Resources · Tool · Free, no email · Updated

AGENCY QUARTERLY REVIEW AGENDA

Build the pack the week before you sit down with your agency. Questions to ask, and the answers an owner should listen for, on ownership, retention, AI in delivery, and outcomes rather than activity.

How it works

  1. Choose the period you are reviewing and the year.
  2. Pick the spend band. It changes how far the commercial questions go, and nothing else.
  3. Tick every channel this agency touches. Unticked channels are left out of the pack.
  4. Generate the pack, print it, and take it into the room.

Build your QBR pack

Calendar quarters. If your review runs on a financial year, use Custom and name it.

Only used when the period above is set to Custom. For example: FY26 H1, or Apr to Aug.

Monthly spend band (media and agency fees)

Approximate combined monthly outlay. This sets how far the commercial questions go. It is not a score.

Channels in scope

Tick everything this agency touches for the period. Anything unticked is left out of the pack.

Nothing you enter here leaves your browser. Close the page and it is gone.

Your printable pack will appear here.

Print it or save it as a PDF and take it in. Cross out what does not apply, and push on anything that sounds like activity without ownership or a result. If the answers leave you wondering whether this agency still fits, that is a different job: the agency vetting scorecard is the hire-time tool, not this one.

A practical agenda, not legal, financial or procurement advice. Adjust the questions to your own contracts and jurisdiction. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored.

Goes well with

Scorecard
The agency vetting scorecard

Most agency pain was visible in the pitch, if you knew what to ask.

Get the scorecard

If you would rather have this done with you than to you, this is the work I do. See services

Why the quarterly review goes flat

Most quarterly reviews are a presentation, not a review. The agency arrives with a deck, walks you through activity, and the hour is gone before anyone asks who owns the ad account or what got stopped. Turning up with your own agenda changes the shape of the meeting, because the questions are yours and the silences are theirs to fill. If you are still deciding whether to keep the relationship at all, the vetting scorecard is the tool for that decision.

The two questions most owners skip

The first is where AI now sits in delivery, which matters because the output volume has changed at almost every agency and the review step often has not. The second is what you would lose access to on the day a notice period ends. Both are uncomfortable to raise cold, which is why they are printed in the pack alongside everything else rather than saved for the end.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Is this the same as the agency vetting scorecard?

No. The scorecard is for hire time, before you sign. This agenda is for the reviews you run with an agency you already pay, where the questions are about ownership, retention of learnings and whether outcomes moved rather than whether to appoint them.

Does this score or grade my agency?

No. There is no score, no rating and no health percentage. It produces questions and the answers worth listening for, and you make the judgement in the room.

Do I have to enter spend or client details?

No. The spend band is a broad range that changes how far the commercial questions go, and nothing else. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.

Can I use it with more than one agency?

Yes. Generate one pack per relationship, or one per channel lead where retainers are split. The channel questions only appear for the channels you tick.