How to read an agency proposal — and the four clauses that actually matter

We write proposals for a living, so it is only fair to explain how to take one apart — including ours. The deck is not the document. The scope of work is. And within it, four clauses determine almost everything about how the engagement will actually feel.

1. Who is named, and for how many hours

The most common failure mode in agency work is the seniority swap: you are sold by a founder or a director, and delivered to by whoever is available. The remedy is a named team in the document, with named roles, and an honest indication of time allocation.

Ask directly: who specifically will be in my account next Tuesday, and will they be in my quarterly review? An agency that cannot answer that in one sentence has not decided yet.

2. The primary metric, singular

A scope of work that lists nine success metrics has no success metric. When results are mixed — and they are always mixed — nine metrics let anyone construct a favourable story afterwards.

Insist on one primary number that both sides agree the programme is judged on, with the others explicitly labelled diagnostic. It is uncomfortable to agree to and it is the single clause that most improves the quality of the work, because it forces both parties to decide what the programme is actually for before it starts.

3. What happens to your accounts and data if you leave

This is the clause people skip and later regret. Check, in writing:

• Ad accounts, analytics properties, tag containers and domains are registered to your organisation, with the agency granted access — not the other way round.
• Creative source files and documentation are handed over on request, without a fee.
• Any tooling built for you keeps working, or the dependency is disclosed up front.

If an agency owns your ad account, your switching cost is not the notice period — it is your entire conversion history and the learning attached to it.

4. Cancellation, in plain numbers

You want three things stated without ambiguity: the initial term, the notice period after it, and whether there is any penalty. Anything longer than a single meaningful cycle as an initial term, and any exit fee at all, should require a very good explanation.

Our own terms, for the record: a 90-day initial cycle so that the work has time to produce evidence, then month to month on 30 days’ written notice, with no cancellation fee. We publish them on the site rather than keeping them in a contract you only see after a sales process.

Three questions worth asking out loud

1. “What would make you tell me to stop spending?” An agency with no answer is a supplier, not an adviser.
2. “Show me a piece of reporting you sent a client in a bad month.” How an agency communicates when the number misses tells you more than any case study.
3. “What are you not going to do?” A scope that includes everything has been priced by guesswork and will be delivered thinly.

A good proposal is uncomfortable to sign because it commits both sides to something specific. A comfortable one usually commits nobody to anything.

Finally, be sceptical of guarantees. Guaranteed rankings, guaranteed returns and guaranteed lead volumes are either meaningless in practice or achieved by degrading the quality of what is delivered. What can honestly be guaranteed is scope, cadence, seniority and transparency — and those four are what you should be buying.