Start with what you actually need
Most home service owners shopping for an agency want one thing: more booked jobs. Not more followers, not a prettier logo. Before you talk to anyone, figure out where the jobs are being lost today. There are usually two very different problems:
- Not enough leads. The phone is quiet, Yelp and Google aren't sending much. That's a marketing problem.
- Leads that don't turn into jobs. The phone rings while you are on a job, quote requests wait hours for a reply, nobody follows up. That's a response problem, and more marketing makes it worse, not better.
A quick way to tell: look at last month's missed calls and how long your Yelp or website leads waited for a first reply. If those numbers are bad, fix them before you pay anyone to send you more leads.
What to measure: cost per booked job
Agencies love to report impressions, clicks and “engagement.” Those are fine to know, but they don't pay your crew. The number that matters to a home service business is cost per booked job.
Here's an example with made-up numbers:
| Example month | Amount |
|---|---|
| Ad spend | $2,000 |
| Agency fee | $500 |
| Total cost | $2,500 |
| Jobs booked from that marketing | 10 |
| Cost per booked job | $250 |
Now compare that to what an average job is worth to you after materials and labor. If a booked job costs $250 and earns you far more, keep going. If it's close, something needs to change. An agency that can't tell you this number every month is asking you to pay on faith.
Questions to ask any agency
- Who have you worked with in my trade, and what happened? Ask for real numbers from a real client, and what they were measured on.
- What will my monthly report show? You want spend, leads, how fast they were answered, estimates booked, jobs booked and cost per booked job. Ask to see an example.
- Who actually does the work? The person who sold you, or someone else? Can you reach them directly?
- What happens to a lead after it comes in? If the agency's job ends at “we got you a lead,” you still have the response problem.
- Who owns the accounts? Your ad accounts, your website, your domain and your business pages. Ask what happens to each if you leave.
- How long is the contract, and how do I get out? Get the notice period in writing.
- What will you tell me if it's not working? A good answer is “we'll tell you to spend less, or stop.”
Red flags
- Guarantees. Nobody can guarantee rankings, a lead count or revenue. Search engines and ad platforms are outside anyone's control.
- Reports with no jobs in them. Impressions and clicks only, with nothing about what got booked.
- You don't own your stuff. The agency holds your ad account, domain or phone number and won't say how you get them back.
- Long lock-in. A long contract with no clear way out, for a service that should be earning its keep every month.
- Vague pricing. If they can't tell you what you'll pay and what's included, the bill will surprise you later.
- No one asks about your phone. An agency that never asks how you answer leads is only looking at half the problem.
Pricing models, in plain words
- Percentage of ad spend. Common for ad management. Simple, and it scales with your budget. Ask if there's a minimum, and what happens to the rate as spend grows.
- Flat monthly fee. Predictable. Ask exactly what's included, and what costs extra.
- Project pricing. Common for websites. Get the scope in writing: pages, forms, and what a change costs after launch.
No model is wrong. What matters is that you can see the whole price before you sign, and judge it against cost per booked job.
Your next steps
- Look at your last month: missed calls, reply times, leads, and jobs booked.
- Decide whether you need more leads, faster replies, or both.
- Talk to two or three agencies. Ask every question above. Compare their answers, not their pitch decks.
How Viridia handles this
We work month to month, with no long contracts. Yelp ads management is 15% of your ad spend ($200 a month minimum per page) with 30 days' notice to cancel, and the monthly report is pulled from Yelp's advertising API and joined to what happened after the click: calls answered, quote requests answered and how fast, estimates booked, and cost per booked job. If the answer is “stop spending,” we say that too. Your Yelp business page stays yours. See how it works on the Yelp ads management page, or look at the full pricing.