What should you know before you take a sales call?
Your own numbers. If you walk in without them, every projection the agency shows you is a guess, and you have no way to tell.
- Average job value by job type. Retail reroof, insurance and storm, repair, commercial. They are different businesses with different ad math.
- Close rate on estimates. Even a rough one. If you close one in three, that changes what a good cost per lead looks like.
- How many roofs your crews can install in a month. More calls than you can install is not growth. It is a waitlist you paid for.
- Who answers the phone, and how fast. Ads do not fix a voicemail box.
- Where jobs live after the call. JobNimbus, AccuLynx, a spreadsheet, a whiteboard. Whatever it is, the agency needs to plug into it or they cannot report booked jobs.
What should you ask a roofing advertising agency on the first call?
Eight questions. Write the answers down so you can compare shops side by side.
- Who runs my account day to day, and how many other accounts do they run? You want a name, not "the team."
- Can I see a search terms report from a current roofing account? Names blurred is fine. You are looking for junk searches they already cut, like DIY, jobs, and cheap repair traffic.
- How do you define a qualified lead, in writing? In your service area, a job type you do, a real person, a real project. If they cannot define it, they cannot filter it.
- What happens to spend when a storm hits, and when my board is full? A good answer has both directions in it: push when crews are idle, pull back when you are booked out.
- What do you need from me every week? Usually closed job updates and someone who listens to a few calls. If the answer is "nothing," they are not planning to look at your jobs.
- How do closed jobs get back from my CRM into your reporting? Manual uploads once a quarter is not tracking. It should sync on a schedule.
- What is the first number on your monthly report? If it is impressions, clicks, or leads, that is the number they plan to defend.
- If I leave, how do I get my accounts, tracking numbers, and landing pages, and how long does it take? You want the process, not a promise.
What are the red flags in the pitch and the proposal?
- Guaranteed lead counts or guaranteed rankings. Nobody controls the auction or the map.
- A fee that is a percentage of your ad spend. They make more when you spend more, whether or not it signs a roof.
- Your Google Ads or Local Services Ads account sitting under their manager account with no admin access for you.
- One landing page for every job type. Storm, retail, and commercial buyers want different things.
- "Give it six months" for paid search. Search should show you something long before that.
- Reporting that only lives in their portal, so you cannot export your own data.
- Case studies with no client name, no city, and no date range.
- No answer when you ask what they would turn off first.
What does booked-job reporting actually look like?
One row per campaign, every month, with these columns: spend, leads, leads that were actually quotable, booked jobs, revenue from those jobs, and cost per booked job. That last column is the one you run the business on.
Behind the table, every call and form should be graded, so spam, wrong service, and out of area calls come out before anyone does math on them. Closed jobs should come back from your CRM to the campaign that started them. We built Revenue Sync to do exactly that, and the page shows a labeled example report. For a longer walkthrough of what to ask for, see how to tell if a marketing agency actually tracks booked jobs.
Honest reporting also says what it cannot show yet. On our Moose Roofing case study, the numbers we publish are 18% of clicks becoming a lead and 4:1 on ad spend. There is no revenue figure, because their quote data is still being rebuilt and we would rather show nothing than show a number we cannot stand behind. If an agency always has a perfect number ready, ask where it came from.
How do you compare two roofing ad agency proposals?
Score each one from 1 to 3 on the same six lines. Proof and tracking count double.
| What you are scoring | What a 3 looks like |
|---|---|
| Proof in roofing (x2) | A named roofing client, a city, a date range, and a number they will explain |
| Tracking to signed jobs (x2) | Calls graded, CRM connected, cost per booked job by campaign |
| Ownership | Ads, LSA, tracking numbers, and pages in your name from day one |
| Terms | Month to month, flat fee, ad spend on your card |
| Who is on the account | A named person who has run roofing accounts before |
| First 90 days | A written plan with what gets built, what gets measured, and when |
The cheapest proposal and the biggest agency are not tiebreakers. The score is.
What should the first 90 days look like?
Month one: tracking goes in before budget moves. Call tracking, form tracking, lead grading, and the CRM connection. Campaigns split by job type, with pages built for each. On Desert Springs Pools & Spas, every lead was captured and graded before a dollar of budget moved. Different trade, same order.
Month two: the first honest read on cost per quotable lead, and early cost per booked job on the jobs that closed fast. Junk sources get cut.
Month three: money moves toward what booked. If a campaign brings calls but no signed roofs, it shrinks. On GreenCal, which sells roofing, solar, and painting on one system, cost per quotable lead went from $1,500 to $600 over the window on the case study. That came from moving budget every month, not from one big launch.
If you are three months in and still cannot see cost per booked job, that is your answer.
Where does DUO Digital fit?
We run Google Ads, Local Services Ads, and the landing pages behind them for roofers and other trades. Every call and form is graded quotable or junk, closed jobs come back through Revenue Sync, and the report ends at cost per booked job. Accounts are in your name, ad spend goes on your card, the fee is flat, and it is month to month. Roofing proof is on Moose Roofing and NASI Roofing.
If you are comparing agencies right now, get in touch and bring this checklist. Ask us the same eight questions. If we are not the right fit for your market, we will say so.
FAQ
How do I choose a roofing advertising agency?
Know your own job values, close rate, and crew capacity first. Then ask every agency the same questions: who runs the account, how they define a qualified lead, how closed jobs get back from your CRM, and what you keep if you leave. Pick the one that can show cost per booked job for a roofing client, with accounts in your name.
What is the best advertising agency for roofing contractors?
The one that can prove signed roofs for a roofer in a market like yours, with tracking you can audit and accounts you own. Ranked lists are a place to find names. The proof on the first call is how you pick.
What questions should I ask a roofing ad agency before signing?
Who runs my account? Can I see a search terms report from a roofing client? How do you define a qualified lead? What happens to spend during a storm or when my board is full? What is the first number on your report? How do I take my accounts if I leave?
What should a roofing ads report show?
Spend, leads, quotable leads, booked jobs, revenue, and cost per booked job, by campaign, every month. If it stops at clicks and leads, you cannot tell which campaigns are paying for your crews.
How long before I know if a roofing ad agency is working?
For paid search, you should have a real read on cost per quotable lead in the second month and a first look at cost per booked job by the third. Local SEO is slower. If an agency asks for six months before you can judge their ads, ask why.
