There are lots of great questions, and doing a quick Google search would certainly help guide you in the right direction. What we hope to do is break through the noise and give you 3 questions to ask a potential marketing contractor so you know they’re serious and can help you.
1. What’s the #1 service you offer, even if it’s not the one we’re talking about today, and what does it help businesses solve?
What you’re looking for: The one thing, which admittedly takes practice, is listening for honestly. Are they telling you what their #1 service is just to make you happy? What this does is figure out their long term goals for their own marketing company. If they have trouble saying what problems it helps a business solve, that means that they fail to understand their own market. This should be a slam dunk question for them.
2. What does your onboarding process look like if we sign on as clients? Furthermore, what’s the timeline for getting things going and what is required on my end?
What you’re looking for: Organization. If they have processes defined inside their business it’s a great sign. If they’re stumbling around this question, they’re probably pretty new to the game and there might be some hiccups in the process. One thing to keep in mind is that by you asking this question, in a sales scenario you’re starting to qualify yourself. They will like that a lot and will make them naturally more confident feeling a close is coming. Remember, you need to qualify them.
3. Have you worked with other businesses in our industry or a similar industry? Without giving away confidential information what have your results looked like?
What you’re looking for: Results! Have they successfully gotten results before for a similar type of client? Keep in mind if you’re a roofer, a similar industry would be any type of home service cause you all have similar customers. Homeowners! Don’t over-limit yourself, marketers can be pretty flexible, but you need to be confident they can produce results. If you start a relationship and you’re micromanaging them and worried, chances are it will not be a healthy working relationship for either of you. Similarly in a personal relationship, if you’re constantly worried about your significant other cheating on you, it’s simply not healthy.