Run an Agency Reference Check Before You Sign

In short: Ask a former client about a comparable engagement, the people who delivered it, and the evidence behind the result. Use the same questions with each reference, then record where their experience does and does not match the work you are considering.

An agency reference can help you understand how a provider works after the pitch. It is most useful when you ask about a specific project, team, and set of responsibilities. A general recommendation may sound positive while leaving important questions about delivery, communication, or measurement unanswered.

Choose a reference who can speak to your scope

Ask the agency for a client contact whose project resembles the work you plan to buy. Look for similarity in the services involved, the team’s role, the business context, and the kind of decisions the provider owned. A reference from a different service or a much larger engagement may still be helpful, but label the limits of that comparison.

Before scheduling a call, confirm that the person has agreed to speak with you and understands why you are reaching out. Do not ask them to disclose confidential customer records, campaign data, pricing terms, or internal documents. You need a candid description of their experience, not another client’s protected information.

If the agency cannot share a contact because of confidentiality, ask what other evidence it can provide: an anonymized project summary, a work sample it is allowed to share, or a conversation with a team member who can explain the process. The absence of a reference does not by itself establish poor performance; consider it alongside the provider’s other evidence.

Set up a short, consistent conversation

Give each reference the same context: the type of work you are considering, the questions you plan to ask, and how you will use the information. A focused 20-minute call is usually enough to learn about one engagement. If the person can speak only to a narrow part of the work, note that rather than stretching their comments into a broader endorsement.

The U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulation treats past performance as one indicator of a provider’s ability to perform successfully and calls for attention to the information’s relevance, source, context, and trends. That is public-sector guidance, not a rule for private agency selection, but it is a useful reminder to assess what a reference can actually verify.

Ask about the work, the team, and the evidence

Use open questions and ask for examples. You can adapt this call guide to the scope:

• Context: What business situation led you to hire the agency, and what work did you agree it would handle?
• People: Who led the pitch, who did the day-to-day work, and who reviewed or approved it?
• Delivery: Which commitments were met, changed, or missed? What helped the work move forward?
• Working relationship: How did the agency communicate risks, request client input, and respond to feedback?
• Measurement: What did the team track, where did the data come from, and what could not be attributed confidently?
• Problems: What became difficult, how did the agency respond, and what changed afterward?
• Client effort: What did your team need to supply, decide, or do for the engagement to work?
• Fit: For what kind of work would you hire this agency again? What would you clarify or structure differently next time?

Listen for concrete examples and for the boundaries of the person’s knowledge. A reference may know that a campaign launched on time but not how sales follow-up affected pipeline. They may have worked closely with one account lead and never seen the senior person who presented the proposal. These distinctions help you compare their experience with the team and responsibilities in your own proposal.

Separate delivery evidence from business outcomes

Ask how the client defined success and when they reviewed it. Then separate the agency’s direct commitments—such as delivering agreed analysis or implementing a campaign—from indicators it could influence and outcomes shared with the client’s team.

If the reference reports growth, ask what period and data source they used, what else changed, and whether the result had time to mature. Avoid treating a single result as proof that the agency caused it or will reproduce it in your business. The FAR’s past-performance guidance also points to the importance of current and relevant information, its source and context, and overall trends.

When a reference describes a problem, ask what happened next. A missed date followed by early notice, a clear recovery plan, and a corrected process tells you something different from a recurring issue with no owner. You are assessing how the provider handles the work, not expecting every project to be free of setbacks.

Record what the call does and does not establish

Keep a short note after each conversation:

• Reference and their role in the project: ______
• Project scope and how closely it matches yours: ______
• People who delivered and reviewed the work: ______
• Specific examples of reliable delivery: ______
• Problems, response, and follow-up: ______
• Client inputs or conditions that affected results: ______
• Claims or questions to verify with the agency: ______
• What this reference cannot establish: ______

Compare notes across references using the same questions. A repeated pattern is more informative than one broad rating. If an answer conflicts with the proposal, give the agency a chance to explain the difference and identify the evidence behind its account. Then decide whether the gap matters to the scope, team, acceptance criteria, or working terms you plan to agree.

Reference checks work best alongside proposal evidence, a named delivery plan, and clear acceptance criteria. The agency RFP guide helps compare claims across finalists; the delivery-team guide helps confirm who will do the work. If a remaining uncertainty can be tested safely in a bounded engagement, use the trial-project guide to define its scope and review evidence.

A reference is a useful perspective from one engagement, not a guarantee of future results. Base the decision on the fit between your needs, the proposed team, the work plan, and the evidence you can verify.

If you need help comparing provider evidence or defining the next decision, request a marketing diagnostic to review the scope and assumptions.

Related reading

Read the agency RFP guide for comparing proposals, the delivery-team guide for confirming assigned roles, and the trial-project guide for testing one buying question before a longer commitment.

Sources and scope

• Acquisition.gov: FAR 15.305, Proposal evaluation — federal guidance describing past performance as one indicator and identifying relevance, source, context, and trends as considerations.
• Acquisition.gov: FAR Subpart 42.15, Contractor Performance Information — public-sector examples of performance records, including workmanship, cost control, and schedule adherence.

These are U.S. federal procurement references. Private agency selection should follow the parties’ agreement and applicable law. Accessed October 8, 2026.