The questions
1. What exactly am I paying for?
Time, activity, leads, booked appointments or attended meetings? Each shifts the risk differently — see pay per appointment vs pay per lead. A good answer is one sentence.
2. What counts as a qualified meeting, and is it written down?
If you're paying per meeting, the definition is the contract. It should be agreed before outreach starts and specific enough to check. See qualified sales meeting criteria.
3. Do I pay when someone doesn't turn up?
The answer tells you whether the agency has any reason to confirm, remind and chase reschedules.
4. Will you send from my domain?
The right answer is no. Cold outreach should come from separate domains so your main domain's reputation is never at risk. See the cold email deliverability guide.
5. Who writes the emails, and do I approve them?
You should see and approve every email before it goes out under your name.
6. Who handles the replies?
Reply handling is where meetings are won or lost. If it comes back to you, you've bought a list and a sending service, not appointment setting.
7. How long is setup, and why?
New sending domains need to warm up. An agency promising meetings in the first week is either using domains that aren't warmed or sending from somewhere they shouldn't.
8. What do you need from me?
Expect to agree criteria, approve copy, give calendar access and turn up. An agency that needs nothing from you doesn't know enough about what you sell.
9. Can you show me real results?
Ask for specifics you could verify. A new agency should say it's new rather than show you logos it can't stand behind — we're new, and we'd rather carry the risk in the pricing than in the claims.
10. What happens if it doesn't work?
Under a retainer, you've paid anyway. Under pay per meeting, a month where nothing books should cost you very little. Ask what you'd be out of pocket in the worst case.
Red flags
- Reporting on emails sent and open rates instead of meetings.
- No written definition of a qualified meeting.
- Sending from your main domain.
- Meetings promised in week one.
- Case studies with no names, no numbers you could check, or logos with no story behind them.
- Long minimum terms on a model that pays them regardless.
If you want to see how we'd answer every one of these, how it works and pricing set it out in full.