The short answerCompare the agreed work with what was delivered, then examine the customer journey, evidence and the team’s response to problems. Continue when the working process supports useful decisions; agree a correction when the gap is clear and repairable; consider a change when material issues remain unresolved or the arrangement no longer fits. Plan continuity before handover.
Review more than the latest result
A weak period may deserve action, but it does not identify the cause by itself. Offers, capacity, sales delays, changed tracking and campaign work can all affect what you see. Review an appropriate period using consistent definitions, and keep the changes that happened during it visible.
Start with the signed scope and work record. Were agreed deliverables completed? Which approvals or information were outstanding? Was the team clear about what it changed and why? Separate an uncompleted task from a completed test that did not support its original hypothesis.
Bring five pieces of information to the review
- The agreed scope, responsibility split and approval requirements.
- A dated work and change record, including incomplete items.
- Spend and outcomes with consistent definitions and the relevant sales delay.
- An anonymised enquiry or order sample that helps locate the gap.
- Unresolved questions, previous answers and the action now requested.
If the records are missing, establishing them is part of the correction. Avoid accepting a confident explanation that cannot be tied to work or evidence.
Choose between continuing, correcting and changing
| Decision | What would support it |
|---|---|
| Continue | Work is delivered, evidence is usable and the next priorities are explained within your economics. |
| Correct | A specific gap can be assigned, repaired and reviewed with the current team. |
| Consider change | Material commitments remain unresolved, visibility is inadequate or the scope no longer fits. |
These are judgement criteria, not a scoring formula. Repeated missed commitments and a documented response problem are different from normal uncertainty about campaign outcomes.
Make a correction a real piece of work
Write the issue, action, owner, necessary input and review date. For example: “Verify successful enquiry delivery, reconcile it with the lead record and report the remaining discrepancies.” That is more reviewable than “optimise harder”.
When leads are arriving but sales are weak, review the enquiry route together. The provider may need to change the promise or traffic; your team may need to address qualification or follow-up. Agree the division explicitly.
A new agency still needs a clear brief
Changing the provider does not change your margins, offer or capacity. Explain the unresolved issue and what has already been tried. Ask a prospective team for a reasoned first plan and the assumptions behind it; do not treat a guaranteed result as a substitute.
Use the same proposal checklist so a new quote can be compared with the work you actually require.
Prepare continuity before changing access
Review the signed agreement’s notice and handover provisions. Inventory the website, ad accounts, analytics, tracking, enquiry destination, files and licences. Document who has access, outstanding deliverables, live campaigns and the intended change dates.
Google explains access management for its ad accounts. Confirm appropriate business access before changing the working arrangement. Plan transfer of responsibilities, testing and later removal of unnecessary access; do not assume a new team must discard every working setup.
For CLS, the published initial engagement is 90 days, followed by monthly renewal with 30 days’ notice. The current terms describe CLS’s offer; the agreement you signed with another provider governs that arrangement.
Questions before making the decision
How long should we give the agency?
Agree delivery and review dates around the work, sales cycle and available evidence. There is no universal period that establishes success or failure.
Do we need to stop every campaign during a handover?
That depends on what is changing and whether the existing route is sound. Agree continuity and verification before making account changes.
What if both sides disagree about lead quality?
Define qualification together and review an anonymised sample. Record what is unsuitable, what is unresolved and what has progressed to a deal.
Start the next conversation with the actual gap
Bring the scope, recent work and anonymised business record to a CLS discussion. We can assess whether the gap belongs in the advertising route, content work or measurement, and whether a proposed partnership fits.
Editorial review: 1 October 2026. Practical guidance; illustrations are not client results.
