- →Judge an agency by its answers to hard questions, not by its pitch.
- →You should keep everything if you leave: website, ad accounts, CRM and data, on tools you own. Anything else is lock-in.
- →Watch the incentives. Percentage-of-ad-spend pricing and guaranteed-lead promises usually work against you.
- →Insist on a clear lead definition tracked to booked work, and honest, plain-language reporting.
- →The best tell: a partner who will talk you out of spending you do not need.
Most agency sales calls are built to impress you, not inform you. These ten questions flip that. The answers, not the pitch, tell you who is worth hiring. Ask them before you sign anything.
1If we stop working together, what do I keep?
The right answer is everything: your website, ad accounts, CRM, and data, on tools you own. If leaving means losing your own information or starting over, that is lock-in, and lock-in is how agencies keep clients who want to leave.
2What counts as a lead?
A form fill from the wrong town is not a lead. A price shopper is not a lead. Get a specific definition, and make sure they track leads through to booked work, not just to the inbox. Volume is easy to fake; quality is the only number that pays your bills.
3Will I work with you, or get handed to an account manager?
Find out who actually does the work and whether you will ever speak to them. A layer of account managers between you and the people executing is where quality and accountability go to die.
4How do you charge: percent of ad spend, per lead, or flat?
Charging a percentage of your ad spend rewards the agency for making you spend more, which is a conflict of interest baked into the contract. Flat scope keeps their incentives pointed at efficiency, not your budget.
5Are you going to lock me into a long contract?
A contract that traps you is a sign the results are not doing the retaining. The best partners earn the next month. Be cautious of anyone who needs twelve months of commitment before they have shown you anything.
6Do you guarantee a certain number of leads?
Be careful here. Guaranteed-lead offers usually mean loose lead definitions and cheap traffic that does not close. Honest partners commit to the right work in the right order, not to a number they cannot actually control.
7Do you have real experience in my industry?
A manufacturer and a home service business are different worlds. Ask for specifics, not a logo wall. Someone who has run marketing inside your kind of business decodes your market faster and wastes less of your money learning it.
8How long until I see results, honestly?
Good answers are specific and vary by lever: follow-up and messaging fixes can move numbers in weeks, local search in 60 to 120 days, long manufacturing sales cycles in a few quarters. Anyone promising instant results is selling, not planning.
9How do you report, and can I read it without a translator?
Ask to see a real report. If it is a dashboard you will never open or a wall of metrics with no plain-language read on what moved and what is next, you will be managing them instead of the other way around.
10What would you tell me not to spend money on?
This is the tell. A partner who will talk you out of work you do not need, including their own services, is thinking about your results. One who says yes to everything is thinking about their invoice.
| Good sign | Walk away |
|---|---|
| ✓ You keep your site, ads, CRM and data | ✗ You lose your data or must start over |
| ✓ A specific lead definition tracked to booked work | ✗ Any form fill counts as a lead |
| ✓ Flat scope pricing | ✗ A percentage of your ad spend |
| ✓ Earns the next month | ✗ Locks you in for a year up front |
| ✓ Talks you out of spend you do not need | ✗ Says yes to everything |
The pattern
Notice that none of these are about the pitch. They are about incentives, ownership, and honesty, because that is what actually determines whether the relationship works. If you want a partner who answers all ten the way you would hope, that is how we built Creativity Scientist. Start with the audit and see for yourself.