Most trades owners hire a marketing agency the way homeowners sometimes hire a contractor: on a good first impression and a confident quote. Then, six months later, they can't tell whether anything worked. This guide gives you a way to vet any agency, including us, before you sign. It takes about an hour per agency and can save you a year of wasted fees.
The short version: judge an agency on who owns the accounts, which number it will be measured by, how you can leave, and whether it understands how your trade actually wins jobs.
Step 1: Get your own numbers straight first
You can't judge a proposal without knowing what a customer is worth to you. Before you talk to anyone, write down:
- Average job value for your most common job types.
- Close rate on quotes, or the share of calls that become booked work.
- Gross margin on a typical job, after labour and materials.
- Busy and slow months, and how far ahead you're booked in each.
- Where work comes from today: referrals, Google, repeat customers, builders, ads.
With these, you can turn any agency's promise into a cost per booked job and decide whether it pays. Without them, you're comparing slide decks.
A worked example: your average job is $1,100, your gross margin is 45%, so each job earns about $495 in gross profit. An agency charging $2,000 a month plus $2,500 in ad spend has to produce roughly nine or ten booked jobs a month just to cover itself on gross profit. Ask each agency how it would get there.
Step 2: Ask the four questions that matter
Every agency will tell you it's different. These questions show whether that's true.
Who will own the accounts?
Your domain, website hosting, Google Business Profile, Google Ads and Meta ad accounts, analytics and call-tracking numbers should all be registered to your company, with the agency added as a manager. If the answer is "we set it up under our agency account for convenience", that's a problem. It means leaving will cost you your history.
What number will you be judged on?
Good answers sound like "cost per booked job" or "booked jobs from organic search". Weak answers sound like "impressions", "traffic" or "rankings". Rankings matter only if they produce calls, and calls matter only if they produce work.
How do I leave?
Ask for the cancellation terms in writing. Month to month with a notice period is reasonable. Long contracts with early-termination fees, or contracts that auto-renew for another year, shift all the risk to you.
How does my trade win work?
A good agency should be able to explain, without prompting, how your trade's buying pattern differs from others. Emergency trades like drain clearing live on fast call answering and map visibility. Considered purchases like roofing or renovation depend on proof, reviews and content. Seasonal trades like landscaping need budgets that rise and fall with the calendar. If the agency gives the same pitch to a plumber and a landscaper, it's not thinking about your business.
Step 3: Check the claims
Agencies sell on evidence, so look at the evidence carefully.
- Ask which client and which site. A result without a name and a live website you can visit is not proof.
- Ask which trade the result came from. A result from a heating company isn't automatically a result for an electrician. Our own published results come from HVAC work, and we label them that way on our results page.
- Be wary of promised rankings or lead counts. Nobody controls Google. Canada's Competition Bureau treats false or misleading representations as a serious matter, and inflated claims are a red flag about how the agency will report to you later.
- Look at their own marketing. If the agency's own site is slow, vague or stuffed with stock photos of a team nobody has met, expect the same for yours.
Step 4: Read the proposal for what's missing
A useful proposal should state:
- The scope of work each month, in plain terms.
- Who does the work, by role.
- What you'll pay the agency, and separately what you'll pay the ad platforms.
- The one or two numbers that define success.
- What the first 90 days look like.
- How reporting works and how often you'll talk.
If any of these are missing, ask. If the answer is still vague, that's your answer.
Red flags that should end the conversation
Some warning signs are serious enough to stop:
- Accounts held in the agency's name, with no plan to transfer them.
- Guarantees of a ranking position or lead count.
- Offers to buy or swap reviews, or to "gate" review requests so only happy customers get asked.
- Fake addresses or virtual offices to make your Google profile appear in more towns.
- Reports that never mention calls or booked jobs.
- Pressure to sign a long contract before you've seen any work.
If you've already been through some of this, an account recovery focus like Trade.Repair can help you get your profiles and website back before you start fresh.
A simple scoring sheet
Score each agency from 0 to 2 on each line, then add them up:
| Question | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accounts in your name | No | Some | All |
| Success metric | Traffic or rankings | Calls | Booked jobs |
| Exit terms | Long contract with fees | Fixed term, no fees | Month to month with notice |
| Understands your trade | Generic pitch | Some specifics | Clear, trade-specific plan |
| Named, checkable results | None | Unnamed | Named with live sites |
| Proposal completeness | Vague | Partial | All six items |
An agency scoring 10 or more is worth a serious conversation. Below 7, keep looking.
How we'd answer these questions
It's only fair to apply the same test to ourselves. Accounts are set up in your company's name. We report on cost per booked job. Plans run month to month with 30 days' notice. Our published results are from our HVAC work, each named with a live site. You can see how we approach each part of the work on the services page, compare plans on the pricing page, and read the other guides for the maths behind marketing budgets.
Frequently asked questions
How many agencies should I talk to?
Two or three is usually enough. More than that and the proposals start to blur together. Use the same questions with each so you can compare like with like.
Is a specialist trades agency always better than a general one?
Not always, but a specialist will usually understand call handling, seasonality and job values without being taught. Test any agency by asking how they'd measure success for your specific trade.
Should I sign a 12-month contract to get a lower price?
Only if you can leave for clear reasons, such as missed deliverables, and only after you've seen how the agency works. A month-to-month start is a safer test.
What if the agency won't put accounts in my name?
Walk away. There is no good reason for an agency to own your domain, Google Business Profile or ad account. It only makes it harder for you to leave.