Our main advice when you consider starting a cooperation with an agent is to check his references. You should try to talk to clients but also with former clients of the agent. If both clients and former clients talk in a positive and respectful way about the agent you can be reassured that the agent has the right intentions and took well care of the interests of his clients.
A lot of agents tend to exaggerate and like to drop names of big clubs and players they have done deals with in the past. By doing so they hope to persuade you to work with them. It would be very useful if you could double-check this name-dropping. It will give you an immediate insight in the sincerity of the agent.
Another point of attention is the agent contract. We can only recommend you to be very careful when you sign a representation contract with an agent. A lot of agents have very aggressive “standard” contracts. One rule in this respect: do not just sign this because the agent says that all his other clients have signed it without any objection. You are the client so you decide how the cooperation should look like. The representation contract should be a reflection of how you (and not the agent) see the cooperation.
If you want to know more about working with agents, you can find more information in this article we have written: Cfr guidelines on working with agents
