Green flags worth paying attention to
A good agency asks hard questions before recommending anything - about your margins, your sales cycle, your past marketing attempts and why they did or didn't work. If they can propose a strategy without knowing any of that, the strategy isn't built for your business, it's a template.
They also talk in numbers you'd actually report to your own board: cost per qualified lead, conversion rate, revenue attributed - not just reach, impressions, and engagement. And they're upfront about what a channel typically can't do, not just what it can.
Concrete green flags to look for:
- They ask about your unit economics before pitching a monthly retainer
- They can name a client at a similar stage and explain what specifically worked
- They set realistic timelines, including telling you when NOT to expect results yet
- You'll know exactly who executes the work day to day, not just who sold you the contract
Red flags that should make you pause
Guaranteed results on any channel involving an ad auction (Meta, Google) is close to always a red flag - no agency controls the auction, your competitors' bids, or platform algorithm changes. What a serious agency can guarantee is process, transparency, and effort, not a specific number they don't fully control.
Watch for reports built entirely around vanity metrics - reach, impressions, follower growth - with no mention of leads, cost per lead, or revenue. Those numbers are easy to inflate and don't tell you whether the spend is actually working for your business.
Concrete red flags:
- Guaranteed lead numbers or guaranteed rankings
- A generic proposal that looks like it could be sent to any business in any industry
- Reports that only show reach and impressions, never cost per lead or revenue
- No clear answer on who specifically will be working on your account
How to actually evaluate a proposal before signing
Ask for one real example of a client at your stage where a strategy didn't work as expected, and what they changed. Any agency worth working with has that story, and being honest about it tells you more than a highlight reel of wins ever will.
Also ask what happens in month one specifically - not the six-month roadmap, the first 30 days. Vague answers here usually mean the agency doesn't have a real onboarding process, just a sales process.