How do you have the hard conversation?

One meeting, one set of numbers, one deadline in writing. That is the whole structure. At a $5,000-a-month starter retainer, a quarter of underperformance is $15,000 you can point to, so point to it: "We've had one trade placement in 90 days. I need a credible plan for tier-one coverage in the next 30 days or we stop." No ambush, no drama, no list of grievances.

Most founders skip the conversation entirely; Gartner found 43% of customers who churn never voice their concerns first. The conversation goes badly when you arrive with a feeling ("I'm not happy") instead of a fact. Lead with the number and the meeting mostly runs itself. An agency doing the work can pull the pitch log on the call, show you reply rates, and explain exactly what it will change. An agency that gets defensive or vague is telling you it has nothing to show. Treat the reaction itself as evidence.

Bring five things:

• The receipts - pitch count, reply rate, placements, and dates.
• The gap in one sentence - what you paid for versus what landed.
• A recovery deadline - 30 days, tied to a specific measurable outcome, never "more effort."
• Your own part - if slow approvals or thin news contributed, say so first. It removes their best excuse and keeps the meeting honest. If you genuinely cannot tell whose fault it is, read the agency-problem-or-you page before scheduling anything.
• A same-day written summary - two lines: the metric, the date, what happens if it is not met.

The deadline is the step most founders skip, and it is the one that matters. Without a date, the meeting is just feedback, and feedback gets absorbed. With a date, the next decision makes itself: either the work recovers in 30 days or it does not, and the pause-renegotiate-or-fire page covers what to do then. If the answer is to leave, the offboarding-and-transition page covers exiting cleanly, with your press contacts and assets intact. Either way, the relationship ends or recovers on terms you set, on a date you chose.