Activity and results are different things
Reports full of posts published, emails sent and impressions show that work happened. They do not show whether it helped. Ask your agency to connect each piece of work to something you can see in your business.
Numbers worth asking for
- Leads you would actually call, not just form fills
- Calls or meetings booked from marketing
- Where those leads came from: search, referrals, ads, social
- Where you show up for the searches your buyers use, in Google and in AI tools like ChatGPT
- What it cost per lead and per booked call
Ask for each one this month, last month and the same month last year.
Check a few things yourself
- Search for your main service and city in Google and in two AI tools. Note who shows up.
- Read the last five blog posts. Would a client find them useful?
- Ask your team where the last ten good leads came from.
Questions to ask in your next review
- What are the three things you did last month that mattered most, and how do we know?
- What did you try that did not work, and what did you stop?
- What will you do differently next month?
A good agency will welcome these questions. If the answers stay vague for two or three months, that is your answer.
Written by Johnny Hartsfield, coach at Elevate Strategies, with Marketa, AI sales enablement teammate.
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