How Hertfordshire Businesses Should Compare Lead-Generation Agencies’ First Steps

By Blackbird Marketing

The first steps proposed by a lead-generation agency should show that it understands your business, your customers and how enquiries become profitable work. They should not simply be a list of fashionable channels, guaranteed lead numbers or vague promises about “more visibility”.

In short: Compare agencies on the quality of their diagnosis before you compare their tactics. A credible proposal should explain what will be checked first, how success will be measured, which channel is appropriate for the job and what you will need to provide.

What should a good agency propose first?

A sensible first phase normally starts with commercial and measurement questions rather than immediate campaign activity. The agency should want to understand what a worthwhile enquiry looks like, where leads currently come from, which jobs are commercially suitable and whether your website can turn relevant visitors into enquiries.

That does not mean every agency must follow the same sequence. A business with a strong website but no visibility may need search work first. Another with good rankings but poor enquiry quality may need landing-page, tracking or offer changes. The important point is that the proposed work should follow from a stated problem.

Before agreeing to anything, ask the agency to set out:

• What it will check before recommending a channel.

• Which business goals the work is meant to support.

• How enquiries, calls or other actions will be recorded.

• What decisions depend on the findings.

• What is included, what is excluded and what you must supply.

A proposal that cannot answer these questions may still contain useful ideas, but you would be taking on more uncertainty than necessary.

Compare the diagnosis, not just the proposed tactics

Agencies often present similar-sounding services: SEO, PPC, website improvements, content, social media or conversion work. The difference is usually in how carefully they identify the commercial problem before recommending one of them.

1. Does the agency ask about your work and customers?

A service business should not be treated as a generic lead-generation account. The agency should ask about the work you want more of, the jobs you do not want, the areas you serve, how customers choose you and what makes an enquiry useful or unsuitable.

For a Hertfordshire service business, location can also affect the decision. A broad regional target may be sensible for one firm and wasteful for another, depending on travel, job value, competition and how customers search. Do not accept a location plan without discussing where you can realistically work and which enquiries are commercially worthwhile.

2. Does it inspect the current route to enquiry?

Lead generation does not stop when someone reaches a website. The proposal should consider what happens between a search, advert or referral and the enquiry itself. That may include the relevant service page, contact details, forms, phone calls, mobile usability, trust information and the clarity of the next step.

Ask the agency to distinguish between a traffic problem and a conversion problem. More visitors will not solve a page that does not make the service, coverage or next action clear. Equally, a well-written website cannot compensate for a campaign that reaches the wrong audience.

3. Does it separate assumptions from findings?

At the proposal stage, an agency may not yet have access to your analytics, advertising account, call records or customer data. It should say what it knows, what it has inferred and what still needs checking.

Be cautious when an agency presents precise forecasts before reviewing the information needed to support them. A useful proposal can set out a method and decision points without pretending that uncertain results are already known.

Check whether measurement is part of the first phase

Measurement should be discussed before activity begins, not added after the first invoice. You need to know which actions count as an enquiry and how the agency will distinguish useful leads from irrelevant contacts, duplicate submissions or people outside your service area.

Ask whether the proposed setup will cover the parts of your enquiry process that matter, such as:

• Calls from the website or advertising.

• Contact-form submissions and emails.

• Enquiries for the wrong service or location.

• Booked surveys, quotations or jobs, if you can share that information.

• The source or campaign that generated the enquiry.

You do not need a complicated reporting system for its own sake. You do need an agreed definition of a lead and a practical way to review lead quality. Blackbird Marketing publishes a lead-generation dashboard for small businesses and service-based teams, including trades, which reflects a useful principle: visibility over incoming enquiries matters when judging marketing activity. That published resource is not a guarantee of results, but it is a relevant question to raise with any agency.

Ask who owns the tracking setup, where the data will be stored and whether you can still access it if the contract ends. Also ask how often reporting will be reviewed and what decision the report is meant to support. A report full of impressions and clicks may be less useful than a simpler report showing genuine enquiries and their outcomes.

Compare SEO, PPC and website work on the problem they solve

The right first channel depends on the gap identified in the diagnosis. SEO, PPC and website improvements can support one another, but they do not solve the same problem or carry the same trade-offs.

SEO: useful when visibility needs building

SEO may be appropriate when relevant customers are searching for your services but your website is difficult to find, poorly aligned with those searches or not clear about the locations and jobs you cover. The first work should identify realistic service topics, technical issues, local visibility factors and pages that need improvement.

Ask what will be changed and why. “We will improve rankings” is not a sufficient first step. You should be able to see whether the work involves technical fixes, service-page improvements, local SEO, content, internal linking or another defined activity.

PPC: useful when paid visibility needs testing or increasing

PPC can put a service in front of searchers without waiting for organic visibility work to develop, but it spends budget whenever people click. The proposal should therefore address search intent, geographic targeting, negative or unsuitable searches, landing pages, budget control and enquiry tracking.

Ask what happens when the first data shows that a keyword attracts clicks but not suitable enquiries. A sound plan should allow for decisions based on evidence rather than treating the initial campaign structure as fixed.

Website and conversion work: useful when visitors are not taking the next step

A website may need attention if visitors cannot quickly understand the service, whether the business covers their area or how to make contact. The agency should explain which pages or steps create the concern and how the proposed changes will be assessed.

Blackbird’s published website design information describes a review, plan, build and launch/improve approach. That is a useful example of the kind of sequence to look for: first establish what needs changing, then build against that plan and allow for improvement. It should not be treated as evidence that every agency, or every project, will follow the same workflow.

If you are weighing these options, this comparison of SEO, PPC and website priorities for trade businesses is a relevant published reference to discuss alongside the agency proposals.

Questions that expose a weak first proposal

You do not need to challenge an agency with technical terminology. Straightforward questions often show whether the recommendation is based on your situation or has been reused from another pitch.

• What problem are you solving first? The answer should relate to enquiries or commercial fit, not only rankings, reach or traffic.

• What have you checked already? Ask which parts are confirmed and which require access to your accounts or further discovery.

• Why this channel before the alternatives? The agency should explain the trade-off, such as speed, cost, control, competition or the condition of your website.

• What would make you change direction? Look for practical decision points, not a commitment to continue regardless of the data.

• What will you need from us? This may include access, service information, photographs, approvals, call data or timely feedback.

• What will we receive? Clarify whether the first phase produces an audit, plan, campaign setup, page changes, tracking configuration or recommendations only.

• What is not included? This helps identify later costs for website work, content, advertising spend, design, tracking or technical changes.

A strong answer does not have to promise a particular result. It should make the work and the decisions understandable enough for you to judge whether the proposal is sensible.

Look closely at cost, control and commitment

The cheapest proposal may not be the lowest-cost option if it leaves important setup work for you or produces little usable information. Conversely, a larger initial project is not automatically better. Compare what is being done, what decisions it enables and which ongoing costs it creates.

Separate the following items where relevant:

• Agency fees for strategy, implementation and ongoing management.

• Advertising spend paid to a platform.

• Website development, hosting or software costs.

• Content, photography or other materials you must provide or commission.

• Tracking, reporting and any changes needed after the first findings.

Confirm who owns the website, advertising account, analytics property, tracking data and creative assets. If an agency controls everything without explaining access or handover, that is a business risk even if the initial proposal sounds convincing.

Also check the commitment being requested. Ask whether the first stage can be reviewed against agreed outputs, how changes are approved and what happens if the work reveals that a different channel is more suitable. These are contract questions, not signs that you lack confidence in the agency.

Warning signs in proposed first steps

Some early recommendations should make you slow down and ask for clarification:

• A guaranteed number of leads, rankings or revenue before the agency has reviewed your data.

• A fixed channel recommendation with no discussion of your services, customers or location.

• Large lists of deliverables with no explanation of which business problem they address.

• Reporting based only on activity measures, with no agreed definition of a suitable enquiry.

• Pressure to start before you understand access, ownership, costs and responsibilities.

• Promises to target every service and area at once without a clear prioritisation method.

• Technical language used to avoid answering what will change for the customer.

One warning sign alone does not prove that an agency is unsuitable. It does indicate that you should ask for a clearer explanation before comparing prices or signing an agreement.

A practical way to score competing proposals

Put each proposal into the same simple comparison table. You can score each area as clear, partly clear or unclear rather than pretending to create a precise mathematical result.

1. Business understanding: Does the agency understand your profitable work, customer and service area?

2. Diagnosis: Has it identified a specific problem rather than listing channels?

3. Measurement: Is there a workable definition of a lead and a way to assess quality?

4. Prioritisation: Does it explain why the proposed first action comes before alternatives?

5. Deliverables: Are the first-stage outputs, responsibilities and exclusions clear?

6. Commercial control: Can you see fees, advertising spend, ownership and future commitments?

7. Decision points: Does the plan explain what will be reviewed and what could change?

If two agencies recommend different first steps, that is not necessarily a problem. Ask each to explain the assumptions behind its recommendation. The better proposal is usually the one that makes those assumptions visible and gives you a sensible way to test them.

For a further set of checks before appointing an agency, see what a Hertfordshire service business should check before choosing a lead-generation agency. Use it as a prompt for your own questions rather than as a substitute for reviewing the actual proposal and contract.

When should you move from comparison to action?

Move forward when you can explain, in plain language, the problem the agency will tackle first, why that priority makes sense, how progress will be measured and what you are paying for. You should also know what information or access the agency needs from you.

If those points remain unclear, ask for a revised scope or compare another proposal. The aim is not to find an agency that claims to remove all uncertainty. It is to choose a first phase that turns uncertainty into useful information and practical decisions.

Where the main issue is the condition, structure or conversion ability of the website, you can review Blackbird Marketing’s business website service information as one possible route. The published service covers SEO-ready website design, but you should still contact the business to ask whether that service suits the specific problem identified in your proposal comparison.

Ready to review your website’s role in lead generation? Use the proposal checks above, then ask whether a business website project addresses the gap affecting your enquiries. View the business website service information.

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