You have narrowed the list to two or three firms. The proposals look reasonable. Then the next leadership meeting turns into the same argument you have been having for a year, and you realize nobody agrees on what the brand strategy agency is supposed to fix.
Most hiring guides focus on the agency. Lists like Chief Marketer’s ten questions to ask before hiring a B2B agency cover that side well. This guide starts with what to settle inside your own company, because that is where most of the decision happens.
Where the Decision Happens
Gartner’s research on the B2B buying journey found that buyers spend only 17% of their purchase time meeting with potential suppliers. The rest goes to their own research and to conversations inside the buying group.
That group is larger than it looks. Forrester’s State of Business Buying 2024 reports that an average of 13 people take part in a B2B buying decision, that 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process, and that 81% of buyers are dissatisfied with the provider they chose.
Buyers spend 17% of their purchase time with potential suppliers, according to Gartner. Your team spends the rest deciding without them.
Forrester does not list every reason purchases stall. In first calls, the practice often meets leadership teams who disagree on what is needed and spend their days putting out fires. The five steps below are how to bring that team to the table ready to choose.
1. Write the Problem in One Sentence
Ask each leader, separately, to finish this sentence: “Our brand is holding us back because…” Then compare the answers.
If sales says leads, the founder says the company sounds like everyone else, and operations says the website, you have three different engagements on the table. Proposals written against three problems can’t be compared fairly.
Keep working until the group agrees on one sentence. For example: “Buyers who find us can’t tell what we do differently, so we end up competing on price.” That sentence becomes the brief every firm responds to.
2. Name Who Decides
Thirteen people may weigh in. One or two should decide. Agree in advance who approves the strategy, who approves the creative work, and who breaks a tie when those two disagree.
Then tell each finalist. A firm that knows your decision path can plan reviews around the people who sign off, instead of presenting to a room that sends the work back for another round.
3. Agree on What Success Looks Like
Before the first meeting, choose the few measures your leaders will use to judge the work a year from now. Keep them concrete. Monthly reports at the practice lead with four numbers: site traffic, social proof, touch-points and top landing pages.
Then ask each firm how it records a starting baseline and how it reports against it. If a firm can’t tell you where you started, it can’t show you how far you have come.
4. Ask What You Don’t Need
Many teams arrive unsure what to do first, or which tools and platforms to choose. A useful firm narrows that list. So ask every finalist the same question: “What in our brief would you cut?”
A firm that agrees with every line may be selling scope. A firm that pushes back, explains why, and tells you what you can skip is diagnosing your situation before prescribing for it. Clients who came to the practice from other agencies have said that being told what they don’t need was one reason they chose it.
5. Read the Agreement for Ownership
At the decision stage, the agreement tells you more than the pitch deck. Read it with these questions in mind:
- Do your ad accounts stay in your company’s name?
- Is media spend inside the fee, or billed separately?
- Is scope counted in defined units, and does the quoted figure hold?
- Will you work with the strategist directly, or through an account manager?
- If you stop after the first phase, do you keep the written findings?
At Eric Rounds Agency, ad accounts stay in the client’s name, media spend is never part of the fee, scope is counted in units, and the quoted figure holds. There is no account-manager layer. You can read more about how the practice differs from a typical agency.
What If Your Leaders Still Disagree?
That is useful information, and it is better to learn it before the agreement than after. Tell the firms you are talking to. Ask how they handle a leadership team that is split.
A firm worth hiring will tell you when a team is not ready, and will help you settle the core question before brand development begins. The practice has told prospective clients it was not the right fit when the direction kept changing and advice wasn’t taken. That conversation protects your investment as much as the firm’s time.
If the disagreement sounds familiar, the B2B marketing problems we hear in first calls may help your team name it.
Choose a Brand Strategy Agency That Diagnoses First
Every engagement with Eric Rounds Agency begins with the Diagnostic, a measured read of your position, your findability, and what AI platforms say about you. The written report is yours either way. Most engagements start at $25,000.
If your leaders agree on the problem, or you want help getting there, the next step is a conversation.