markets them to Client Y knowing you're gonna do nothing for a week

OR

Gel Boy then uses you to try and get on Client Y's PSL and if he fails after 1 week, meh, he tried.

meanwhile the real PSL Agent of Client Y phones up cr@p candidate and submits it to Client Y who mull over it for 6 days and finally accept it as there is nothing better coming from the PSL agent.

SOOO much this. I was just having a rant not an hour ago about an agency that I am pretty certain does this CV gathering exercise as standard practice, then only passes a very small number of them on. Hard to be 100% sure but you do get a feeling for which agents are OK and which are just piss takers.