Seven Questions to Ask a Marketing Consultant Before You Sign Anything

Here are seven questions to ask a marketing consultant before you sign anything, and why each one matters. Most marketing consultants came out of a marketing department, not a P&L. That's the difference you're actually hiring for, and not one of them will bring it up on their own.

I've sat on both sides of this table for 27 years. Here's what I'd ask, and what I say when somebody asks me.

What should I ask a marketing consultant in the first meeting?

Ask what they've owned, not what they've done. Have they made payroll, carried a revenue number, fired an agency? Ask for one client your size, the problem they walked into, and the number that changed. Then ask who does the work, how you'll know it's working, and how the engagement ends.

The questions a marketing consultant hopes you skip

That consultant has run this meeting a hundred times. You've run it twice.

The fix isn't being tougher. It's bringing questions that need a specific answer, so the meeting can't get carried on confidence alone. Seven of them, in the order I'd ask.

1. Have you ever made payroll?

Strategy from somebody who's carried a number is different in kind from strategy from somebody who's presented one. A consultant who's owned a company knows what a slow March does to a budget, because they've felt it.

My answer: three construction companies, one of them taken from bankruptcy to $12M. I filed that bankruptcy myself, laid off my own employees, and sat across from every customer to tell them. The bad answer to this question sounds like a resume.

2. Show me a company my size, the problem, and the number

"Brand awareness" is not a number. Lead volume is. Revenue is. Cost per customer is.

Ask for one client in your revenue range, what they walked into, and what changed. Then ask what went wrong along the way, because something always did. Mine: HiLine Homes, 12 to 20 leads a week per office up to 150 to 200. Stanbrooke, $3M to $11M in under three years.

3. Who actually does the work?

The consultant, a junior, an offshore team, or your own staff under direction. Any of those is a fine answer. A vague answer is not. You're paying for judgment, so find out whose.

Worth asking in the same breath: who am I talking to every week? If the senior person sells it and a coordinator runs it, the price should say so.

Mine: I lead the strategy and make the calls. When execution is the bottleneck I get into it myself. When your team can execute, I direct and stay out of the way.

4. What are you going to tell me to stop doing?

A real consultant cuts before they add. If the answer is "we'll build on what you have," they're selling hours.

Every owner is paying for at least one thing producing nothing. A directory listing. A social channel nobody reads. An agency retainer that quietly turned into a maintenance fee two years ago. A consultant who can't name it in month one won't name it in month six.

Ask them to guess in the first meeting. The guess tells you how they think.

5. How will I know in 90 days whether this is working?

Two numbers by source, cost per qualified lead and cost per new customer, with a date and a name attached to who reports them. Not a dashboard full of impressions.

If they can't describe the 90-day report in one sentence, you're never going to see it.

6. What does this cost, and what does the alternative cost?

Senior fractional work runs $5,000 to $15,000 a month in the US, scoped to hours. A full-time marketing executive runs $150,000 to $300,000 loaded and takes six months to get productive. The comparison is here.

Get the number in writing. Then ask what happens to it when you scale down.

7. How does this end?

A good engagement hands off to a full-time hire, scales down when the machine runs, or ends on a date you both agreed to. A bad one becomes a permanent retainer nobody reviews.

Ask on day one. A consultant with a good answer has thought about your business past the invoice.

My answers to all seven, since it's only fair

Made payroll: yes, twelve companies founded or co-founded. A company your size: HiLine and Stanbrooke, numbers above. Who does the work: me, with your team or agency reporting to me. What to stop: I'll tell you in month one. The 90-day report: two numbers, one page, my name on it. Cost: $5,000 to $15,000 a month, no long contract. How it ends: a hire, a scale-down, or a date. Longer version on the consultant page.

If what you're really weighing is a hire instead, marketing manager vs marketing director sorts out which title fits which problem. And if it's executive-level strategy across the whole business, that's fractional CMO territory.

Book one call and bring all seven. The answers take ten minutes and tell you more than any proposal ever will.

• Most marketing consultants came out of a marketing department, not a P&L. These seven questions surface that in ten minutes.
• Ask what they've owned: payroll, a revenue number, a fired agency. Then one client your size, the problem, and the number that changed.
• Find out who does the work, what they'll tell you to stop, and how you'll know in 90 days.
• Get cost and the alternative in writing: $5,000 to $15,000 a month fractional against $150,000 to $300,000 loaded for a hire.
• Ask how it ends on day one. A good engagement hands off, scales down, or stops on a date.