Ways To Spot If Your SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing Service Provider Is A Con-Artist.

There are certain questions which you can now ask while hiring a professional in order to spot a con-artist. The cult of positive thinking and "the law of attraction" still seem to be very much alive and well in the business services industry. 

There are a few simple questions that you can ask prospective business service providers for helping to gauge if they are the real deal or just are the ones to "say yes to everything". This questions will help people to distinguish if the expert they are talking is really just an expert in bullshit having a likeable personality. 

THE QUESTIONS:

a. Who influences you professionally?

b. Do you follow any "thought leaders" ? If so, then who?

c. What "school" of thoughts do you ascribe in your profession?

d. Any industry standards that you agree with?

e. How do you apply to the services you offer to your own company?

f. Please can you tell me the background of your support staff?

g. Do you outsource any of the work your company does?

h. Can we audit your process before buying your services?

i. Can we have a discussion on your proposed startegies with other in the industry to ensure quality?

j. Can you show me examples of your past successful jobs?

k.How many clients did you have in the past and how many do you currently have?

l. How many clients are you able to handle at one time?

m. How many other clients do you have that are in the same industry as my company?

n. Can you explain the steps you will take for identifying my company's needs?

o. Have you ever taken a course in NLP or any other similar course of study?

Apart from asking these questions, you also need to pay attention to the answers as well as the way they are answering these questions. After getting the answers you also got to research regarding the company in order to make sure they are true. 

Never leave your business decisions to chance encounters at networking events and always research before saying yes. 

HOW DO YOU RESEARCH?

Firstly, look at the website of the company that you are considering to work with. Try and see the following questions:

1.Does it look professional?

2.Are you able to see a list of their past clients?

3. Do they effectively tell their story as a company or they are just saying?

4. What do their social media profiles look like? How many followers do they have?

5. Do they have any positive reviews on social sites?