Twelve questions, and four of them decide it. Which of the 5 traffic channels do you run. How many brands does my account manager carry. What ACoS would you target at launch versus at maturity. What would make you tell me to stop spending. A candidate who cannot answer those four in one call is not an operator.
The short version
- The four that decide it: traffic channels, caseload, ACoS by stage, kill criteria.
- Ask for two ACoS numbers. One number for launch and maturity is a disqualifier.
- Ask for a caseload number in writing. We run about 1.4 brands per operator.
- Ask what they killed last quarter. An agency that never recommends stopping is billing hope.
- Ask the exit questions during the sales call, not after you give notice.
The twelve questions
I run Flapen with 50 operators managing about 70 brands. I also hired and fired agencies at BRANDED and Moonshot Brands, two large Amazon aggregators, which is where this list comes from.
| # | Question | What a good answer contains |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which of the 5 traffic channels do you run? | Specifics on all five, including promotions, influencer and off-channel |
| 2 | How many brands does my account manager carry? | A number, in writing. Under eight |
| 3 | What ACoS at launch versus twelve months in? | Two numbers, each with a reason |
| 4 | What would make you tell me to stop spending? | Named metrics and a window |
| 5 | What did you kill last quarter? | An actual example |
| 6 | Can you size my market before quoting? | Market size, growth trajectory, return rate |
| 7 | Who physically does the work, and where? | Named team, in-house or subcontracted |
| 8 | What is in the weekly report? | Cost of customer acquisition, not just spend and sales |
| 9 | Whose name is on the Seller Central account? | Yours, with revocable permissions for them |
| 10 | What do I keep if I leave? | Account, campaigns, creative, written handover |
| 11 | What is the notice period? | 30 days, mutual, no minimum term |
| 12 | What is not included in the fee? | Inventory, Amazon fees, freight, ad spend, trademark |
Question 1: the traffic channels
The most predictive question in the list. There are five ways to capture traffic on Amazon: organic, paid, promotions, influencer and creator, and off-channel. Most sellers run two, and so do most agencies, because organic and Sponsored Products are what the industry teaches.
The other three are where the highest return on ad spend currently sits. An agency that runs two is not a bad agency, but it is a partial one priced as though it were complete. Ask them to walk through the economics of each of the five for your product. Ten minutes of specifics, or a redirect to case studies.
Question 3: ACoS by stage
A new product needs aggressive ACoS to build velocity and ranking. A mature product needs efficient ACoS to protect margin. Different jobs, different numbers.
You are not grading the numbers themselves, because they depend on your category and margin. You are grading whether the numbers move at all and whether the candidate can explain the transition between them.
Question 4 and 5: kill criteria
I kept pouring money into a failing product for three months hoping the ads would turn around. They did not. That taught me the most important operational skill in this business, which is knowing when to stop.
Any agency on a recurring fee has a structural incentive never to recommend stopping. Ask what the criteria are, and then ask for a real example from last quarter. The follow-up is what separates a rehearsed answer from a real practice.
Question 6: analysis before quote
If a price arrives before anyone has looked at your market, you are being sold hours.
A serious answer includes market size, growth trajectory, and return rate. We use a $2 million per year minimum market size as the floor for entry, because below that there is not enough revenue to capture profitably once you account for cost of customer acquisition.
What questions reveal a weak agency fastest
Three, in order of speed:
- "How many brands does my manager carry?" Hesitation is the answer.
- "What did you kill last quarter?" Nothing means either perfect judgment or no judgment.
- "What happens if I leave in month two?" A confident agency describes the handover. A weak one explains why leaving is complicated.
What most agencies will not tell you
Almost every question above has an answer the agency already knows and would rather not volunteer. Caseload is the clearest example. It is the single biggest driver of how your account will actually be handled, it is never in a proposal, and it is a number every agency can produce in seconds.
The other one is scope. Fees are usually quoted as though they cover growth, when they cover ad management inside two of five channels. Ask question 12 and then ask question 1 again, and compare the two answers. That gap is where most disappointment in this industry lives.
Related answers
- Must-ask questions for Amazon seller consultants
- How to choose an Amazon FBA marketing partner
- Amazon agency red flags to watch out for
- Contract terms to negotiate with Amazon agencies
- Hiring an Amazon agency: the complete guide
Ask us all twelve. The answers to most of them are already published at Flapen.
