Don’t Hire the Coach Who Can’t Play the Game
How do you hire someone to help you do something you’ve never done before?
That’s the problem. If you already knew exactly how to build a high-performing website, dominate search, generate qualified leads, run digital campaigns, and turn traffic into business, you probably wouldn’t need an agency.
But if you don’t know how to do those things, how are you supposed to know who does? To find the best web design agency, look for someone who already has what you want. Not someone who says they can do it. Someone who is actually doing it.
The Tennis Coach: A Lesson on Hiring Based on Outcomes
Our Founder, Conrad, tells a famous story about the benefits of hiring an expert. He grew up playing hockey and eventually captained his college team while winning division championships. Hockey came naturally. He didn’t spend much time thinking about why he played well. He just did.
Then he took up tennis as an adult. Different story.
He wanted to become good at it, but this time, he didn’t know how. So he asked a trusted advisor how to choose a coach.
Their advice was simple: Hire the coach who has the game you want and the stroke you want, because that’s the person most likely to know how to teach you to get there.
Conrad interviewed roughly a dozen coaches until he found one with the training approach and game he wanted. A decade later, he’s still playing. The lesson goes far beyond tennis. When you don’t know how to evaluate the process, start by evaluating the outcome.
“A coach can make you look great in practice. The real test is whether you can win a match. Look at agencies the same: Can they produce results when their own money is on the line?” — Conrad Strabone, Founder & Chief Happiness Officer | e9digital
Hire the Agency That Has the Success You Want
The best way to hire someone is to see: are they doing well where you want to succeed? For example, you wouldn’t ask subway directions from someone in Times Square who looks fresh out of Indiana. You’d ask someone walking so fast they’re nearly sprinting!
Think like this:
- If you’re hiring an SEO agency to improve your rankings… Can you find them on Google?
- If you’re hiring someone to create a great website… Would their website convince you to contact them?
- If you’re hiring someone to build your reputation… What do past clients say about them?
- If you’re hiring someone to generate leads… How did you find them?
It’s one of the strongest tests for selecting a web design company.
Before asking what an agency promises to do for you, examine what it has already accomplished for itself.
Your Digital Marketing Agency Should Have Skin in the Game
A lot of marketing advice is theoretical. It’s much easier to recommend spending someone else’s money than your own. An agency with skin in the game, like e9digital, does something different.
It invests its own:
- Money: They’re willing to fund the strategies they recommend.
- Time: Their own team consistently works on their marketing.
- Reputation: Their business is publicly demonstrating whether the strategy works.
- Resources: They’re committing real talent to the same channels they sell.
- Risk: When something doesn’t work, it’s their money on the line.
That’s an important distinction. They aren’t simply telling clients: “You should try this.”
They’re saying: “We do this ourselves. Here’s what happened.”
Don’t Let Your Business Become the Experiment
“I don’t want our clients paying for our learning curve. We test, measure, and invest in these strategies ourselves before asking anyone else to trust them.” — Conrad Strabone, Founder & Chief Happiness Officer | e9digital
Every marketing strategy involves testing. That’s normal. What’s risky is hiring an agency whose entire understanding of a tactic comes from experimenting on clients.
There’s a difference between: “We’ve done this. Here’s what we’ve learned,” and “We think this should work.”
Whether you have an established website marketing agency or are looking for a new one, it doesn’t hurt to ask these questions about their services:
- Have they invested in the strategy themselves?
- What happened?
- What failed?
- What did they change?
- What did they learn?
- Would they still spend their own money on it today?
The agency’s own business should be where they learn their best practices. They should experiment on their own business with their own money, not yours.
Look at the Process Behind the Results
A marketing agency’s results are important, of course. But it’s just as critical to understand how they got there. Here’s an example of why.
Many agencies are ranked #1 on Google. You might assume that makes them the head honcho. But here’s the truth: Google’s algorithm highly values time. So they might be ranked #1 because their domain has existed for 20 years. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best at SEO.
So once you identify the outcome you want, dig deeper. Ask:
- How did you achieve this? You want to know whether success came from a repeatable strategy or circumstance.
- How long did it take? Good marketing rarely produces sustainable results overnight.
- What did you invest? Outcomes need context.
- What didn’t work? Experienced marketers should be able to talk comfortably about failures.
- What did you change along the way? Adaptability matters because marketing never stays static.
- Can the same principles apply to my business? Their exact strategy may not transfer, but the thinking behind it should.
You don’t just want to know about their success, but also how they repeated the experience.
Don’t Confuse Their Success With Your Strategy
A marketing partner should practice what it preaches. That doesn’t mean it should copy its own strategy and hand it to you verbatim. Instead, they should do research to understand your:
- audience
- industry
- competitors
- sales cycle
- customer value
- geography
- goals
No agency has a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, the agency should understand why its strategies work well enough to adapt those principles to your situation.
That way, they always work based on experience and not autopilot.
This is critical because B2B buyers use an average of 10 different channels throughout the buying journey.1 You need a website design and marketing agency that knows how to build your presence across multiple platforms.
Signs an Agency May Not Practice What It Preaches
“Telling a client to invest in a strategy you won’t use yourself is like telling them to buy Apple while you’re shorting the stock. If you believe in it, your own money should be there too.” — Conrad Strabone, Founder & Chief Happiness Officer | e9digital
Before opening a portfolio, investigate the agency itself. It’s important to look for red flags that may show that an agency is all sparkle and no substance.
Look for the following signs that an agency may not quite know what they’re doing yet:
- They sell SEO but are impossible to find: Worth asking why.
- They preach reputation but have few reviews: Their own marketing should demonstrate the importance they place on trust.
- They build websites but their own site is outdated: 69% of B2B buyers have found inconsistent info between a website and salespeople.2
- They recommend constant content but rarely publish: There’s a disconnect between advice and behavior.
- They can’t explain where their leads come from: Marketing experts should understand their own acquisition channels.
- They recommend tactics they’ve never done: Your budget shouldn’t automatically become their testing ground.
- They only talk about client results, not their own: Both matter when evaluating whether they practice what they preach.
None of these automatically disqualifies an agency, but they should make you ask further questions.
We Put Our Own Money Where Our Mouth Is
Just like Conrad, if you want to get better at tennis, don’t just hire someone who owns a racket. Hire someone who understands the game you want to play.
At e9digital, we always say that we have skin in the game. The strategies we recommend aren’t theories we’re testing with someone else’s marketing budget. We invest in our own SEO, paid search, content, reputation, outreach, and website. To find the best agency, look for someone who already has what you want.
Everything we ask our clients to invest in, we’re willing to invest in ourselves.
Because if we wouldn’t bet on it with our own business, why would we ask you to bet on it with yours?
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell if a marketing agency practices what it preaches?
Look at the agency’s own marketing. Examine its website, search visibility, reviews, content, reputation, social presence, and how you discovered it. Then compare those results with the services and strategies it’s recommending to you.
Should an SEO agency rank highly on Google?
Its own search visibility is certainly worth evaluating, but rankings should be considered alongside other evidence. Ask which terms the agency targets, how it generates business, and what role SEO plays in its own marketing strategy.
Should a marketing agency use the same strategies it recommends to clients?
Not necessarily every tactic, because businesses have different audiences and goals. However, an agency should have firsthand experience with the strategies it recommends and be able to explain what it has learned from using them.
Why does “skin in the game” matter when choosing an agency?
An agency that invests its own money and resources in marketing experiences the same risks its clients face. That firsthand experience can lead to more informed recommendations and greater accountability.
What should I ask an agency about its own marketing?
Ask where its leads come from, which strategies it uses, what has produced results, what hasn’t worked, how its approach has evolved, and whether it would make the same investment if it were spending its own money.
Is an agency’s own website a good way to judge its capabilities?
It’s one important piece of evidence. If an agency specializes in websites, its own site should demonstrate clear messaging, thoughtful design, strong positioning, and an effective path to conversion. But it should still be evaluated alongside client work, results, reviews, and process.
What’s the most important thing to look for when choosing a marketing agency?
Look for alignment between what the agency promises and what it actually does. Strong partners should be able to demonstrate that their expertise comes from real experience, not simply marketing theory.
