Buyer playbook / Draft

Run a selection process before you choose an agency.

This is the process companion to the agency-type brief. Use that brief to diagnose the kind of partner worth investigating; use this page to define requirements, compare candidates, contract deliberately, and start the work well.

Draft for human approval. This page is not indexed or a published recommendation.

From requirements to a working start

Set the decision boundary

Name the commercial problem, the buyer segment, the sales-cycle constraint, the people who must participate, and the decision that the engagement must help you make. A brief is not a service wish list.

Build a comparable shortlist

Research a small set against the same requirements. Ask each candidate to show relevant context and name the team that would deliver; do not use a logo wall as the comparison.

Run the evaluation

Use the same operating-fit questions, evidence requests, and proposal scorecard for each candidate. Record uncertainty rather than treating a polished answer as proof.

Make the commercial terms workable

Clarify scope boundaries, ownership of work and data, staffing changes, reporting, renewal, termination, and a practical handoff before signing.

Start with a 90-day learning plan

Agree the diagnosis, early outputs, access to subject-matter experts and sales feedback, decision cadence, and what would cause the team to adapt or stop.

Requirement definition

Write the current condition, the buyer and sales motion, the constraint to remove, what is in and out of scope, required internal contributors, decision rights, and the evidence that would justify continuing. This makes it possible to compare proposals on the same job.

Shortlist research

Start with a deliberately small set. Look for public evidence that the candidate understands the relevant market, work type, or operating situation, then test it in conversation. Public self-description can establish a research lead; it does not establish performance or fit.

Proposal comparison scorecard

Dimension	What to compare	Evidence or question
Problem framing	Does the proposal address the stated commercial constraint?	What would change the proposed approach?
Relevant context	Comparable buyer, sales-cycle, and delivery complexity—not only sector labels.	What was the starting condition and what did the team actually do?
Delivery team	Named roles, senior involvement, specialist access, and continuity.	Who owns the work after the sale, and who can be replaced?
Working model	Decision cadence, feedback loops, subject-matter workflow, and reporting.	What must our team contribute each week?
Scope and learning	Sequenced work, assumptions, dependencies, and a way to revise course.	What is deliberately not promised in the first 90 days?
Commercial terms	Ownership, change control, renewal, termination, and handoff.	How does the engagement end or transition without avoidable lock-in?

Questions that reveal operating fit

What would you need to learn before selecting channels or deliverables?
How will you extract and validate subject-matter knowledge?
How do you bring sales feedback into weekly decisions?
Which decisions require our owner, and how quickly must they be made?
How would you handle a disagreement about the diagnosis or priorities?
Which early signals would cause you to continue, adapt, or stop?

Contract and exit considerations

Make ownership of domains, analytics, files, advertising accounts, work product, and audience data explicit. Define notice periods, change-control rules, transfer support, and what a useful handoff looks like before a relationship needs to end.

First 30 / 60 / 90 days

30: validate the diagnosis, access, and contributors. 60: deliver the agreed early work and review learning with sales. 90: decide whether the evidence supports continuing, changing scope, or stopping. These are planning prompts, not performance promises.

Warning signs

Channel-first proposals, vague delivery ownership, claims without context, no plan for sales feedback, reluctance to name assumptions, or terms that prevent a practical handoff should slow the decision.

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