How to Hire a PPC Agency or Manager: Questions to Ask

If you want to know how to hire a PPC agency that delivers in B2B, judge three things before price: experience with consultative sales, how they define results, and whether you keep access to your own account. Get these right and you avoid months of wasted budget.

What sets a B2B specialist apart

Selling industrial components, machining or software to companies is nothing like selling sneakers. Cycles are longer, search volume is lower and one customer can be worth tens of thousands. A good manager thinks about lead quality, not just cheap clicks.

Ask for examples of B2B accounts they have run, anonymized if needed, and what changed for the client's sales team afterward.

Interview questions that reveal experience

1. How would you define a good conversion for my business? The answer should go beyond clicks and form fills.
2. What do you need from my sales team to tune campaigns?
3. How do you handle low-volume, highly technical niches?
4. What will you do in the first 30 days?
5. How do you follow leads after the form? Do you care about the CRM?
6. Which reports will I get, and how often?
7. Have you ever told a client to spend less? Why?

Be wary of anyone promising a fixed number of leads or sales before learning your market. Good practitioners talk in hypotheses and tests.

Red flags

• Guaranteed results or returns within a fixed timeline.
• Ad accounts opened under the agency's name with no access for you.
• Reports full of impressions and clicks but no cost per qualified lead.
• No questions about your ideal customer, deal size or sales process.
• Long lock-in contracts with heavy exit penalties.

What the contract should say

Make it explicit that the ad accounts, tracking and data belong to you. If you change providers, you must be able to take everything with you.

• Scope: platforms, number of campaigns, ad creation and landing pages.
• Management fee listed separately from ad spend, which you pay directly to the platform.
• A cancellation notice period, ideally 30 days.
• Report format and meeting cadence.
• Who owns tracking setup and landing page changes.

Run a trial before committing

Where possible, start with a two or three month trial with process goals: tracking working, structure live, first report delivered. Outcome targets come later, once there is enough data.

If you are torn between one person and a team, look at how a paid ads management service works and compare proposals using the same criteria.

How to compare proposals fairly

Ask at least three candidates to answer the same questions in writing. That lets you compare reasoning rather than charisma in a meeting.

Give everyone the same brief: what you sell, who buys, average deal size, sales cycle and planned budget. Notice who asks sharper questions about that brief, because it says a lot about the quality of the work to come.

Also ask for a reference from a current client, ideally of similar size to yours, and spend ten minutes talking to them.

In the end, the best question is simple: six months from now, how will we know this was worth it? Anyone who answers with numbers from your own funnel deserves the next conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Can a freelancer handle B2B ads?

Yes, if they have consultative sales experience and follow leads through to your sales team. Also ask who covers vacations and emergencies.

Whose name should the ad account be under?

Your company's, with the manager added as a user. That way you keep history and data if you switch providers.