# Demand generation agency interview guide

This is a working script for finalist calls. Start by copying your Must haves and the Unknowns that could change your decision from the scorecard. Ask the same core questions of each candidate. Then spend the rest of the call on those Unknowns.

A polished call does not replace written scope. Mark an answer as resolved only when the evidence supports the decision you need to make. A promised document stays `Unknown` until you receive and inspect it.

## Call setup

| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Company | Unknown |
| Candidate | Unknown |
| Primary brief type | Unknown: demand/pipeline, or broader brand/corporate communications/PR/events/market entry |
| Buyer Must haves | Unknown |
| Material Unknowns | Unknown |
| Buyer exclusions | Unknown |
| Proposed engagement | Unknown |

## Model and strategy

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Based on our goal and current team, what would you own in the first 90 days, and what would you leave with us? | Named work, sequence, owner, dependency and decision point | Which part fails if our team cannot supply its input on time? | Written 30/60/90-day scope with Agency, Client or Shared ownership |
| Is this primarily a demand and pipeline engagement, or does it require broader brand, corporate communications, PR, events or market-entry ownership? | One primary job, named boundaries and a clear owner for broader work | Which Must haves sit outside your demand-generation model? | Brief and proposal section separating included, excluded and referred work |
| Which partner model are you proposing: specialist, full-service, outbound-led, category specialist or advisory? | A clear model and the limits that come with it | Which requested work sits outside that model? | Proposal section covering included and excluded work |
| What would you need to learn before committing to this plan? | Specific discovery questions and willingness to preserve Unknowns | Which recommendation is provisional until then? | Discovery plan and decision dates |
| What would make you tell us not to hire you? | A concrete mismatch, operating constraint or dependency | Have you excluded similar work before? | Written fit conditions and exclusions |

## The eight ownership workstreams

### Strategy and planning

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns ICP, positioning, channel choices, sequencing and the experiment backlog? | Named owner, client input, approval right and cadence | Show who turns research into the next experiment. | Responsibility map and sample planning artifact |

### Paid media

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who builds, approves and changes campaigns, and who controls budget? | Platforms, access, pacing authority, optimization cadence and escalation rules | What can your team change without our approval? | Paid-media scope, access model and sample change log |

### Creative production

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walk us through who writes, designs, approves and ships the first three creative tests. | Real people, formats, volume, revisions, source material and turnaround | If an idea needs video, who scripts, records, edits and approves it? | Production workflow, monthly volume, revision limits and relevant samples |

### Content and organic demand

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who researches, interviews experts, writes, approves, distributes and repurposes content? | SME burden, editorial standard, distribution owner and publishing access | Show one piece from brief through distribution and name what you owned. | Content scope, sample brief and comparable published example |

### Landing pages, website and CRO

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who writes, designs, builds, tests and deploys landing-page changes? | CMS access, developer dependency, QA, test volume and approval | What happens when our engineer is unavailable? | Web responsibility map and sample test record |

### Tracking and analytics

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who checks tracking, states attribution limits and decides what campaign data means? | Instrumentation owner, QA, source of truth, decision cadence and uncertainty | Show a decision that changed because the data was incomplete or conflicting. | Tracking plan, sample report and decision-review agenda |

### CRM and revenue feedback

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns lifecycle fields, routing, enrichment and pipeline feedback? | Systems access, field definitions, error handling and named owners | Which CRM changes are included, and which need our RevOps team? | CRM responsibility map and field/routing specification |

### Sales handoff or SDR execution

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show how a rejected lead or stalled opportunity gets back to the person changing campaigns. | Feedback path, reason codes, cadence, ownership and actual decisions | What happens when sales does not update the CRM? | Handoff SLA, meeting-acceptance rules and feedback-loop example |
| If outbound is in scope, who selects accounts, sources data, writes messages, sends outreach and qualifies replies? | Clear data, execution, compliance, qualification and handoff owners | What exactly counts as an accepted meeting? | Outbound scope, data policy and meeting-acceptance definition |

## Team, staffing and seniority

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who will work on our account each week? | Names or committed roles, seniority, allocation and day-to-day lead | Which people on this call remain after the sale? | Proposed team chart with allocation |
| What happens if the day-to-day lead leaves or capacity changes? | Replacement standard, notice and continuity plan | Is equivalent seniority written into the agreement? | Staffing and replacement clause |

## Operating cadence and approvals

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| What do we review weekly, monthly and quarterly, and who can make each decision? | Meetings tied to decisions, owners, inputs and outputs | Show the agenda and action record from a representative review. | Sample agenda, report and decision log |
| Which approvals do you need from us, in what format and by when? | Named approver, lead time, fallback and effect of delay | What stops if we miss the deadline? | Approval schedule and escalation rule |

## Measurement, CRM feedback and sales handoff

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Which metrics change a campaign decision, and which are reporting context only? | Metric definitions, source, denominator and decision thresholds | Walk through one decision from signal to action. | Sample report with decision annotations |
| How do you connect spend and activity to qualified pipeline without overstating attribution? | CRM stages, match limits, offline events and stated uncertainty | What remains Unknown in your normal report? | Measurement plan and attribution-limit statement |

## Comparable proof and references

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show the case most comparable to our buyer, motion and constraint. What did your team actually own? | Starting condition, buyer, work owned, period, denominator and stated result | Which parts of our proposed scope were absent from that case? | Case source and a written ownership breakdown |
| May we speak with a client who bought a similar scope? | A relevant reference and permission to ask about delivery | Can the reference confirm the proposed team model and handoffs? | Reference contact or introduction; no confidential client data |

## Fees, media, tools and pass-through costs

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Break the commercial proposal into agency fee, media, software, production and pass-through costs. | Separate values, minimums, variable charges and approval rules | What could raise the monthly amount, and who approves it? | Itemized fee schedule and change-control clause |
| Which production volumes and revisions are included? | Units, formats, complexity, revisions and overage rates | What is excluded from the quoted fee? | Deliverable schedule and assumptions |

## Contract, access, IP, data portability and exit

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the ad accounts, domains, analytics properties, audiences, creative files and data? | Buyer-controlled access, admin rights, file delivery and portability | What can we export on any day without your help? | Access, IP and data ownership clauses |
| What are the term, renewal, notice and termination rules? | Exact dates, automatic renewal, fees and transition duties | What do we receive during offboarding, and by when? | Contract and offboarding clause |

## Conflicts, exclusions and client dependencies

| Ask | Listen for | Follow up | Record/request |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is your conflict policy, and do you have a current conflict in our category or account list? | Defined category, geography, disclosure and handling | Who decides whether a new client creates a conflict later? | Conflict policy and written disclosure |
| What must our team provide for this engagement to work? | Hours, roles, access, assets, data, approvals and sales coverage | Which dependency is currently Unknown or at risk? | Client-responsibility schedule |
| Which tactics, claims or data practices would you refuse to use? | Clear boundaries that match buyer exclusions | How is that enforced with subcontractors? | Policy or contract language |

## Scenario probes

Use the probes that match your scope.

1. A campaign is spending but sales rejects most leads. Walk through the next five business days, including who checks the data, who speaks to sales and who changes the campaign.
2. The first three creative tests fail. Show who develops the next ideas, which evidence they use and what the client must supply.
3. Tracking breaks before a launch. Who detects it, who repairs it and who can pause spend?
4. Our only developer is unavailable for two weeks. What landing-page work can still ship?
5. The day-to-day lead leaves during month two. Who replaces them, at what seniority and with what handover?
6. We terminate the engagement. List every account, file, audience, report and credential handoff by date. Do not send credentials during the interview.

## Closing interview record

| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Unknown |
| Interview date | Unknown |
| Attendees | Unknown |
| Strongest fit | Unknown |
| Biggest risk | Unknown |
| Newly resolved fields | Unknown |
| Remaining Unknowns | Unknown |
| Evidence promised | Unknown |
| Evidence owner | Unknown |
| Due date | Unscheduled |
| Disposition | Hold for evidence |

Update the scorecard only with what the call and inspected evidence establish. Record conflicts instead of silently choosing the newer or more convenient answer.