How to find YOUR agent

Often I get asked, if I know a good agent. Yea, I do know a few good agents, and there are plenty of good agents out there. The question is if they are the right one for you! Therefore, I decided to show you how to find a new agent and what aspects to consider while choosing your agent.
Most college players get contacted by agents right at the end of their senior year. Usually those agents contact your coach, who forwards everything than to you. This is one way to find an agent, another one is to go to www.fiba.com. This is the official FIBA-website, and if you look under the top menu under “experts”, you will find the “FIBA Agents’ corner”. Once you open it, you need to select “FIBA certified agents” on the menu on the left, which brings you to a page, where you can search for an Agent. You can either select the agent directly (in case one contacted you and you want to find out more about their agency), or search by country.
The results will show you the agent, the FIBA license number, the country he represents, the agency, contact information, and current players signed by his agency. Now it is on you to carefully consider, who might become your next agent. Following I provide a list with things that are important or can be, which will help you make a choice.

-       The gender of the players represented by the agency

If the agent only has female players, you don’t need to waste your or their time and contact them, if you are a male player and same vice versa. There are a lot more male agents than female agents, therefore it is easy for women because you can already eliminate a lot of agents right at the start.

-       The kind of sports represented by the agency

There are agencies with different agents that represent Basketball, Volleyball and Football at the same time. Do you care about being in a strictly Basketball oriented Agency?

-       The level of the players represented by the agency

Maybe if all players on the list are NBA players or WNBA players, while you have been playing in D4 or D5 in Europe, you ought to consider another agent, because chances of no response are high. The same goes the other way around, if you are a high level player, you don’t want to sign with an agent that has only low league players because they might not have the connections you need.

-       The number of players represented by the agency

First off, do you care how many players your agent represents? A too low number of players isn’t a good sign, but a real high number either. You want to make sure that your agent has time for you, and will try their best to find the best team for you. Take a look how many agents are working for the agency as well, because the more agents work for the agency, the more players can be presented. Also, find out, if you will have one agent to talk to all of the time or if you will be talking to whoever has time at the particular moment. More agents could mean more connections, but could also mean more confusion, if not one particular one is responsible for you at all times.

-       How long does the agency exist?

Don’t fall for somebody, who is promising you to get a contract in the NBA, but it is their first year working as an agent! Sure there are promising new agents out there, and everybody deserves a chance, but you don’t need empty promises!

-       The nationality of your agent

It is probably easier to sign with an European agent. First off, they are in a European country that means, if you have any trouble, they can come visit you. Also, they have probably very good connections to their home country. Furthermore, phone calls will be a lot cheaper. However, make sure you do speak the same language as your agent! To find this out, also talk to them over the phone, because sometimes they might be good in writing, but not in talking and you want to make sure that your agent understands you and you understand your agent!

-       The website of the agency

Take a look at the website, and see if you like it. Is it easy to find all the necessary information on there? If it is confusing to you, then it might also be confusing to managements of other clubs.

-       What countries does the agency work with?

Usually it should be written on the website, in what country the agency is working, but also take a look at the signed players, and where they are signed. If you have the goal of playing in Spain, and sign with an agency that represents only in France and the UK, you are most likely not to be able to reach your goal.

-       The number of signed players

The number of signed players of an agency is a pretty helpful detail. The more players are signed, the better. However, consider the time of the year, which you are looking at the website because during the summer not too many players will be signed.

-       Relationship between you and your agent

How does the agent act towards you? Are they willing to call you (even out of country)? Do they respond quickly to your emails/calls? Of course, agents are busy, especially during the summer. They will be traveling and have other players besides you, but if they are really interested in signing you, he will work things out or at least let you know what time he might not be reachable.

-       The length of the contract

Most agents offer two-year-contracts to their players. However, if you are skeptical, and would prefer a one-year-contract for the first time, there shouldn’t be any issue. Also, if you aren’t happy with your agent or they haven’t got you a deal and you want to cut the contract, a good agent will always let you go, instead of trying to hold you back.

-       The agents salary

The normal salary of an agent is 10% and will be paid by the team, not by you. If any agent is trying to tell you that you have to pay them or that he gets 20%, that’s a red flag and you should look for another agent!

-       Try-outs and Camps

Some agents offer open camps, which you can attend. In some cases, i.e. if you haven’t played for a long time or you don’t have any good stats from the previous season; it might be a good idea. However, if you are in the business already for a while, a good agent will tell you not to go to any tryouts or camps, which you will have to pay for. Especially tryouts and camps in a different country or continent, when you have to cover the flight and hotel expenses plus fees for the camp are non exactable!
Team organized personal try-outs are a different story. If a team is interested in you, but wants to test you first, either fly you in over the summer (rather European players since flights are cheaper) or fly you in earlier with a certain time of tryout period, this is completely understandable. However, in those cases the teams cover your flight, your hotel, your food, and any other expenses that might come along with the tryout. If you have a certain time a tryout period when you arrive (usually two weeks), then you can even get paid for that time.
However, good agents will get you on a team without attending any tryouts or camps, just with good stats and tapes.

After you considered all those things about the agents on the FIBA website, the list of agents should be way smaller and leave you just a few to contact. I would suggest you to write them an email, describing your situation, your goals, and attach your player profile with your career information, and possible video links. I tell you right now, some of them will never answer you, not even if they aren’t interested because I know from some agents that they receive every day about 15 of those emails from players, who are looking for a new agent, especially from Americans. Therefore, be professional, keep it short, add all the important information and then just wait for the responses and take it from there.

I hope this helped a lot of you out, if anything should be added or if you have any questions, feel free to post it on here. Thanks for reading and good luck with finding YOUR agent =)