20 questions every real estate channel partner should ask before hiring a marketing agency

31 October 2026 · 12 min read

If you're a channel partner already selling projects, you don't need more leads. You need more genuine buyers who visit the site and book, at a cost that makes sense against your brokerage. So before you hire a real estate marketing agency, ask questions that test exactly that: how they find real buyers, how enquiries become site visits, what it will really cost, who owns the leads and data, and how you'll know your money is working. The 20 questions below cover all of it, with what a good answer sounds like.

They're grouped into four parts: buyers and site visits, budgets and fees, experience and execution, and trust and accountability. Take them into your next agency meeting.

Key takeaways

Judge an agency by site visits and bookings, not by lead count or cost per lead.
Ask how they qualify buyers and what happens in the first minutes after an enquiry.
Your ad account, leads, data and creatives should be in your name from day one.
Budgets should be worked out backwards from your site visit target, not quoted as a round number.
No honest agency guarantees bookings. Look for clear commitments on work, speed and reporting instead.

Part 1: Genuine buyers and site visits

These are the questions that matter most to a CP, so they get the longest answers.

1. How will you generate quality leads for my projects?

A good answer covers the whole chain, not just "we'll run Facebook ads". Listen for: research on who buys each project and why, a campaign per project, real video of the location and site, the configuration, area, starting price and possession shown in the ad, qualifying questions in the form, and a plan for how leads reach your team. If they can't explain the buyer for your project, they can't find them.

2. How do I get genuine buyers instead of fake or low-quality leads?

Low-quality leads usually come from four things: vague ads, forms that make enquiring too easy, broad targeting and slow follow-up. Fixes a serious agency will mention:

Price and configuration in the ad, so people who can't afford it don't enquire
Two or three qualifying questions (budget, configuration, timeline)
Meta's form setting that adds a review step, cutting accidental enquiries
Real location video instead of only renders
Feedback from your team on every lead, used to change the campaigns
Sending qualified, site visit and booking results back to Meta, so its AI learns what a real buyer looks like

Picture two campaigns with the same budget. One asks only name and phone and brings many leads that rarely answer. The other asks budget and timeline and brings fewer leads, most of whom pick up and talk. The second fills more site visit slots, even though its cost per lead looks worse. That's the difference to ask about.

3. Can a marketing agency actually get me site visits?

An agency controls the ads, the forms and often the first automated follow-up. Your team controls the calls and the visit itself. Site visits happen when both work together: leads reach your team within minutes, a WhatsApp message with the brochure and location pin goes out straight away, buyers get two specific visit slots, and reminders go out the day before and on the day. Ask the agency what they set up for this, and what they need from your team. An agency that says "follow-up is your problem" will blame your team when visits don't come.

4. How do you target buyers by budget, location and requirement?

Meta's AI now does much of the targeting, so long interest lists matter less than they used to. What still matters: the areas your buyers actually live and work in (not only the project's pincode), sensible age settings, language, and above all the creative and form, which do the real filtering by budget and configuration. A good agency will talk about micro-markets (for example, which Mumbai suburbs feed a Navi Mumbai project), price bands and the configurations each buyer wants.

5. Will my leads be exclusive, or shared with other CPs?

Ask directly: will the agency run campaigns for other CPs selling the same project at the same time? If yes, you may be bidding against each other for the same buyers and receiving overlapping enquiries. Also ask: are leads collected in your ad account and your form, and delivered only to you? Are they ever resold or added to a shared database? Get the answers in writing.

6. How many leads and site visits can I expect from my budget?

An honest agency won't give you a number before testing, because results depend on the project, price, area, creative and your follow-up. What they should give you is the method: your site visit target, an assumed lead-to-visit rate, an assumed cost per lead, and the budget that follows. Then a first month to replace those assumptions with your real numbers.

The maths is simple: leads needed equals your visit target divided by your lead-to-visit rate, and budget equals leads needed multiplied by cost per lead. Improve follow-up and the same budget brings more visits.

7. How long before campaigns start producing results?

Leads usually start within days of launch. Steady, predictable results take longer: Meta's system needs time and enough results to learn, creatives need testing, and the feedback loop between your team and the campaigns needs a few rounds. Be wary of anyone promising instant results, and equally of anyone who asks for months of patience with no clear milestones.

8. Which strategy works best for a channel partner?

For most CPs, Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) are the main engine, because they create demand for projects buyers haven't searched for yet. Google search helps catch people searching for specific areas or project names. A simple landing page helps for some campaigns. YouTube suits longer walkthroughs, especially for higher-ticket projects. Retargeting brings back people who watched your videos. WhatsApp is where follow-up happens. Ask the agency which of these they'd use for your projects, and why.

Part 2: Budgets and fees

9. How much does a real estate marketing agency charge in India?

Fees vary with scope, so compare what's included, not just the number. Common models:

Fixed monthly fee, with ad spend paid separately to Meta or Google
Percentage of ad spend
Fee per lead, which can reward quantity over quality
Setup fee plus a monthly fee
Add-ons for video shoots, landing pages or CRM

Ask whether GST applies to the fee, and remember Meta adds GST to ad spend on Indian accounts. Get a written list of what the fee covers.

10. How much should I spend on Facebook and Instagram ads each month?

Work it out from your target, as in question 6, rather than picking a round figure. Then sense-check it against your economics: what one booking earns you in brokerage, and how many bookings the budget would need to bring to pay for itself. For many CPs, the honest maths is that a small number of extra bookings covers the whole month's spend. Our guide to Facebook ad costs for real estate explains the method.

11. Should I hire an agency or run Meta and Google ads myself?

Running ads yourself saves the fee but costs time, and the learning curve is paid for in wasted spend. It can work if you or someone on your team has real experience, time every day and good tracking. An agency makes sense when you want experience across many campaigns, creative production and tracking set up properly, while you focus on selling. Either way, the accounts should be yours.

12. What services should an agency provide to a channel partner?

At minimum: strategy per project, campaign setup and management, creatives (including short video), lead forms or landing pages, a way for leads to reach your team instantly, tracking from lead to booking, and regular reporting. Useful extras: WhatsApp follow-up automation, a CRM, a sales script for first calls, and help with MahaRERA-compliant creatives.

Part 3: Experience and execution

13. How do I choose the best digital marketing agency for my real estate business?

Look for real estate experience, a clear method from ad to site visit, transparency on fees and reporting, accounts in your name, sensible contract terms, and a person you'll actually work with who understands CP business: mandates, price bands, lead tagging and brokerage.

14. How can I check that an agency has real estate experience?

Ask for specific campaigns: project type, city, price band, what they did and what happened. Ask to see a real (anonymised) report. Ask how they handled a campaign that wasn't working. If possible, speak to a past client. Be careful with screenshots that show only leads and cost per lead; ask what happened next.

15. Will the agency make the ads, videos and landing pages?

Ask exactly what's produced each month: how many creatives, whether video is shot on site or made from builder material, who writes the copy, whether landing pages are included and how many revisions you get. Real location and site footage matters a lot in property, so ask how they'll get it.

16. Do you provide a CRM and WhatsApp automation?

Leads lost between the ad and the call are the most expensive kind. Ask how leads reach your team (instant alert, CRM, sheet), whether new leads get an automatic WhatsApp reply with the brochure, whether site visits get automatic reminders, and whether your team can mark each lead's status so the campaigns can learn from it.

Part 4: Trust, ownership and accountability

17. How do you track leads, site visits and bookings?

The answer should go beyond Meta's dashboard. Ask for tracking by campaign through each stage: lead, qualified, site visit, booking. And ask for the costs at each stage: cost per lead, per qualified lead, per site visit, per booking. These are the numbers that tell you whether marketing is paying for itself.

18. Who owns the ad accounts, leads and data?

You should. The Meta business portfolio, ad account, Facebook Page, Instagram account, lead forms, landing pages, lead data and creatives should be in your name, with the agency given access. If you part ways, everything stays with you, including the campaign history that makes future campaigns cheaper. Also ask how buyer data is stored and protected; India's data protection law applies to leads too.

19. What happens if the campaigns don't deliver?

Ask what the agency does when results are poor: how quickly they spot it, what they change, how they report it, and when you review together. Then ask about exit terms: notice period, any lock-in, and what you keep. An agency confident in its work doesn't need to trap you in a long contract.

20. Can an agency guarantee leads, site visits or bookings?

Bookings depend on the project, its price, the market, the builder and your sales team, so no honest agency can guarantee them. Lead numbers can be "guaranteed" only by lowering quality. What a serious agency can commit to: the work they'll do, how fast leads reach you, what they'll report, how they'll act on your feedback, and that everything stays in your name. Treat any promise of guaranteed bookings as a warning sign.

How to compare agencies after the meetings

Write each agency's answers side by side on the same points:

How they find and qualify genuine buyers
What they set up for follow-up and site visits
Budget recommendation and the reasoning behind it
Fee, what's included, GST and extras
Who will run your account
Tracking and reporting to bookings
Ownership of accounts, data and creatives
Exclusivity on your projects
Contract and exit terms

The best choice is rarely the cheapest or the one with the boldest promises. It's the one most likely to bring you site visits at a cost your brokerage can support, with you in control.

Final checklist before you sign

Ad accounts and pages are in your name
Scope and deliverables are written down
The site visit target and budget logic are agreed
Lead routing and response time are agreed
Tracking stages and reporting are agreed
MahaRERA details will be on every ad, with your agent registration. See our MahaRERA ad rules guide.
Exclusivity and lead ownership are in writing
Exit terms are clear

Common mistakes

Hiring on cost per lead. It says nothing about buyers who visit.
Not asking about follow-up. Most lost bookings happen after the lead arrives.
Letting the agency own the account. You lose your data and history when you leave.
No written scope. "We'll handle everything" means different things to different people.
Believing guarantees. They usually hide low-quality leads or fine print.
Not giving feedback. Without your team's input on lead quality, campaigns can't improve.

Questions people ask

What does a real estate marketing agency do for a channel partner?

It finds buyers for your mandated projects through ads (mostly Meta, sometimes Google), creates the ads and videos, sets up forms or landing pages, sends leads to your team instantly, helps with follow-up, and tracks results from lead to site visit to booking.

Is a marketing agency worth it for a small CP firm?

It can be, if your team can call leads fast and handle site visits, and if the maths works: what you spend each month against the brokerage from the extra bookings it needs to bring. Start with a clear target and an agency that measures by site visits.

Can a channel partner run ads for a builder's project?

Many do. Check the builder's rules on advertising their project, use approved project details, and in Maharashtra include the project's MahaRERA registration number, website and QR code plus your own agent registration number.

What should be in a contract with a real estate marketing agency?

Scope and deliverables, fees and what they include, ad spend handling, account and data ownership, lead exclusivity, reporting, response times, notice period and exit terms.

Bring it together

The right agency for a channel partner thinks like a CP: in buyers, site visits, brokerage and bookings, not impressions and followers. Use these 20 questions to find one. For the wider picture, read real estate marketing for channel partners. And see how we run real estate lead generation for channel partners.