How to audit your agency without firing your agency
Most leaks we find are nobody’s fault. Platforms drift, prices go stale, flows get built once and forgotten. An independent audit isn’t a vote against your agency — many agencies use our findings as their next quarter’s roadmap. We never sell media management, so there’s no conflict of interest.
| The question | A good answer sounds like | The red flag |
|---|---|---|
| “Where did last month’s budget actually go — fees, media, tools?” | A one-page split, within a day. | “It’s complicated.” The split is the report. |
| “Which campaigns would you cut if it were your money?” | Names two immediately, with numbers. | Everything is “building momentum.” |
| “What’s our blended CAC trend — not per-platform ROAS?” | A chart tied to your revenue data. | They quote platform ROAS back to you. |
| “What did you test last quarter, and what failed?” | A list with results — including the losers. | Only wins. Nobody tests without failures. |
| “When did the negative-keyword list last change?” | A date within the last month. | Nobody remembers. That is the answer. |
| “What would make you recommend spending less?” | A margin-based threshold, stated plainly. | Silence — spend only ever goes up. |
How to run it without drama: send the six questions ahead, frame the meeting as budget planning — not an audit — and book 45 minutes. A good agency answers five of six easily, and the one they stumble on is usually where your leak lives. If the meeting turns defensive, that’s an answer too. Two artifacts to request before the meeting: last month’s search-terms report and the negative-keyword list’s last-modified date — if nobody remembers the second, that is the answer. And if all six come back clean, congratulations: you may be one of the two businesses that have claimed our guarantee.
See what an evidenced finding looks like →