Most agency sales calls follow the same shape, and the questions that would actually tell you something rarely get asked. Here are eight worth having ready.
1. Who will own the ad account?
The correct answer is that you do. Your business account, your billing, agency granted access as a partner.
If the agency runs your campaigns inside their own account, then when the relationship ends you lose the account history — the conversion data, the audience learning, the optimisation the platform has accumulated. Starting over in a fresh account is a genuine setback and some agencies rely on that as a retention mechanism.
2. What was your last client's cost per hire, or cost per customer?
Not cost per lead. The number that matters to the business.
An agency that tracks outcomes will have an answer. One that only reports platform metrics will change the subject, and that tells you what they measure.
3. What do you need from us to succeed?
Any honest answer includes something. Fast follow-up on leads, access to outcome data, someone available to approve creative, photographs of the actual business.
An agency claiming to need nothing from you is either inexperienced or planning to run on autopilot.
4. What would make you tell us not to do this?
A budget below the platform's practical floor. A conversion path that is broken before the ads start. A market where the channel does not reach the buyer.
Agencies that will take any budget for any goal are managing their own revenue, not your outcome.
5. Who actually does the work?
At larger agencies the person on the sales call is frequently not the person who touches the account. Ask who does, what else they are working on, and whether you will ever speak to them.
6. What happens in month one?
A clear answer describes setup, tracking, baseline measurement and initial tests. A vague answer about strategy and alignment suggests the first month is mostly billing.
7. What is the notice period, and what do we keep?
Long lock-ins in small-business marketing usually protect the agency from the consequences of poor performance. Thirty days is reasonable.
And be explicit about what you retain: ad account, website files, domain, analytics, content. Get it in the agreement rather than discovering the answer during a departure.
8. Can I speak to a client who left?
Almost nobody asks this and the reaction is informative on its own. Every agency loses clients. An agency confident in how it handled those departures can arrange a conversation.
What good looks like from the other side
The agencies worth hiring ask you difficult questions too — about margins, capacity, close rates and what happens to a lead after it arrives. An agency that only asks about budget is planning to spend it, not to grow anything.