Agency Sniper - Discover Marketing Agency Clients | Reverse Prospecting Tool

The #1 reverse prospecting tool for discovering who marketing agencies work with. Find businesses that already invest in marketing by automatically analyzing agency portfolios, case studies, client pages, and Google search results. Built for sales teams, marketing agencies, and competitive intelligence professionals.

Stop cold prospecting. Start smart prospecting. If a company already hired a marketing agency, they're a proven buyer. Agency Sniper finds these pre-qualified leads for you.

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Table of Contents

1. Why Agency Sniper?
2. Who Is This For?
3. Use Cases
4. How It Works
5. Quick Start Guide
6. Input Parameters
7. Output Format
8. Code Examples
9. Integration with God Mode Intel
10. Pricing
11. Best Practices
12. FAQ
13. Troubleshooting
14. API Keys Setup
15. Support

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🎯 Why Agency Sniper?

The Problem with Traditional Prospecting

Traditional B2B prospecting is broken:

• Cold lists are garbage - 90% of "leads" have no budget or intent
• Intent data is expensive - Bombora, G2, and ZoomInfo charge $20K+/year
• SDRs waste time - Calling companies that will never buy

The Agency Sniper Solution

Reverse prospecting flips the script:

1. Proven Buyers: If a company hired Agency X, they have budget for marketing services
2. Known Investors: These companies already understand the value of professional services
3. Active Spenders: They're not "thinking about it" - they're actively paying for marketing
4. Competitor Intel: See exactly who your competitors' agencies serve

By the Numbers

Metric	Cold Prospecting	Agency Sniper
Lead quality	Low (5% qualified)	High (80%+ qualified)
Cost per lead	$50-200	$0.025
Response rate	1-3%	10-25%
Time to list	Hours/days	Minutes
Intent signal	None	Proven buyer

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👤 Who Is This For?

Sales Development Representatives (SDRs)

Build high-quality prospect lists in minutes instead of hours. Every company discovered has already invested in professional services.

Perfect for:

• Account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns
• Targeted outbound sequences
• Pipeline generation

Marketing Agency Owners

Discover who your competitors serve. Understand market positioning. Find businesses already spending on services like yours.

Perfect for:

• Competitive analysis
• Market research
• New client acquisition

Business Development Teams

Identify partnership opportunities and potential clients by seeing who works with complementary agencies.

Perfect for:

• Strategic partnerships
• Channel development
• Referral networks

Private Equity & M&A Analysts

Research marketing agency client bases for due diligence, valuation, and competitive analysis.

Perfect for:

• Portfolio company analysis
• Market sizing
• Competitive landscape mapping

Freelancers & Consultants

Find businesses that value professional marketing help and have budget to pay for it.

Perfect for:

• Client acquisition
• Niche market research
• Service positioning

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💼 Use Cases

1. Competitive Intelligence

Scenario: You're a marketing agency and want to see who your top competitor works with.

{
  "agencyName": "WebFX",
  "agencyDomain": "webfx.com",
  "maxClients": 100
}

Result: List of 50-100 companies that work with WebFX, their industries, and confidence scores.

Next Steps:

• Analyze industry concentrations
• Identify underserved verticals
• Target similar companies

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2. Lead Generation for Marketing Services

Scenario: You sell SEO services and want to find companies already investing in digital marketing.

{
  "agencyName": "Ignite Visibility",
  "agencyDomain": "ignitevisibility.com",
  "maxClients": 50
}

Result: Companies that hired Ignite Visibility = companies that buy SEO services.

Why It Works: These companies:

• Understand SEO value
• Have allocated budget
• Are likely to switch or add vendors

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3. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Scenario: You're building an ABM campaign targeting e-commerce companies.

Strategy:

1. Run Agency Sniper on 5-10 e-commerce focused agencies
2. Aggregate the results
3. Enrich with decision-maker contacts
4. Launch targeted campaigns

Agencies to Target:

• Blue Acorn iCi (Shopify/BigCommerce)
• Groove Commerce
• Electric Eye
• Absolute Web

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4. Partnership & Channel Development

Scenario: You sell marketing technology and want to partner with agencies.

Use Agency Sniper to:

• See which agencies serve your target market
• Understand agency client quality
• Identify agencies worth partnering with

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5. Market Research & Sizing

Scenario: You're entering a new vertical and need to understand who the players are.

Strategy:

1. Identify top agencies in the vertical
2. Extract their client lists
3. Analyze industry distribution
4. Size the addressable market

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6. Due Diligence & Valuation

Scenario: You're acquiring a marketing agency and need to understand their client base.

Use Agency Sniper to:

• Verify claimed client lists
• Assess client quality and industries
• Identify concentration risk
• Compare to competitors

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⚙️ How It Works

Agency Sniper uses a 6-layer discovery engine to find agency clients:

Layer 1: Website Crawling

Automatically scans 12 common client-related URL patterns:

URL Pattern	Purpose
/clients	Direct client list page
/our-clients	Client showcase
/portfolio	Work portfolio with client names
/work	Project showcase
/our-work	Featured projects
/case-studies	Detailed client success stories
/case-study	Individual case studies
/success-stories	Client testimonials
/testimonials	Client quotes and logos
/customers	Customer list
/projects	Project portfolio
/results	Results/ROI pages

Technology: Uses Firecrawl for reliable, JavaScript-rendered web scraping.

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Layer 2: Google Search Discovery

Searches Google for agency mentions using 5 query patterns:

"Agency Name" clients
"Agency Name" "worked with"
"Agency Name" portfolio companies
"Agency Name" customer success
site:agencydomain.com clients OR portfolio OR "case study"

Why Google Search?:

• Finds press releases mentioning agency partnerships
• Discovers client testimonials on third-party sites
• Uncovers award announcements with client names
• Catches clients mentioned in blog posts and interviews

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Layer 3: Footer Attribution Scanning

Automatically scans Google for websites using the agency's footer attribution:

"Designed by Agency Name"
"Developed by Agency Name"
"Website by Agency Name"
"Marketing by Agency Name"
"SEO by Agency Name"
"Built by Agency Name"

Why Footer Attribution?:

• Web design agencies always put credit links in footers
• These are verified, active client websites
• Confidence score: 90-95% (explicit attribution)

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Layer 4: Social Media Scanning 🆕

Searches across 6 major video and social platforms for agency client mentions:

Platform	Search Strategy
YouTube	Client testimonials, case study videos, "working with Agency"
Vimeo	Professional portfolio videos, client spotlights
LinkedIn	Company posts, tagged mentions, partnership announcements
Facebook	Business page mentions, review posts
Instagram	Client feature posts, story highlights
Twitter/X	Client shoutouts, campaign announcements

Why Social Media?:

• Agencies love to show off client wins on social
• Video testimonials reveal active, happy clients
• Tagged posts indicate strong relationships
• Confidence score: 85-95% depending on mention type

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Layer 5: Google Reviews Mining 🆕

Searches Google Maps/Business reviews for agency client testimonials:

Query Pattern	Target
site:google.com/maps "Agency Name" review	Maps reviews mentioning agency
"Agency Name" review "my business"	Business owners leaving reviews
"Agency Name" review "our company"	Company representatives
site:trustpilot.com "Agency Name"	Trustpilot reviews
site:bbb.org "Agency Name"	BBB reviews
site:yelp.com "Agency Name"	Yelp reviews

Why Google Reviews?:

• Business owners often identify their company in reviews
• Positive reviews = active, satisfied clients
• BBB/Trustpilot reviews often include company names
• Confidence score: 75-90% (business owner identification)

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Layer 6: AI Extraction with Claude

Uses Claude AI (Anthropic) to intelligently extract company names:

What Claude Does:

• Identifies actual company names vs. generic terms
• Filters out service descriptions and buzzwords
• Assigns confidence scores (0-100)
• Extracts context about the relationship
• Guesses industry based on company name/context
• Infers website URLs when not explicitly listed

Why AI?:

• Pattern matching fails on unstructured content
• Client names appear in many formats
• Context matters for confidence scoring
• Industry classification requires understanding

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🚀 Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Get Your API Keys

You'll need two API keys:

1. Firecrawl API Key (for web crawling)

   • Sign up at firecrawl.dev
   • Get 500 free credits to start

2. Anthropic API Key (for AI extraction)

   • Sign up at console.anthropic.com
   • Add $5 credit to get started

Step 2: Run Your First Snipe

Via Apify Console:

1. Go to Agency Sniper on Apify
2. Enter agency name and domain
3. Paste your API keys
4. Click "Start"

Via API:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/jrippy~agency-sniper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "agencyName": "WebFX",
    "agencyDomain": "webfx.com",
    "maxClients": 25,
    "firecrawlApiKey": "your-firecrawl-key",
    "anthropicApiKey": "your-anthropic-key"
  }'

Step 3: Get Results

Results are saved to the dataset. Each client includes:

• Company name
• Website URL
• Discovery source
• Confidence score (0-100)
• Context/evidence
• Industry classification

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📥 Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
agencyName	string	Yes	-	Exact name of the marketing agency (as it appears on their website)
agencyDomain	string	Yes	-	Agency's website domain (e.g., webfx.com, not https://webfx.com)
maxClients	number	No	25	Maximum number of clients to discover (5-100)
searchGoogle	boolean	No	true	Enable Google search for agency mentions
crawlWebsite	boolean	No	true	Crawl agency website for client pages
firecrawlApiKey	string	Yes*	-	Your Firecrawl API key (required if crawlWebsite is true)
anthropicApiKey	string	Yes	-	Your Anthropic API key for Claude AI extraction
demoMode	boolean	No	false	Return sample data without making API calls

Input Examples

Minimal Input (uses defaults):

{
  "agencyName": "Ignite Visibility",
  "agencyDomain": "ignitevisibility.com",
  "firecrawlApiKey": "fc-xxx",
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-xxx"
}

Full Configuration:

{
  "agencyName": "Ignite Visibility",
  "agencyDomain": "ignitevisibility.com",
  "maxClients": 50,
  "searchGoogle": true,
  "crawlWebsite": true,
  "firecrawlApiKey": "fc-xxx",
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-xxx"
}

Website Only (faster, lower cost):

{
  "agencyName": "WebFX",
  "agencyDomain": "webfx.com",
  "searchGoogle": false,
  "crawlWebsite": true,
  "firecrawlApiKey": "fc-xxx",
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-xxx"
}

Demo Mode (test without API calls):

{
  "agencyName": "Test Agency",
  "agencyDomain": "testagency.com",
  "demoMode": true
}

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📤 Output Format

Individual Client Record

{
  "companyName": "Hilton Hotels",
  "website": "https://hilton.com",
  "source": "case-study",
  "confidence": 100,
  "context": "Full case study: 'How we increased Hilton's organic traffic by 340%'",
  "industry": "Hospitality"
}

Field Descriptions

Field	Type	Description
companyName	string	Company/brand name discovered
website	string	Company website URL (extracted or inferred)
source	enum	How the client was discovered
confidence	number	Confidence score 0-100
context	string	Evidence of the agency relationship
industry	string	Industry classification (AI-inferred)

Source Types

Source	Description	Typical Confidence
case-study	Dedicated case study page	95-100
website	Listed on client/portfolio page	80-95
footer-attribution	"Designed by Agency" in website footer	90-95
social-media	Found on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.	85-95
google-reviews	Business owner testimonial in reviews	75-90
google	Found via Google search	60-85

Confidence Score Guide

Score Range	Meaning	Action
90-100	Explicitly listed as client	High-priority lead
70-89	Strong evidence (logo, testimonial)	Qualified lead
50-69	Mentioned in context	Verify before outreach
Below 50	Weak/indirect mention	Research further

Summary Output

Also saved to key-value store as summary:

{
  "agencyName": "WebFX",
  "agencyDomain": "webfx.com",
  "totalClientsFound": 91,
  "sources": {
    "website": 2,
    "google": 13,
    "caseStudy": 0,
    "footerAttribution": 46,
    "socialMedia": 30,
    "googleReviews": 0
  },
  "avgConfidence": 82,
  "industries": ["E-commerce", "Healthcare", "SaaS", "Manufacturing", "Finance"]
}

Note: Source distribution varies by agency. Web design agencies tend to have more footer attributions, while full-service agencies have more case studies and social media mentions.

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💻 Code Examples

JavaScript/Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

// Run Agency Sniper
const run = await client.actor('jrippy/agency-sniper').call({
  agencyName: 'WebFX',
  agencyDomain: 'webfx.com',
  maxClients: 50,
  searchGoogle: true,
  crawlWebsite: true,
  firecrawlApiKey: process.env.FIRECRAWL_API_KEY,
  anthropicApiKey: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,
});

// Get results
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

// Filter high-confidence clients
const qualifiedLeads = items.filter(client => client.confidence >= 70);

console.log(`Found ${qualifiedLeads.length} qualified leads`);
qualifiedLeads.forEach(lead => {
  console.log(`${lead.companyName} (${lead.industry}) - ${lead.confidence}% confidence`);
});

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

# Run Agency Sniper
run_input = {
    "agencyName": "Ignite Visibility",
    "agencyDomain": "ignitevisibility.com",
    "maxClients": 50,
    "searchGoogle": True,
    "crawlWebsite": True,
    "firecrawlApiKey": "your-firecrawl-key",
    "anthropicApiKey": "your-anthropic-key",
}

run = client.actor("jrippy/agency-sniper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Get results
items = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

# Analyze by industry
from collections import Counter
industries = Counter(item.get("industry") for item in items if item.get("industry"))
print("Industry distribution:", industries.most_common(5))

cURL

# Start the run
RUN_ID=$(curl -s -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/jrippy~agency-sniper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "agencyName": "WebFX",
    "agencyDomain": "webfx.com",
    "maxClients": 25,
    "firecrawlApiKey": "'"$FIRECRAWL_KEY"'",
    "anthropicApiKey": "'"$ANTHROPIC_KEY"'"
  }' | jq -r '.data.id')

echo "Run started: $RUN_ID"

# Wait and get results
sleep 60
curl -s "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID/dataset/items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"

Make.com / Zapier

HTTP Request Configuration:

• URL: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/jrippy~agency-sniper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN
• Method: POST
• Headers: Content-Type: application/json
• Body:

{
  "agencyName": "{{agency_name}}",
  "agencyDomain": "{{agency_domain}}",
  "maxClients": 25,
  "firecrawlApiKey": "{{FIRECRAWL_API_KEY}}",
  "anthropicApiKey": "{{ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}}"
}

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🔗 Integration with God Mode Intel

Agency Sniper is designed to work seamlessly with God Mode Intel MCP V2 - the ultimate B2B intelligence suite.

The Complete Workflow

Agency Sniper          God Mode Intel
     │                      │
     ▼                      │
┌─────────────┐            │
│ Discover    │            │
│ Agency      │            │
│ Clients     │            │
└─────────────┘            │
     │                      │
     ▼                      ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│     enrich_company_contacts     │
│  Get decision-maker contacts    │
│  (CEO, VP Marketing, etc.)      │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
     │
     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│      score_and_prioritize       │
│   AI lead scoring by ICP fit    │
│   Hot / Warm / Cold ranking     │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
     │
     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│       generate_outreach         │
│  Hyper-personalized messaging   │
│  Multiple channels & variants   │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Example: Full Pipeline

// Step 1: Discover agency clients
const clients = await Actor.call('jrippy/agency-sniper', {
  agencyName: 'WebFX',
  agencyDomain: 'webfx.com',
  maxClients: 50,
  firecrawlApiKey: 'xxx',
  anthropicApiKey: 'xxx'
});

// Step 2: Enrich high-confidence clients with God Mode
for (const client of clients.filter(c => c.confidence >= 80)) {
  const enriched = await Actor.call('jrippy/god-mode-intel-mcp-v2', {
    tool: 'enrich_company_contacts',
    toolInput: {
      domain: client.website,
      titles: ['CEO', 'Owner', 'VP Marketing', 'CMO'],
      maxContacts: 3
    },
    apolloApiKey: 'xxx',
    firecrawlApiKey: 'xxx',
    anthropicApiKey: 'xxx'
  });

  // Step 3: Generate personalized outreach
  const outreach = await Actor.call('jrippy/god-mode-intel-mcp-v2', {
    tool: 'generate_outreach',
    toolInput: {
      lead: enriched,
      channel: 'email',
      context: `They currently work with ${agencyName}`,
      valueProposition: 'Your value prop here'
    }
  });
}

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💰 Pricing

Pay-Per-Event Model

Event	Price	Description
client_discovered	$0.025	Each unique client found

No client = no charge. You only pay for actual results.

Cost Examples

Agency Size	Typical Clients Found	Estimated Cost
Small agency	10-20 clients	$0.25 - $0.50
Mid-size agency	30-50 clients	$0.75 - $1.25
Large agency	75-100 clients	$1.88 - $2.50

Additional Costs

• Firecrawl: ~$0.01-0.02 per page crawled
• Anthropic Claude: ~$0.01-0.03 per extraction

Total cost per agency: Typically $0.50 - $3.00

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✅ Best Practices

1. Use Exact Agency Names

// Good
{ "agencyName": "WebFX" }

// Bad - may not match website content
{ "agencyName": "Web FX" }
{ "agencyName": "WEBFX" }

2. Start with Demo Mode

Test the output format before using API credits:

{ "demoMode": true }

3. Enable Both Sources

Website + Google gives the most comprehensive results:

{
  "searchGoogle": true,
  "crawlWebsite": true
}

4. Focus on High-Confidence Leads

Filter for confidence >= 70 for qualified outreach:

const qualified = clients.filter(c => c.confidence >= 70);

5. Batch Multiple Agencies

For market research, run Agency Sniper on multiple agencies:

const agencies = [
  { name: 'WebFX', domain: 'webfx.com' },
  { name: 'Ignite Visibility', domain: 'ignitevisibility.com' },
  { name: 'Thrive Internet Marketing', domain: 'thriveagency.com' }
];

for (const agency of agencies) {
  await Actor.call('jrippy/agency-sniper', {
    agencyName: agency.name,
    agencyDomain: agency.domain,
    ...commonConfig
  });
}

6. Deduplicate Across Agencies

Same clients may appear on multiple agency sites:

const allClients = [...agency1Results, ...agency2Results];
const unique = [...new Map(allClients.map(c =>
  [c.companyName.toLowerCase(), c]
)).values()];

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Q: How accurate is client discovery?

A: Accuracy varies by source:

• Case studies: 95-100% accurate
• Portfolio pages: 85-95% accurate
• Google search: 70-85% accurate

We recommend focusing on confidence scores >= 70 for outreach.

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Q: How long does a run take?

A: Typical run times with all 6 discovery layers enabled:

• Small agencies (25 clients): 8-12 minutes
• Medium agencies (50 clients): 12-15 minutes
• Large agencies (100 clients): 15-20 minutes

The 6-layer discovery engine runs multiple SERP searches across footer attribution, social media, and Google Reviews - this thoroughness takes time but finds 2-3x more clients than basic scraping.

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Q: Do you find ALL of an agency's clients?

A: No. We only find clients that are publicly mentioned. Many agencies don't disclose all clients due to:

• NDAs
• Client preference for privacy
• Outdated website content

Expect to find 20-50% of actual clients.

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Q: Can I use this for any type of agency?

A: Yes! Works for:

• Digital marketing agencies
• SEO agencies
• PPC/advertising agencies
• Web design agencies
• PR agencies
• Branding agencies
• Creative agencies

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Technical Questions

Q: Why do I need a Firecrawl key?

A: Firecrawl handles JavaScript-rendered content that simple HTTP requests can't capture. Many agency websites use React, Vue, or other frameworks that require JavaScript execution.

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Q: Why do I need an Anthropic key?

A: Claude AI is used to intelligently extract company names from unstructured text. Pattern matching alone would miss many clients and include false positives.

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Q: What if an agency has no client page?

A: Agency Sniper still works by:

1. Crawling the homepage for client logos
2. Searching Google for press releases and mentions
3. Finding case studies in blog posts

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Q: Can I run this on competitor agencies without them knowing?

A: Yes. Agency Sniper only reads publicly available information. There's no login or authentication - just web scraping of public pages.

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Billing Questions

Q: When am I charged?

A: Only when clients are discovered. If an agency's website has no client information and Google returns nothing, you pay $0.

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Q: Are there monthly fees?

A: No. Pay-per-event pricing only. Use it once or 1000 times - you only pay for what you discover.

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Q: Do demo mode runs cost money?

A: No. Demo mode returns sample data without making any API calls.

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🔧 Troubleshooting

"No clients found"

Possible causes:

1. Agency doesn't publicly list clients
2. Client pages are behind login
3. Domain is incorrect

Solutions:

• Try searchGoogle: true to find mentions elsewhere
• Verify the domain matches their actual website
• Check if the agency has a separate portfolio site

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"API key invalid"

For Firecrawl:

• Keys start with fc-
• Check for extra spaces
• Verify at firecrawl.dev/dashboard

For Anthropic:

• Keys start with sk-ant-
• Ensure you have credits in your account
• Verify at console.anthropic.com

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"Timeout errors"

Cause: Large agency websites take longer to crawl.

Solutions:

• Reduce maxClients to 25 or less
• Disable Google search for faster results
• Try again - some websites have intermittent issues

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"Low confidence scores"

Cause: Clients mentioned indirectly or in passing.

Solutions:

• Focus on confidence >= 70
• Enable both website crawling and Google search
• Some agencies simply don't provide clear client attribution

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🔑 API Keys Setup

Firecrawl API Key

1. Go to firecrawl.dev
2. Sign up for free account
3. Navigate to Dashboard → API Keys
4. Create new key
5. Copy key (starts with fc-)

Free tier: 500 credits included

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Anthropic API Key

1. Go to console.anthropic.com
2. Create account and add payment method
3. Navigate to API Keys
4. Create new key
5. Copy key (starts with sk-ant-)

Recommended: Start with $5 credit

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📞 Support

Resources

• Actor Arsenal: Full catalog of B2B intelligence actors
• God Mode Intel: Ultimate B2B intelligence suite
• Developer: John Rippy

Get Help

• Apify Console: Actor Issues & Discussion
• GitHub: Report issues for fastest response

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📄 License

MIT License - Free for commercial use.

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal

Agency Sniper - Stop cold prospecting. Start smart prospecting.