If you've hired a marketing company that promised you motivated leads and delivered garbage, you're not alone. I hear it on literally every sales call.
"We tried an agency. It worked for a month then quality tanked."
"They showed us great screenshots to sign us up, then the results were nothing like that."
"We spent $15k and closed one deal."
The problem isn't that marketing agencies don't work. The problem is that most of them aren't built to deliver results for real estate investors specifically. They're generalists running the same playbook they use for dentists and HVAC companies.
Here's what they get wrong — and what to look for instead.
What Most Agencies Get Wrong
1. They optimize for CPL, not cost per deal
The agency brags about $30 leads. You're thrilled. Three months later you've spent $12k and closed one deal. Your cost per deal is $12k. The agency hits their CPL target and says everything's fine.
Any agency that leads with cost per lead and can't tell you their average client's cost per deal is either not tracking it or doesn't want to show you.
2. They set it and forget it
Most agencies launch your campaigns with 3–5 ads and check in once a month. Facebook's algorithm degrades without active management — it expands to broader audiences, lead quality drops, and by month 3 your results are dead. The agency blames "market conditions."
We review every client account 3 times per week minimum. Tuesday and Thursday full team reviews. Monday CPL reports with lead quality feedback loops. 50+ new ad creatives per month. That's what active management looks like.
3. They don't understand the real estate investor business
When your agency doesn't know what a novation is, doesn't understand why listed property leads are worthless, can't tell you the difference between a net lead and an appointment, and has never run a wholesale operation — they can't optimize for what actually matters.
We built a wholesale company to 90+ deals per year before we started managing ads for other investors. We understand the full funnel because we've operated in it.
4. They don't filter leads
No 2FA phone verification. No listed property filtering. No non-owner filtering. You get a flood of leads that includes listed properties, renters, wrong numbers, and people who accidentally clicked an ad. Your sales team wastes hours sorting through junk, and your pixel gets trained on bad data.
5. There's no communication cadence
You signed up and the communication dropped off a cliff. You don't know what's happening in your account. You can't get someone on a call. When you do talk to them, they give you vague answers about "optimization" without showing you actual data.
What to Look For Instead
1. Average client results with specifics
Not best-case results — average client results. What's the average CPL across all clients? What's the average lead-to-contract ratio? What's the average cost per deal? What percentage of clients are profitable?
Our numbers: $77.71 avg CPL, 1 in 15–20 leads to a contract, ~$2,000 cost per contract, best client at 1 in 6. Across 26 accounts. We share this openly because we're confident in it.
2. A management cadence you can verify
How often do they review your account? What does the review process look like? How many new ad creatives do they produce per month? How do they get lead quality feedback from you?
If the answer is "we check in monthly" or they can't describe a specific cadence, that tells you everything.
3. Month-to-month terms
Any agency that requires a 6-month or 12-month contract is telling you they can't retain clients on results alone. If results are good, clients stay voluntarily. If results are bad, you should be able to leave.
We operate month to month. No setup fee. No minimum commitment. Our average client stays for 19–20 months — because the results keep them, not the contract.
The Transparency Test
Here's the simplest way to evaluate any marketing partner. Ask them these questions:
- What is your average client's cost per lead? (They should give you an exact number.)
- What is your average client's lead-to-contract ratio? (If they don't track this, walk away.)
- What is your average client's cost per deal? (This is the number that actually matters.)
- How often do you review my account? (3x/week minimum for Facebook.)
- How many new ad creatives do you produce per month? (Should be at least 10–12 for your account.)
- What happens when results dip? (They should describe a specific diagnostic and optimization process.)
If they can't answer all 6 with specifics, they're not managing accounts at the level required to get consistent results.
We built our entire company around the things other agencies get wrong. If you want to see the difference, book a strategy call.
Book a Free Strategy Call →Chandler Saine | CEO of Level Up REI
leveluprei.io