10-Point Agency Selection Criteria: How to Pick an Agency That Actually Produces Results

The Framework

The 10-Point Agency Selection Criteria from Alex Hormozi's $100M Leads provides a systematic evaluation framework for hiring external agencies to handle lead generation, advertising, content, or other Core Four activities. Most entrepreneurs hire agencies based on sales presentations, promises, and gut feeling — then waste months and thousands of dollars discovering the agency can't deliver. Hormozi's ten criteria replace gut feeling with structured evaluation that predicts performance before money changes hands.

The Ten Criteria

1. Referral source. How did you find this agency? A referral from a trusted business contact who used them successfully is the strongest signal. An inbound sales email or cold ad is the weakest. Agencies that grow through referrals are agencies whose clients get results worth talking about. Agencies that grow through aggressive outbound are agencies whose clients don't refer.

2. Client portfolio. Who are their current and past clients? Are those businesses similar to yours in industry, size, and model? An agency that excels at ecommerce Facebook ads may be terrible at B2B LinkedIn lead gen. Relevance of their portfolio to your specific situation is more important than the portfolio's size or prestige.

3. Waitlist. Do they have a waitlist? Good agencies are capacity-constrained because they don't churn clients — their clients stay because results are good. An agency desperate for new clients is an agency losing existing ones. A waitlist isn't a guarantee of quality, but the absence of one in a mature agency is a warning sign.

4. Expectation setting. What do they promise during the sales process? Agencies that promise specific results ("We'll generate 50 leads per month at $20 each") are either lying or have enough confidence and data to back the claim. Agencies that promise vague outcomes ("We'll improve your marketing") are hedging because they can't predict their own performance. The best agencies set conservative expectations and overdeliver.

5. Strategy explanation. Can they articulate a specific strategy for your business — not a generic pitch, but a plan that reflects your market, your offer, and your current situation? An agency that proposes the same approach for every client hasn't thought about your specific needs. The strategy conversation reveals whether they understand your business or just want your money.

6. Requirements from you. What do they need from you to succeed? Good agencies have a clear, specific list of requirements: access to accounts, creative assets, brand guidelines, response time commitments. Agencies that say "just give us the budget and we'll handle everything" either don't understand the collaboration required or plan to produce generic work that doesn't need your input.

7. Meeting cadence. How often will you meet and what will be reviewed? The best agencies provide structured reporting with clear metrics, regular strategic reviews, and proactive communication about what's working and what isn't. Agencies that resist regular meetings or provide vague reporting are hiding poor performance behind opacity.

8. Tracking and attribution. How do they track results? Can they demonstrate a clear attribution model that connects their work to your business outcomes? If the agency can't prove which leads came from their efforts versus your other channels, you'll never know if they're worth the money. Demand specific tracking infrastructure before signing.

9. Value Equation alignment. Apply Hormozi's Value Equation from $100M Offers to the agency's own offering: Does their service increase your dream outcome (more leads, better leads)? Is the perceived likelihood of achievement high (proven track record)? Do they minimize time delay (fast ramp-up, quick iterations)? Do they reduce effort and sacrifice (they handle complexity so you don't have to)? An agency that scores poorly on their own Value Equation will score poorly on yours.

10. Price as quality signal. Hormozi's counterintuitive rule: the best agency should be the most expensive one you're considering. Cheap agencies are cheap because they can't command premium pricing — which means their results don't justify higher fees. Expensive agencies can charge more because their clients achieve results that make the higher fee irrelevant. The Agency-as-Teacher Model applies: a great agency teaches you enough in 6 months that you can eventually bring the function in-house — and that education is worth a premium.

Cross-Library Connections

Hormozi's Value Equation from $100M Offers provides criterion #9 directly — evaluating the agency's own offering through the same lens you'd evaluate any offer. Dream outcome, perceived likelihood, time delay, and effort/sacrifice are the four variables that determine whether the agency's fee represents value or waste.

Fisher's Objective Criteria principle from Getting to Yes applies to agency negotiations: instead of bargaining over price based on willpower, evaluate agencies against objective standards (these ten criteria) that both parties can agree are fair measures of quality.

Wickman's Accountability Chart from The EOS Life determines where the agency sits in your organizational structure: which seat do they fill? Who do they report to? What are their measurable outcomes? An agency without clear accountability in your organizational chart is an agency without clear responsibility for results.

Implementation

📚 From $100M Leads by Alex Hormozi — Get the book