Hiring the wrong agency costs more than its fee. You lose months of ad spend, and sometimes the account history too. This guide lists the red flags we’d watch for, the questions that sort agencies quickly, and a simple way to compare proposals. It doesn’t name anyone. Use it on every agency you talk to, including us.
What a good agency does for a film and coating shop
- Builds campaigns around your packages and service lines, not one campaign for everything.
- Keeps DIY, product, job and training searches out, and shows you the search terms every month.
- Tracks calls and forms properly, and connects them to quotes and booked jobs.
- Reports in your language: booked installs and cost per booked install, by service.
- Works in your account, on terms you can walk away from.
Red flags
1. The ad account isn’t in your name
If the agency owns the account, the history, conversion data and learning leave with them. Ask for admin access on day one. Google’s policies for third-party partners (About Google third-party policies) require partners to give customers their Google Ads customer ID when asked (Transparency requirements). An agency that hesitates to share it is telling you something.
2. You can’t see what Google charged
Google’s transparency rules say that when partners share cost data, they must report the exact amount Google charged, excluding their own fees, and that management fees must be disclosed in writing before the first purchase and on invoices (Transparency requirements). “All-in” pricing where you never see the Google invoice makes it impossible to know your real ad spend.
3. Long contracts with exit fees
A 12-month commitment before you’ve seen a single report puts all the risk on you. Short pilots, then month to month, keep an agency working for renewal.
4. Reports that stop at clicks and “leads”
Clicks, impressions and click-through rate describe the ads, not the business. If the report never mentions quotes, booked installs or cost per booked install, nobody is checking whether the spend pays.
5. Every call counts as a lead
A 9-second hang-up, a spam call and a vendor pitch are not leads. Ask how calls are qualified: minimum duration, duplicates removed, spam filtered.
6. No search terms, no negative list
If an agency can’t show you the search terms report and its negative keyword list, you can’t tell whether you’re paying for “diy ppf kit” and “ppf installer jobs”. For PPF, the list should also cover the savings-account meaning of “PPF” and the lingerie meaning of “clear bra”.
7. They also run ads for the shop down the road
An agency managing two competing shops in one metro ends up bidding against itself with your money. Ask directly, and ask for exclusivity in your area in writing.
8. Promises about your revenue
No one controls your prices, reviews, follow-up and calendar except you. “Guaranteed bookings” or “#1 on Google” promises are sales copy. A credible guarantee is limited to something the agency controls, such as its own fee.
9. Shared leads
Some lead services sell the same inquiry to several shops. You end up racing competitors to call back the same person. If you’re buying leads, ask whether they’re exclusive.
10. One campaign for everything
PPF, ceramic and tint in one campaign with one budget usually means the cheapest service eats the budget. Ask how they’ll keep the lines apart.
Questions to ask, and what good answers sound like
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Whose name is on the Google Ads account? | Yours. You have admin access today, and the agency works through manager access you can remove. |
| Can I see my Google Ads customer ID? | Yes, right now. Google requires partners to provide it when you ask. |
| Will you show me what Google actually charged? | Yes, the exact amount, separate from the fee. You can check it against your own billing. |
| What exactly is your fee, and what does it include? | A written number or range, with scope listed, and what’s billed separately. |
| What’s the minimum term, and what happens when I leave? | A short or no minimum. You keep the account, campaigns, tracking and history. |
| Do you run ads for other shops in my area? | No, or a clear answer about how they avoid bidding against themselves. |
| How will you structure PPF, ceramic and tint? | Separate campaigns or budgets, with packages as ad groups and cross-campaign negatives. |
| What’s on your negative keyword list for a PPF shop? | Specific examples: DIY, kits, film rolls, jobs, training, and the non-auto meanings of “PPF” and “clear bra”. |
| What counts as a lead in your reports? | A defined qualified inquiry: real person, your area, a service you sell. Calls need a minimum length. Spam and duplicates are removed. |
| Can your reports show booked jobs by service? | Yes, using outcomes your team marks, with click IDs or enhanced conversions tying jobs to ads. |
| Who will actually work on my account? | A named person, and how often they’ll look at it. |
| What do you guarantee? | Nothing about your revenue. If there’s a guarantee, it’s limited to something they control, such as their own fee. |
Lead quality: agree the definition first
Most arguments between shops and agencies come down to the word “lead”. Before you sign, agree in writing what a qualified inquiry is. A workable definition: a real person, in your service area, asking about a service you sell, by call, form or text. Calls need a minimum length. Spam, vendors, job seekers, wrong numbers and duplicates don’t count.
Then agree how outcomes come back: who marks inquiries as quoted, booked, completed or lost, how often, and where. A shared sheet updated weekly is enough. Without it, the agency can only report the top of the funnel.
Comparing proposals line by line
Proposals are written to look different. Put them in the same table:
| Line | Agency A | Agency B | Agency C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly management fee | |||
| Minimum ad spend | |||
| Setup or onboarding fee | |||
| Tools billed separately | |||
| Total monthly cost at minimum spend | |||
| Minimum term and notice | |||
| Account owner | |||
| Reports down to booked jobs? | |||
| Services and areas included | |||
| Exclusivity in your area | |||
| What happens when you leave |
The line that matters most is total monthly cost at minimum spend: fee plus minimum ad spend plus tools. Divide it by the gross profit of your typical job to see how many extra jobs a month the agency needs to deliver just to break even. Our budget calculator does that math.
Checklist before you sign
- The Google Ads account is in your name, and you have admin access.
- You’ve seen your customer ID and a recent Google invoice, or you’ll create the account yourself.
- The fee, what it covers and what’s billed separately are in writing.
- The minimum term and notice period are clear, and there’s no exit fee.
- A qualified inquiry is defined in writing.
- You’ve seen a sample report with booked jobs by service line.
- You know who works on the account and how you’ll reach them.
- Exclusivity in your area is in writing, if it matters to you.
- You know what happens to campaigns, tracking and data if you leave: they stay with you.
What the first 90 days should look like
Ask every agency to walk you through its first three months. A concrete answer sounds something like this:
- Week 1, access and audit. You grant access to your existing Google Ads account (or the agency creates one in your name), plus Analytics and Tag Manager. You get a short list of what’s broken.
- Weeks 1 to 2, tracking. Calls and forms are tracked, the click ID is captured on your quote form, and the sheet where your team marks outcomes is agreed. No money goes into campaigns that can’t be measured.
- Weeks 2 to 3, launch. Campaigns by service line go live with negative keyword lists from day one. You see the structure before it spends.
- Weeks 3 to 6, cleanup. Search terms are reviewed every week, negatives added, ads and landing pages adjusted. The first report shows quote requests by service.
- Weeks 6 to 9, first sold-job view. Your team marks outcomes, and you see a first cost per booked install for each service line. Budget starts moving toward what sells.
- Weeks 9 to 13, decisions. Keep, change or scale each line. If the agency offered a guarantee, it’s settled here, in writing.
If an agency can’t describe its first 90 days this plainly, ask why.
When an agency has no case studies in your market
Every agency starts somewhere, and case studies from another industry or country tell you little about PPF buyers in your city anyway. Ask for work you can judge instead: a written review of your own search results or account, a sample report, their negative keyword list for a film shop, and a plan for your first 90 days. Then reduce your risk with terms rather than trust: a short pilot, a written target, a guarantee limited to their fee, and an account that stays in your name from day one.
How we answer these questions
For transparency, here are our own answers. Your Google Ads account stays in your name, and we report the exact amount Google charged, separate from our fee. The Founding Shop Pilot is 90 days, then month to month. We run one shop per metro. Reports go down to booked installs and cost per booked install, by PPF, ceramic and tint. Our only guarantee is on our fee: we agree an inquiry target in writing, and if we miss it by day 60, month 3 management is free. We don’t guarantee your revenue. Details are on our pricing page.
FAQ
Should I hire a PPF-specific agency or a general one?
Either can work. What matters is whether they understand how PPF, ceramic and tint differ in price, search behavior and close rate, and whether they’ll report down to booked jobs. Ask them to explain how they’d structure your account. A specialist should answer in two minutes without slides.
Is a percentage-of-ad-spend fee a bad sign?
Not by itself, but it rewards spending more rather than spending better. If you accept it, cap it, and make sure the fee is shown separately from what Google charged.
What should an agency’s report include?
Ad spend as charged by Google, qualified inquiries, quotes, booked installs and cost per booked install, split by service line, plus the search terms that were excluded and what changes next month. Clicks and impressions can be in there, but they shouldn’t be the headline.
How long should I give a new agency?
Long enough for clean data: usually 60 to 90 days for a new account, because PPF buyers take time to decide. But you should see a clear structure, working tracking and a cleaned-up search terms report within the first few weeks.
Free teardown
Test us with a free teardown.
Send your website. Within 1 business day you’ll get a written teardown with annotated screenshots of your Google presence, any running ads and your quote form, and three fixes ranked by impact. Judge us on that.