PM Consulting Inc. is a North Bay, Ontario marketing firm for home service contractors, and it wrote this list for contractors who are about to sit through an agency sales call. Most of those calls are built to sell. These questions turn the call into an interview, so the contractor leaves with facts instead of a feeling.
Every question has three parts: why it matters to a home service business, what a good answer sounds like, and the red flag answer. Ask them in order, take notes, and ask for the important answers in writing afterward. Contractors who are still deciding whether an agency is safe to talk to at all should start with the companion post, Red Flags When Hiring a Contractor Marketing Agency, then come back here for the interview.
How to Use These Questions on a Sales Call
Most agency sales calls run 30 to 45 minutes. Fifteen questions will not fit in one of them, so split the list across two calls. Ask the results and contract questions first, because those answers decide whether a second call is worth anyone's time. Save the process and communication questions for the second call, ideally with the person who will actually run the account.
| Question group | What it protects | First call vs second call |
|---|---|---|
| Results and reporting | Knowing which marketing dollars turn into booked jobs | First call |
| Contracts and pricing | Cash flow, and the right to leave with everything | First call |
| Execution and process | The owner's time, and the quality of the work | Second call |
| Communication | How fast problems get found and fixed | Second call |
Results and Reporting Questions to Ask (1 to 4)
"What do you count as a lead in your monthly report?"
Why it matters: Agencies define a lead in very different ways. Some count every tap on the phone button, every spam form, and every eight-second call. A contractor who does not know the definition cannot compare two agencies, or even two months from the same agency.
Good answer: A lead is a real person asking about a job the contractor does, in an area the contractor serves, with spam and wrong numbers removed. The agency explains how it filters them and shows every name in the CRM.
Red flag answer: "Anyone who contacts you." Or a lead count with no way to see the people behind it.
"How will I know which booked jobs came from which channel?"
Why it matters: A contractor paying for Google Ads, a Google Business Profile, and a website needs to know which one produces signed work, so the budget moves toward what pays. Without that link, the money follows whichever dashboard looks busiest.
Good answer: Each channel gets its own tracked phone number and tagged form, every lead lands in one pipeline, and jobs are marked as booked or won so revenue traces back to its source. PM Consulting sets this up in a GoHighLevel sub-account registered to the contractor.
Red flag answer: "Google Analytics will show you." Analytics shows visits. It does not show which visit became a signed job.
"What should I expect to see in the first 90 days?"
Why it matters: The first three months are where expectations drift. Organic search takes months to move, while missed-call recovery and paid ads can show activity in weeks. A contractor who knows the timeline does not panic in month one or overpay in month two.
Good answer: A plain timeline: what is live by week two, which numbers should appear by day 30, and which channels need 90 days or longer before anyone judges them.
Red flag answer: "You will see results right away" for every channel, or "SEO takes time" with no milestones attached.
"What number would tell you this is not working, and what would you do then?"
Why it matters: Every campaign has a point where it should change or stop. An agency that defines that point before launch is managing the account. One that has not is waiting to see what happens with the contractor's money.
Good answer: A specific trigger, such as cost per booked job above an agreed limit for two months in a row, plus a named response: change the offer, change the targeting, or move the budget.
Red flag answer: "We optimize constantly." It sounds busy and commits to nothing.
Contract and Pricing Questions to Ask (5 to 8)
"What does the setup fee pay for, and what does the monthly fee pay for?"
Why it matters: Setup and monthly fees often blur together, and contractors end up paying every month for work that was finished in month one.
Good answer: Two separate lists. Setup covers the build (website, CRM, tracking, automations) with a delivery window. Monthly covers ongoing work and software. PM Consulting publishes its windows: 14 to 21 days for a Smart Website Starter, 21 to 30 days for Lead Capture Pro, and 30 to 45 days for the full Lead Flow Engine.
Red flag answer: One bundled number described as "everything included," with no list.
"Is any part of your fee a percentage of my ad spend?"
Why it matters: When the fee rises with the ad budget, the agency earns more by spending more of the contractor's money, whether or not more jobs get booked. That is a conflict of interest even when nobody intends harm.
Good answer: A flat management fee, with ad spend billed straight to the contractor's own card inside an ad account the contractor owns.
Red flag answer: "We handle the billing for you" through an agency-owned ad account, or a percentage fee with no ceiling.
"What is in the handover package if I leave?"
Why it matters: The exit says more about an agency than the onboarding. A clean exit means the contractor keeps the website, the customer list, the reviews, and the phone numbers customers already have saved.
Good answer: A written list covering the domain, website files or hosting login, a CRM export with every contact and conversation, the ad accounts, the tracked numbers, and analytics access. PM Consulting works on a 30-day exit.
Red flag answer: "Nobody ever leaves us," or a handover that depends on a fee that is not written into the contract.
"What will this cost me in total over the first 12 months?"
Why it matters: Monthly quotes hide the full cost. Setup, software, ad spend, call tracking, and add-ons arrive on different invoices. A contractor needs the full-year figure to weigh it against revenue.
Good answer: A one-page estimate showing setup, twelve months of fees, software billed at cost, and a recommended ad budget, each on its own line.
Red flag answer: "It depends," with no range at all, or a total that leaves out software and ad spend.
Execution and Process Questions to Ask (9 to 12)
"What do you need from me each week, and how long will it take?"
Why it matters: Contractors hire an agency to get time back. An agency that needs two hours a week of the owner's evenings for approvals, photos, and calls has moved the work, not removed it.
Good answer: A short, specific list with a time attached, for example: approve content once a month in one batch, send job photos from the phone, and take one 30-minute call.
Red flag answer: "We just need you to be responsive." Or "nothing at all," which usually means the content will be generic.
"What happens in the first 30 days, in order?"
Why it matters: A real plan has a sequence. Tracking comes before ads. The system that answers leads comes before more traffic. An agency that cannot list the order has not done this many times.
Good answer: A week-by-week outline that starts with access and tracking, moves to lead handling, and only then turns on traffic.
Red flag answer: A plan that opens with "launch the ads" before anything is in place to catch and answer the calls.
"How will you write about my trade when you have never done the work?"
Why it matters: Homeowners and search engines both look for proof that a contractor did the job: real photos, real project details, real prices. A generic article on the benefits of a new furnace convinces neither.
Good answer: The agency interviews the owner, collects job photos and notes, and builds content from real projects. PM Consulting builds service pages from the contractor's own photos, prices, and project details.
Red flag answer: "Our writers research the industry." That content will read like every competitor's.
"What happens to a lead that comes in at 9pm on a Saturday?"
Why it matters: Home service leads arrive at night and on weekends, when the owner is off the tools. The contractor who replies first usually wins the job. Traffic that lands in a voicemail box nobody checks until Monday is wasted spend.
Good answer: Missed calls get an automatic text-back, web forms get an instant reply, and the lead sits in the CRM with a follow-up task ready for Monday morning. PM Consulting covers this with the AI Receptionist and Conversational AI pillars.
Red flag answer: "That part is up to you." The agency's job ends at the click.
Communication Questions to Ask (13 to 15)
"Who is my day-to-day contact, and how fast do they reply?"
Why it matters: The person who sells the account is often not the person who runs it. When a form breaks, a contractor needs a name and a phone number, not a ticket queue.
Good answer: A named person, introduced before signing, with a stated reply time such as one business day.
Red flag answer: "An account manager will be assigned after onboarding."
"How often do we meet, and what decision comes out of each meeting?"
Why it matters: Meetings that only walk through charts cost the owner time and change nothing. A useful meeting ends with a decision to keep, change, or stop something.
Good answer: A set rhythm, such as a monthly review, with a short agenda that ends in a decision and a written next step.
Red flag answer: Weekly calls with no agenda, or no meetings at all unless the contractor asks.
"How will you tell me when something is not working?"
Why it matters: Problems show up first in the agency's data: a form stops sending, a tracking number fails, ad costs jump. The contractor should hear about it from the agency before noticing a quiet phone.
Good answer: The agency names the alerts it watches and commits to reporting problems the same week, with the fix.
Red flag answer: "Everything is in your dashboard." That makes the contractor responsible for spotting the agency's problems.
How to Score the Answers Before You Decide
After each call, score every answer: 2 points for a clear, specific answer, 1 point for a vague one, and 0 for a dodge or a red flag answer. Fifteen questions give a maximum of 30 points. Weigh the results and contract groups most heavily, because a weak answer there costs money every month. Run the same scorecard on every agency on the shortlist, PM Consulting included.
The How to Choose a Contractor Marketing Agency guide covers the rest of the decision: the traits that separate a contractor-focused agency from a generalist, and a fit-call method for comparing a shortlist side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions should a contractor ask a marketing agency before hiring?
PM Consulting recommends 15 questions across four groups: results and reporting, contracts and pricing, execution and process, and communication. Split them across two calls. The results and contract questions go first, because those answers decide whether a second call is worth booking.
What is the most important question to ask a marketing agency?
The most important question is how the agency connects a lead to a booked job. An agency that can trace revenue back to each channel can prove its value and fix what is not working. An agency that reports only traffic and impressions cannot do either.
Should a contractor ask a marketing agency for references?
Yes. A contractor should ask for two current clients in home services and call both. Ask each reference three questions from this list: what counts as a lead in their reports, how fast the agency replies, and what the agency told them the last time something was not working.
What should a marketing agency contract include?
A marketing agency contract should list the setup deliverables with a delivery window, the monthly deliverables, the software billed at cost, the notice period, and the handover package on exit. Ad spend should be billed directly to the contractor. If any of those items is missing, ask for it in writing before signing.
How long should a marketing agency take to show results?
Lead response improvements, such as missed-call text-back, work as soon as they are live. Paid ads usually need several weeks of data before the numbers mean much. Organic search and local SEO usually take several months. A good agency gives a timeline per channel instead of one promise for everything.
Is it a red flag if a marketing agency will not answer these questions?
Yes. Every question on this list has a plain answer that an experienced agency gives without preparing. An agency that avoids a question, or asks to answer it after the contract is signed, has already shown how it will communicate once the contractor is paying.
The Bottom Line for Contractors Interviewing Agencies
PM Consulting Inc. answers all fifteen of these questions in writing for any contractor who asks. The point of the list is not to pick PM Consulting. The point is to make every agency, PM Consulting included, prove it will capture more leads and give the owner time back before any money changes hands.
Contractors who want help reading the answers can book the Five Hour Assessment, a paid 90-minute working session with Paul Meyers. It costs $997 CAD, and the fee is credited toward any build.