The questions to ask before you hire a marketing agency
Including the three most agencies would rather you skipped, and our own answer to every one of them.
XponentXNaperville, IllinoisUpdated September 2026
Why we published this
We are a marketing agency. Handing you the questions that make agencies uncomfortable is an odd thing for us to do, so it is worth saying why.
Most of what goes wrong between a business and its agency was decided before anything was signed, in a conversation where the owner did not know what to ask. Ownership of the website. What happens when a target is missed. Who is actually doing the work. None of that is hard to ask about. It just rarely comes up while everyone is being agreeable.
So we have answered every one of them ourselves, on the record, including the ones where our answer is not the strongest in the market.
We are a young agency and we do not have a wall of client logos. You will see that in question 11. We would rather you read it here than find out on a call.
Use this on us. Use it on whoever else you are talking to.
How to use it
Mark each answer as you get it — straight, vague, or a red flag — and make a note while it is fresh. What you type stays in your own browser and is not sent anywhere, including to us.
At the end you get a count. There is no pass mark. A couple of vague answers on a Tuesday afternoon means nothing; three red flags in what you own means quite a lot. Print it and take it into the next meeting.
SECTION 1 OF 6
Who actually does the work
Agencies sell you a team and staff you with whoever is free. These three find out who is really on it.
1
Who is accountable for my account, and who else touches the work?
Why it matters
The person who sells you the work is rarely the person who does it, and a good deal of it usually happens somewhere you cannot see. Neither of those is a problem. Not being told is.
A straight answer
One owner you can reach directly, and an honest map of who else does what — in-house, partner, or freelance.
Walk away if
“You'll have a whole team behind you” and nothing after it. A team is a good thing. A team nobody will describe is a way of not answering.
Our answer
One person owns your account and is who you deal with day to day, and you meet them on the first call rather than after you sign. Delivery work — website builds, SEO, PPC, social and CRM setup — runs through Blam, a white-label partner we work with. We would rather tell you that up front than have you work it out from a filename.
Their answer was
2
What happens to my account when you sign a client three times my size?
Why it matters
Small accounts quietly get less attention as an agency grows. Ask before you are the small account.
A straight answer
An honest account of how they protect existing clients, and what their capacity actually is.
Walk away if
Surprise at the question, or a promise that it could never happen.
Our answer
It is a fair thing to worry about and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can tell you is that we would rather turn work away than quietly thin out what an existing client gets, and that you are entitled to ask us how many accounts we are carrying at any point in the engagement.
Their answer was
3
How many other clients does the person running my account look after? Agencies dislike this one
Why it matters
This is the single best predictor of how much thought your account gets, and almost nobody asks it.
A straight answer
A number. Any number, honestly given.
Walk away if
Deflection, or a number so high that the maths does not work.
Our answer
Very few. XponentX is young, and right now that is the honest advantage we have — your account is not competing with thirty others for attention. Ask us again in a year and hold us to the answer.
Their answer was
SECTION 2 OF 6
What you own
The questions that cost the most to get wrong, and the cheapest to ask.
4
If we part ways, do I keep the website?
Why it matters
Plenty of agencies build on a platform or a licence that ends when the relationship does. You can spend two years paying for a site you never owned.
A straight answer
Yes, with a description of what you actually receive and in what form.
Walk away if
“The site stays on our platform”, or any version of ownership that depends on you continuing to pay.
Our answer
Yes. We build in accounts you own, and if you leave, you leave with everything.
Their answer was
5
Whose name is on the domain registration?
Why it matters
The domain is the one asset that cannot be rebuilt. If it is registered to the agency, you are renting your own address.
A straight answer
Yours, in your account, with you holding the login.
Walk away if
The agency holding the registrar account “to make it easier”.
Our answer
Yours. We ask for access to accounts you own rather than move anything into our name.
Their answer was
6
Who owns the Google Business Profile, the ad accounts and the tracking data?
Why it matters
Ad account history and analytics data have real value. Starting again from zero sets you back months.
A straight answer
You own all three; the agency has access, not ownership.
Walk away if
Work run inside the agency's own ad account, which means the history is theirs.
Our answer
Yours, all three. Same principle: access, not ownership. It also means the handover on the way out is mostly a matter of removing us.
Their answer was
SECTION 3 OF 6
What they are promising
The gap between what is promised and what is deliverable is where most of the bad experiences live.
7
What exactly are you promising, and what happens if it does not happen?
Why it matters
A target with a consequence is a commitment. A target without one is a hope with a price tag.
A straight answer
A specific target, the reasoning behind it, and what they will do if it is missed.
Walk away if
A guaranteed number of leads, or a guaranteed ranking position. Nobody controls either.
Our answer
We do not promise rankings or a number of leads, because neither is ours to control. We tell you what we think is achievable and why we think it. If we miss it, you get that in the report in the same month, with what we are changing and why — not at the end of the quarter when it is too late to act on.
Their answer was
8
That number you just quoted me — can you show me where it came from?
Why it matters
Marketing runs on statistics that get repeated until nobody remembers the source. Some of them were never true.
A straight answer
A link, a publisher, and a year. Or an honest “I'd have to check.”
Walk away if
Irritation at being asked.
Our answer
Ask us any time. If we quote you a figure and cannot produce the source, we should not have said it.
Their answer was
9
What will you not promise me?
Why it matters
A good answer here tells you more than any pitch. It shows where they think the limits are.
A straight answer
Real limits, described without hedging.
Walk away if
“Nothing — we can do it all.”
Our answer
Rankings on a date. Lead volume. Anything on a competitor's behalf. And anything that depends on your pricing or your capacity, because no agency can move those and the ones who imply otherwise are selling you something.
Their answer was
10
What would you fix first, and why that first?
Why it matters
The order tells you whether they are diagnosing or selling the thing they most like to sell.
A straight answer
A reason tied to your business, and usually an unglamorous starting point.
Walk away if
The answer is always the same service they lead with, whoever is asking.
Our answer
Usually the leak before the tap. Response time and the page closest to a decision come before ranking work, because ranking work brings more people to a page that is still losing them.
Their answer was
SECTION 4 OF 6
Proof
Every agency will tell you they get results. These three ask them to show it.
11
Who else do you work with, and can I speak to one of them? Agencies dislike this one
Why it matters
The reference call is the only part of the process the agency does not control. Ask for it.
A straight answer
Names, and a client willing to take your call.
Walk away if
Logos with no names behind them, or a reference who turns out to be a friend of the founder.
Our answer
Honestly: you would be among our first. XponentX is new and we do not have a client list to point at. We would rather say that plainly than dress up a logo wall, and if being early is going to be worth it for you, that is a conversation we should have openly rather than one we should paper over.
Their answer was
12
Show me work you have done for a business roughly like mine.
Why it matters
Results in an unrelated industry tell you very little about yours.
A straight answer
Specific work, with the context and the constraints included.
Walk away if
A portfolio of screenshots with no explanation of what was actually done.
Our answer
We can show you work built by our delivery partner, and we will tell you which parts are theirs rather than letting you assume it is ours. Where we have nothing close to your situation, we will say so.
Their answer was
13
Tell me about an engagement that went badly. What happened and what did you do? Agencies dislike this one
Why it matters
Everyone has one eventually. Whether they will describe it tells you what the hard conversations will be like later.
A straight answer
A real account, with their own part in it included.
Walk away if
“We've never had an unhappy client.” Said by anyone who has been trading a while, this is the least believable sentence in the industry.
Our answer
We are too new to have one worth telling you about, and we are not going to borrow someone else's story to fill the gap. Ask us again when we have been at this longer, and hold us to giving you a real answer rather than this one.
Their answer was
SECTION 5 OF 6
Money
Not just the price — the shape of it.
14
What is inside the monthly fee, and what gets billed on top of it?
Why it matters
The second half of that question is where the surprises live.
A straight answer
A written list of what is included, and a named list of what is not.
Walk away if
“Everything's included” with no list attached.
Our answer
Our pricing page has the packages. What matters more is that the specific inclusions for your engagement go in writing before you sign anything, itemised, including what is not in there. If something in that list is unclear, that is our fault and worth saying so.
Their answer was
15
Is advertising spend separate from your fee, and who does it get paid to?
Why it matters
If your fee and your ad budget are one number, you cannot tell what you are paying for the work.
A straight answer
Separate, with the media paid from your own account.
Walk away if
A single blended number, or ad spend routed through the agency's account.
Our answer
Separate, and paid from your own account to the platform. That is partly principle and partly practical: it keeps the ad history yours, and it means you can see exactly what the media cost and exactly what the work cost.
Their answer was
16
How long is the first term, and why that long?
Why it matters
Short terms sound safer and often are not, because the work gets set up to show something fast rather than to work.
A straight answer
A term with a reason attached.
Walk away if
A long lock-in with no explanation — or a month-by-month deal alongside a promise of results inside that month. Ask which number they intend to show you.
Our answer
Ninety days. Thirty days is long enough to fix what is broken and not long enough to prove much.
Their answer was
SECTION 6 OF 6
How you will know it is working
Reporting is where a relationship quietly goes wrong. Set the terms at the start.
17
What will you report, how often, and what is the baseline?
Why it matters
Without a baseline agreed at the start, every later number is an assertion.
A straight answer
A named set of measures, a cadence, and a baseline captured before anything changes.
Walk away if
A dashboard with no baseline, or reporting that only starts once the numbers look good.
Our answer
Monthly, and the first month is a baseline rather than a result. One month is not long enough for local ranking work to show its hand, and anyone presenting month-one figures as proof of something is telling you a story.
Their answer was
18
Which of the numbers you will show me can I check myself, without you?
Why it matters
Anything that only exists inside the agency's dashboard is unverifiable by design.
A straight answer
Several: your Google Business Profile insights, your call log, your own inbox, your booking system.
Walk away if
Every headline number lives in a tool only they can log into.
Our answer
Most of them should be. Your Google Business Profile, your phone log and your inbox are yours and they do not need us. If a number only exists in our dashboard, ask why.
Their answer was
Where you landed
0
answered straight
0
vague
0
red flags
18
not asked yet
Mark an answer above and this will fill in.
If you want a second opinion on your own setup
Several of these questions are easier to ask once you know what is actually wrong. That is what the Digital Health Check is for. We go through your website, your Google Business Profile, your reviews and how quickly enquiries get answered, and we tell you which one is the leak rather than handing you a list of everything that could theoretically be better.
You keep the findings whether or not you work with us. Plenty of businesses take the report and fix things themselves, and that is a perfectly good outcome.
This guide describes how we work and what we will and will not commit to. It does not describe results, because we do not think results from someone else's business tell you much about yours. Nothing here is a guarantee of any outcome.
