How to Vet a Consultant or Agency: Questions and Red Flags

A good pitch tells you how a consultant or agency sells. It does not tell you how they deliver. The gap shows up weeks later, when the senior person from the meeting has disappeared, the deliverable misses the brief and the contract gives you little room to act.

This guide gives you a structured check to run before you sign. It works for a solo consultant, a small studio or a larger agency, in any country. Plan for a few hours of work spread over one or two weeks, which is small next to the cost of a project that has to be restarted.

The pre-signature checklist at a glance

1. Confirm who you are actually dealing with

Ask for the exact legal name and registration number that will appear on the contract and invoices, then look it up in the official register of the country where the provider says it is registered. Check that the entity is active, that the address and directors match what you were told, and that the name on the proposal is the name on the register.

Each country has its own register and its own rules on what is public. A few examples:

• In the UK: the Companies House register is free to search and shows company status, officers and filing history (Companies House (UK), page consulted 4 November 2026).
• In France: the Annuaire des Entreprises lets you check that a company exists, that it is active and see its public legal data (DGCCRF).
• In India: the Ministry of Corporate Affairs offers a "View Company/LLP Master Data" service on mca.gov.in.
• In the US: there is no single national company register. Search the business entity database of the state where the firm says it is incorporated.

You can also run the number through our company registration number check. If the work involves cross-border payments, check which sanctions lists apply to you: each country or group of countries publishes its own. Two examples: in the US, the Treasury's free OFAC (US), Sanctions List Search tool, page consulted 4 November 2026; in the UK, the UK Sanctions List, GOV.UK, page updated 3 November 2026, which has been the only source for all UK designations since 28 January 2026. Neither tool replaces your own checks: the UK government states that relying on its search tool does not reduce the obligation to undertake due diligence (GOV.UK, UK Sanctions List search tool: user guide, page updated 3 November 2026), and OFAC says its free tool is used at the user's own risk and that each user should perform baseline checks (OFAC (US), Sanctions List Search FAQ 892, page consulted 4 November 2026).

2. Test the portfolio and case studies

A case study is a sales document. Your job is to find out what part of the result belongs to the provider and whether the situation looks like yours. Ask for one or two cases close to your project in size, sector and type of work, not their most famous logo.

Questions to ask about each case:

• What exactly did your team do, and what did the client or other vendors do?
• What was the starting point, and how was the result measured?
• Who from your current team worked on it?
• What went wrong, and how did you handle it?
• Can I see the actual deliverable (with confidential parts removed), not only the summary?
• Can I speak with the client contact for this project?

A provider who cannot answer the first two questions precisely is often presenting a team result, or a result achieved by people who have since left.

3. Run reference calls that reveal something

References chosen by the provider will be positive. The useful information is in the details, so ask open questions and listen for hesitation. If you can, add one reference you found yourself, such as a past client listed in their portfolio.

1. What did you hire them to do, and did the scope change along the way?
2. Who did most of the work day to day?
3. Did they deliver on time and on budget? If not, how did they tell you?
4. Describe a disagreement or a mistake. How was it resolved?
5. How did they handle requests outside the original scope?
6. Would you hire them again for the same type of project? For a different one?
7. What should I set up from day one to work well with them?

Question 6 matters most. "Yes, but only for X" is a precise and useful answer.

4. Find out who will actually do the work

The most frequent gap between sale and delivery is staffing. Senior people pitch, and the work goes to juniors or to subcontractors you never met. That is not always a problem, but you should know before you sign.

• Ask for the names, roles and expected time share (for example, days per week) of each person on your project.
• Ask whether any part of the work will be subcontracted, to whom and in which country.
• Meet the day-to-day lead, not only the partner or founder.
• Write the key people into the contract, with a rule that any replacement needs your written approval and has comparable experience.

5. Run a paid trial or pilot

A short paid trial on a real piece of your project is the most reliable test you have. Paying for it keeps the provider's best people on it and gives you clear rights to the output.

• Scope: one deliverable that stands on its own, such as an audit, a prototype, one campaign or one process map.
• Price: a fixed fee, agreed in writing. See how to choose between hourly, fixed price and retainer.
• Success criteria: written before the start, for example deadline met, quality checks passed, number of revision rounds needed.
• Ownership: you own the trial output whether or not the main contract follows.
• Debrief: a short review at the end, where you also watch how they take criticism.

6. Contract points to confirm

Ownership: do not assume you own what you paid for

The rules differ by country, and the default often favors the creator. Two examples show how. In the US, a commissioned work counts as a "work made for hire" only if it falls into one of nine categories listed in the Copyright Act and both parties sign a written agreement saying so; otherwise it is not a work made for hire (U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 30, revised August 2024, page consulted 4 November 2026). In the UK, the author is the first owner of copyright, and the employer becomes owner only for work made by an employee in the course of employment (legislation.gov.uk (UK), Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 11, page consulted 4 November 2026). In these two examples, an external consultant's work stays theirs unless the contract transfers it. Requirements for a valid transfer vary by country, so have a local lawyer check the assignment clause.

Personal data

Data protection rules depend on the country. One example: in the European Union, if you are subject to the GDPR and the provider will process personal data on your behalf (customer lists, employee files, user data), the contract must be in writing and cover the points listed in Article 28, including processing only on your documented instructions, security measures, your approval of sub-processors, and deletion or return of the data at the end (GDPR, Article 28). Outside the EU, other data protection laws apply, so check which ones cover you and your provider.

Red flags and what they usually mean

One red flag is a question to ask. Two or three together are a reason to look elsewhere. To widen your shortlist, you can compare providers by specialty and city on Sendbiz, where no commission is taken on the contract you sign.

Example: a simple scoring sheet

This is an illustrative example, not a standard. Assume you are choosing between two agencies for a six-month project, and you weight the checks by what matters most to you.

In this example, Agency A had the stronger portfolio, but Agency B wins on the points that predict delivery. Set the weights before you score, so the result is not adjusted to fit a favorite.

Common mistakes

• Checking only the pitch team. Meet the person who will run your project each week.
• Calling references without a question list. You get general praise and nothing you can use.
• Skipping the pilot to save time. A short trial usually costs far less than restarting a project months in.
• Signing the provider's template unchanged. Ownership, acceptance and exit terms are usually written in their favor.
• Assuming you own the work because you paid for it. In many countries you need a written assignment.
• Comparing quotes on price only. Compare the deliverables, the team and the change request rules.
• Treating a red flag as a dealbreaker without asking. Some have a simple explanation; ask before you decide.