New RSW/US Report: 75% of Agencies Say It’s Harder to Break Through to Prospects, Up from 35% Last Year

Annual survey of agency executives also finds referrals fell from 76% to 44% as a top source of new business, while 67% expect growth in 2027.

CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES, October 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- RSW/US, the nation’s leading outsourced new business firm dedicated to marketing agencies and other professional service firms, has released its 2026 Agency New Business Report, an annual survey of 150 senior executives at ad agencies, marketing firms, and PR firms across the U.S. and Canada. The findings show the biggest barrier to new business has shifted away from time, process, or budget and toward simply breaking through to prospects.

Key Findings
• 75% say new business is harder because it’s harder to break through to prospects, up from 35% in 2025
• 46% say prospects go dark after a first or second meeting, up from 16%
• Referrals fell from 76% to 44% as a top source of new business in one year
• Only 13% of smaller agencies say AI prospecting platforms delivered the meetings they expected, compared with 69% of larger firms
• 67% expect new business to grow in 2027, even as 48% say it’s harder than last year

RSW/US has been helping agencies find and win new business for the past 21 years. Each section of the report pairs the survey data with what the team at RSW/US sees every day running outsourced new business programs for its clients, along with practical guidance agencies can put to work right away.

What the Report Covers

Breaking Through
Why reaching prospects has become the top new business barrier, why more prospects are going dark after early meetings, and how positioning that sounds like every other agency’s makes it worse.

Where New Business Is Coming From
How referrals are slipping as existing clients and networking step up, and which outbound channels, including outsourced lead generation and traditional mailings, are gaining ground.

New Business Hires at Smaller Firms
Why only 41% of smaller agencies have hired a new business person, compared with 88% of larger firms, and why so few of those hires last.

AI Prospecting Platforms and the 2027 Outlook
Why AI prospecting platforms deliver very different results for smaller and larger agencies, and what firms expect as budgets for next year are set.

On the findings, RSW/US President, Mark Sneider shared:

“The agencies winning new business right now aren’t the ones sending more email. They’re the ones putting real resources behind a consistent, multi-channel program and sticking with it long enough for it to work. That’s especially true for smaller firms, where new business hires and AI platforms often fall short without the infrastructure to support them.”

The survey was conducted in August and September 2026 among senior-level executives at full-service, media, digital, PR, and other marketing service firms, drawn from RSW/US’s database of more than 20,000 firms in the U.S. and Canada.

To download the full report, visit rswus.com. For media inquiries or interviews, contact Lee McKnight Jr., VP of Sales & Marketing, at lee@rswus.com or via phone (513-519-7413).

Visit our site or on social media:
www.rswus.com

Lee A McKnight Jr
RSW/US
+1 513-519-7413
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Facebook
YouTube