The short answer
Choose a partner that only works with home service trades, won't work with your direct competitors, tracks results by recorded calls and booked jobs, and puts something on the line if those results don't show up.
Questions to ask before you sign
How do you measure success? Look for booked jobs and new-customer calls, not impressions, clicks or rankings alone.
Do you work with other companies in my trade and city? If yes, they're splitting the same customers between their clients.
What happens if you miss the goal? Many agencies get paid the same either way.
Who owns my website, ads account and data? You should.
What does the first 90 days look like? You want a clear plan, not a vague ramp-up period.
Warning signs
Reports full of traffic and ranking charts but no mention of calls or jobs.
Long contracts with no performance terms.
Shared leads sold to several companies at once.
No plan for answering calls, even though missed calls waste the leads they bring in.
Why an all-in-one partner can help
Marketing, call answering, follow-up and your CRM all affect whether a search becomes a booked job. When different vendors handle each piece, problems fall between them and nobody owns the result.
A single growth partner that runs the whole path, from AI search and Google to the phone, follow-up and your field software, can be held to one clear goal.
Questions to ask before you sign
What exactly will you measure, and where does the data come from? Look for call recordings and your own field software, not only platform dashboards.
Who owns the accounts? Your Google Business Profile, ad accounts, website and call data should stay in your name.
Do you work with my competitors in the same market? A partner working both sides of your city has a conflict of interest.
What happens if results don't come? Ask for the plan in writing: what you'll change, how quickly, and whether fees are tied to agreed goals.
Where do you start with AI search? A modern partner should be able to show you what AI assistants say about you today.
Red flags
Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed AI recommendations. No one controls those.
Reports full of impressions and clicks but no calls or jobs.
Long contracts with no clear goals or exit terms.
Case studies with no names, dates or ways to check them.
Pressure to spend more on ads before your calls are being answered and followed up.
HVAC vs plumbing: what a partner should understand
For HVAC, a partner should plan around seasons, maintenance plans, replacement sales and financing, and know when to pull ad spend back because your crews are booked solid.
For plumbing, a partner should understand emergency call handling, on-call rules, high-value jobs like water heaters and sewer lines, and how to keep low-value calls from crowding the schedule.
If they serve both trades, ask how they keep each trade's plan and scorecard separate.
How Techeo works
Techeo only works with HVAC and plumbing companies, and only one company per trade in each city. We agree on a 90-day goal measured on recorded, non-branded calls from new customers. If we miss it, our fees are waived until we hit it. Everything we build runs in your accounts, and it was built and tested inside Home+ Air & Heat, a working HVAC company.