Once you’ve defined what you need, here’s how to evaluate who can actually deliver it.
SaaS experience you can verify. Any agency can put “SaaS” on their website. Ask how many SaaS companies they’ve worked with, for how long, and in what capacity. Look for case studies with real numbers. If they can’t show you results from B2B SaaS clients specifically, they’re probably not specialists.
The people who pitch should be the people who do the work. This is one of the biggest frustrations in agency world. A senior team sells you in, then you get handed to a junior account manager you’ve never met. Ask directly: who will be on my account day-to-day, and what’s their experience? At Xander Marketing, for example, the team you meet is the team on your account.
They should understand your metrics. In your first conversation, see if they talk about the things that matter to your business: MQL to SQL conversion, pipeline velocity, customer acquisition cost, churn reduction. If the conversation stays at the level of “we’ll get you more traffic,” that’s a warning sign. You can check what SaaS marketing benchmarks to aim for to prepare for those conversations.
Look at their own marketing. How did you find them? Is their website clear and well-structured? Do they publish useful content? Is their SEO working? An agency that can’t market itself effectively should make you think twice.
Understand the commercial model. Monthly retainer? Project-based? Minimum contract term? What happens if it’s not working after three months? What’s included and what costs extra? Get this clear before you sign anything.
