A client asks a simple question on a call: “Is it your team who actually builds this?” You hesitate for half a second. You do outsource some of the development, and you have never quite decided what you say about it. That half-second is the problem this post is about.
Using outside help is normal in agency work. Design studios hand builds to developers, marketing firms bring in specialists, and large agencies subcontract all the time. What damages trust is not the outsourcing. It is a client discovering it in a way that makes them feel misled. With a clear, honest position decided in advance, the question becomes easy to answer.
White label is about branding, not deception
It helps to separate two things that often get blurred.
- White-label delivery means the partner works under your agency’s name. Their logo is not on reports, they do not email your client, and the client deals only with you. That is a commercial arrangement about who manages the relationship, and it is common.
- Misrepresentation means telling a client something untrue, such as claiming that every line of code is written by staff in your office when it is not.
You can do the first without the second. Your client is buying your judgement, your process and your accountability. Who types the code is part of how you deliver that, and you can describe it truthfully without handing over a list of suppliers.
What clients actually care about
When a client asks about who does the work, the question underneath is usually one of these:
- “Will the quality be what I am paying for?”
- “Who is responsible if something goes wrong?”
- “Is my data and my site access safe?”
- “Will I still get you, the person I hired?”
Answer those and most clients lose interest in the org chart. The answers should be true whether or not you outsource: you review the work, you are accountable for it, access is controlled, and you remain their contact.
Decide your position before anyone asks
Write down, as an agency, what you are comfortable saying. A short internal policy saves every account manager from improvising. It might cover:
- That you work with a trusted development partner (or partners) for some technical work.
- That you do not name partners by default, because of confidentiality on both sides.
- That all work is reviewed by your team before delivery.
- That your agency is accountable for the result under your contract with the client.
- That partners are under a confidentiality agreement and only get the access a job needs.
- When you will name a partner: for example, if a client’s contract or industry requires it.
Make sure the last four points are actually true before you say them. If you do not yet have a written agreement with your partner, our post on what an outsourcing NDA and agreement should cover is a good place to start.
Sample wording you can adapt
These are starting points, not scripts. Change them to sound like you.
When a client asks directly
“We have our own team for strategy, design and project management, and we work with a development partner we trust for some of the build and technical work. Everything goes through our review before it reaches you, and we are responsible for it under our agreement with you. You keep dealing with us as usual.”
In a proposal or statement of work
“Some technical work on this project may be carried out by specialist partners working under confidentiality agreements with us. [Agency name] remains responsible for all deliverables and is your single point of contact.”
When a client asks who has access to their site
“Access is limited to the people working on your site, including our technical partner where they are doing the work. Each person has their own login with only the permissions they need, and we remove access when it is no longer required. We can give you a list of active accounts whenever you want one.”
When a client wants to know where the work is done
“Part of our technical team is based overseas, which means some work happens while we are offline here. We plan around that so it is reviewed during our working day before it goes live.”
Note what these do not say. They do not claim the partner is an employee. They do not pretend the work is done down the hall. They also do not volunteer more than the client asked.
When you should say more
There are situations where general wording is not enough, and you should be specific:
- The client’s contract requires it. Some contracts ask suppliers to name subcontractors or get approval before using them. Read yours.
- The client handles sensitive data. Health, financial or children’s information can come with rules about who may access it and where. Our post on client data and privacy when working with a remote partner explains the questions in general terms.
- The work involves data leaving the country. If customer data will be accessed from abroad, some clients will need to know for their own compliance. This is general information, not legal advice; check what applies.
- The client asks a precise question. “Is anyone outside your company accessing our database?” deserves a precise answer.
In those cases, be straightforward. Clients who hear the truth early rarely leave over it. Clients who find out later often do.
Keep your branding consistent
Honest wording is undermined if the work itself tells a different story. Check the details that might surprise a client:
- Reports and summaries go out under your name. If your partner produces them, they should be unbranded and editable. Our page on unbranded reports you send as your own covers how that works.
- Site footers, theme metadata and plugin authors do not name the partner unless you agreed they could.
- Notification emails from security or backup plugins go to your address or the client’s, not to the partner’s.
- Usernames on the site make sense. A user called “outsource-dev” in the client’s admin list invites a conversation you did not plan.
None of this is about hiding. It is about the client receiving a coherent service from the company they chose.
What not to say
- “Everything is done in-house.” If it is not, do not say it.
- “The developer on your project is one of our employees.” If that person works for a partner, they are not.
- “We never use outside help.” Even if true today, it limits you tomorrow.
- Anything that turns a partner’s name into a selling point you cannot back up, such as implying a certification or office you do not have.
The test is simple: would you be comfortable if the client later saw the full picture and reread what you told them? If yes, the wording is fine.
Handle the “can I talk to the developer?” request
Sometimes a client wants to speak to the person building their site, often because a technical question keeps getting lost in translation. You have options:
- Bring the technical answer back in writing, in plain language, the same day you get it.
- Join a call with the developer present, with you leading, if your partner agrees to that.
- Ask the client to write their question down so it can be answered exactly.
Usually the client does not need the developer. They need an answer they can understand. Our post on turning technical problems into plain language helps with that.
If a client finds out on their own
Sometimes a client learns about a partner before you have said anything: a name in a commit message, an unfamiliar user account, an email that was copied to the wrong address. How you respond matters more than the slip itself.
Do not deny it or minimise it. Acknowledge the arrangement plainly, explain how the work is reviewed and who is accountable, and fix whatever caused the confusion. A short reply works better than a long justification:
“You’re right, that account belongs to our development partner, who works on some of the technical tasks for your site under a confidentiality agreement with us. We review everything they do and remain responsible for it. I’ve tidied up the account name so it is clearer in future, and I’m happy to walk you through who has access.”
Then look at why it happened and close the gap, whether that is a naming convention, a notification address or a step in your handoff.
Train the whole team
The policy only works if everyone who talks to clients knows it. Add it to onboarding for account managers and project leads. Role-play the awkward question once. Keep the sample wording in a shared document. Inconsistency between two people on your team will raise more doubt than any honest answer.
A quick checklist
- Internal position written down and true
- Agreements with partners in place before you mention them
- Sample answers for direct questions, proposals, access and location
- Contracts checked for subcontractor clauses
- Sensitive-data clients handled with specific disclosure
- Reports, notifications, usernames and metadata consistent with your brand
- Everyone client-facing trained on the same wording
For a broader view of setting up outsourced work, see our outsourcing overview for agencies and freelancers.
When we work for an agency, we stay out of client conversations and leave our name off everything the client sees, which makes whichever position you choose easy to keep. The page on our development work for agencies explains the arrangement.
Next in this series: How Agencies Build a Maintenance Offer for Clients
