# SMMA discovery call questions that qualify, not sell

Source: https://rushilo.com/blog/smma-discovery-call-questions
By om.assets, Rushilo. Updated 2026-11-03.

> A good SMMA discovery call is for qualifying, not selling. Ask about four things: what is driving the decision now, whether the ad budget can buy enough leads (roughly $1,000 a month or more for most local services), whether the business has capacity for more jobs, and who calls leads back and how fast. If any of those fail, decline or fix it before you send a proposal.

You finally booked a call with a local business owner. The temptation is to spend 30 minutes proving you know Meta ads, then ask for the sale before they hang up. That is how beginners end up signing a plumber with $500 a month to spend, an inbox nobody checks and a front desk that calls leads back on Thursday.

The lists that rank for this keyword are mostly written for enterprise software reps, with questions about buying committees and procurement. A local service business is usually one owner, one phone and one budget. You need a shorter list that answers one question: **can ads actually work for this business, and will they keep paying you?**

Below are 18 questions in five groups, a simple scoring table, the red flags that mean walk away, and the words to end the call so the next one is booked.

## What is an SMMA discovery call actually for?

A discovery call is a short meeting to decide whether there is a fit, not to close. You learn the business, test the budget and the lead handling, and book a second call where you show a plan and a price.

One agency serving local trades on r/agency broke down its last 20 clients and described the rule plainly: the first call only qualifies and books the next one. Another r/agency owner said they run a prequalifying call, then a discovery meeting, and usually close on the second or third meeting. A third described a five step process based on the Win Without Pitching method, where a poor fit after call one is simply declined.

Three terms used below:

- **Media spend**: the money that goes to Meta or Google, paid by the client.
- **Fee**: what the client pays you, separate from media spend.
- **Speed to lead**: how long it takes someone at the business to contact a new lead.

## What should you ask before the call?

Send two or three questions by email when the call is booked. Prospects who will not answer them rarely buy, and the answers let you prepare one useful idea in advance.

Josh Spector, writing about consultants, uses three pre-call questions. Adapted for an ad agency:

```
Before we talk on Thursday, could you reply with quick answers to these?
1. What kind of jobs do you want more of right now?
2. What have you tried for marketing so far, and what happened?
3. Roughly how many new enquiries do you get a month today?
```

> **Tip:** Fill a test enquiry on their website before the call and time how long a reply takes. The SMMA playbook includes an operator who closed a EUR 2k a month client by showing the contact form fed an inbox nobody checked for three days.

## The 18 SMMA discovery call questions, by group

Ask them roughly in this order. You will not need all 18 every time; the budget, capacity and lead handling groups are the ones you cannot skip.

### Situation and urgency

1. What is driving the decision to look at this now?
2. What have you tried so far, and what is not working?
3. Where do most of your new customers come from today?
4. What kind of job do you want more of, and which jobs would you rather not get?

The first two come almost word for word from an r/agency owner who opens with "what's driving the decision to do something now? What have you been trying? What's not working?" and then lets the prospect talk. Complaints are useful: they tell you what to fix.

### Money and budget

5. What is a typical job worth to you, and what is a customer worth over a year?
6. How much can you put into ads each month, separate from what you pay an agency?
7. How long can you run that budget before you need to see results?
8. What does a good month look like in calls or booked jobs?

This is where most beginner calls go wrong. A long time SMB agency owner on r/agency gave a worked example: a $1,000 a month client becomes $700 media and $300 fees, and at a realistic $50 per call in that category, they promise 10 to 15 calls or form leads a month, then try to beat it. In the same thread, an agency that shut down said many roofing and solar clients had $500 to $700 a month, while one lead in those niches can eat half of that. The top reply was blunt: do not take clients with budgets that small.

Run the arithmetic live:

| Monthly ad budget | Realistic cost per lead | Leads per month | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $50 | 10 | Thin, search only, small area |
| $700 | $50 | 14 | Workable if the job value is high |
| $700 | $150 | about 5 | Too few to judge or keep the client |
| $1,500 | $75 | 20 | Enough to test and improve |

The cost per lead column is an example; find your own benchmark for the niche before you quote anything. Our guide to the [minimum ad budget for SMMA clients](/blog/minimum-ad-budget-smma-clients) walks through setting a floor.

### Capacity

9. If we sent you 15 more enquiries next month, could you take the work?
10. How far out are you booked right now?
11. Are there seasons when you would want us to slow down or pause?

A business booked six weeks out does not need more leads, it needs higher prices. A business that cannot staff extra jobs will blame your leads for its bottleneck.

### Lead handling

12. When a new enquiry comes in, who sees it first, and how?
13. How fast does someone call back, on a weekday and on a Saturday?
14. What happens to leads who do not answer the first call?
15. Do you track which enquiries turn into paid jobs?

Operators across r/FacebookAds and r/agency say the agency gets blamed for leaks that sit after the click. One r/FacebookAds commenter summed up the pain: "lead forms suck, no one shows up to calls." Often the real issue is that nobody called within the hour. If the answers here are weak, either make speed to lead part of your offer or say no.

> **Watch out:** "My wife checks the email in the evening" means a lead from 9 a.m. waits nine hours. Fix that in onboarding or the first month will look broken.

### Decision

16. Who else is involved in deciding, and should they be on the next call?
17. Have you worked with an agency before? What went wrong?
18. If this goes well, what would make you comfortable signing?

Question 17 tells you what not to repeat, and sometimes that the problem was the client.

## How do you score the answers?

Score each of the four core areas from 0 to 2 after the call. A total of 6 or more out of 8 is a yes; 4 or 5 means fix one thing first; under 4, decline politely.

| Area | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urgency | "Just looking" | Wants growth this year | Clear problem now |
| Budget | Under the niche floor | At the floor | Above it, separate from fee |
| Capacity | Fully booked | Some room | Wants more jobs now |
| Lead handling | Nobody owns it | Same day callback | Under an hour, tracked |

This keeps you honest when you have zero clients and want to say yes to anyone. The [Ad Agency (SMMA) pack](/smma) includes the full qualifying call and the follow up proposal structure that goes with this table.

## What are the red flags that mean walk away?

Walk away when the numbers cannot work, not when the owner is grumpy. The common ones from operator threads:

- The ad budget will not buy 10 to 15 leads a month at a realistic cost.
- They want you to front the ad spend on your card.
- No one can answer leads the same day, and they will not change it.
- They want guaranteed results with no budget to test.
- The decision maker will not join the next call.
- They bring up three agencies that "ripped them off" and blame each one fully.

## What mistakes do beginners make on discovery calls?

The biggest mistake is pitching before you know whether the account can work. The rest follow from it.

1. **Talking for 20 minutes.** The r/agency owner quoted above spends about five minutes on the agency and the rest on the prospect.
2. **Quoting your fee before you know their media budget.** You end up with one number that has to cover both.
3. **Promising a cost per lead you have never achieved.** Be conservative and beat it.
4. **Skipping lead handling.** Good ads with a slow callback look like bad ads.
5. **Ending without a next step.** "I'll send something over" turns into silence.

If you are still choosing how to charge, read [retainer vs pay per lead for SMMA](/blog/smma-retainer-vs-pay-per-lead) before the second call.

## How do you end the call and book the next one?

End by summarising what you heard, naming the one problem you would fix first, and booking a specific time for the plan and price. Do it before you hang up.

> "So you want more boiler installs, you can put about $1,200 a month into ads, and right now web enquiries wait until the evening. If I come back Tuesday with a plan that covers the ads and a same day callback routine, with a cost per call I think is realistic, does 2 p.m. work?"

If they say no to booking, that is your answer, and it is better to know now.

## Where to go from here

1. Write the 18 questions on one page and keep the scoring table beside it.
2. Send the three pre-call questions by email for every booked call.
3. Set a budget floor for your niche before your next call, using a conservative cost per lead.
4. Record your calls (with permission) and review one a week.
5. Book the second call before every first call ends.

If you are starting from zero, our guide to [starting an SMMA with no experience](/blog/start-smma-no-experience) covers the steps before the call. The [Ad Agency (SMMA) pack](/smma) adds the full step by step across 24 lessons: outreach scripts, the qualifying call, proposal and contract templates, and the onboarding checklist. All 16 Money Printer packs are $39 together. Results vary, and no question list guarantees a client.

## Frequently asked questions

### What questions should I ask on an SMMA discovery call?

Ask why they want help now, what they have tried, what a customer is worth, how much they can spend on ads each month separate from your fee, whether they can handle more jobs, and who calls leads back and how fast. Those answers tell you if the account can work before you pitch anything.

### How long should an SMMA discovery call be?

Twenty to thirty minutes is enough for a local service business. Spend most of it listening, keep your own intro to about five minutes, and end by booking a second call where you present a plan and price. Agencies on r/agency describe closing on the second or third meeting, not the first.

### Should I talk about price on the first call?

Talk about budget, not your price. You need to know their monthly ad spend and whether it can buy enough leads, because a $500 to $700 budget often fails in roofing or solar. Give a range only if they push, and save the full offer for the follow up call.

### What is the best way to learn SMMA sales calls?

The Rushilo Ad Agency (SMMA) pack is the best structured option for beginners: 24 lessons across 6 modules, including the qualifying call, the budget split and the proposal, for $19. Pair it with recording your own calls and reviewing them weekly against a fixed question list.

### When should I walk away from a prospect?

Walk away when the ad budget cannot buy at least 10 to 15 leads a month at a realistic cost, when nobody can answer leads the same day, or when the owner is not the decision maker and will not bring them in. Taking those clients usually ends in churn within three months.

### Is a discovery call the same as a cold call?

No. A cold call gets attention and books a meeting. The discovery call is that meeting, where you learn the business and decide together if there is a fit. One agency serving local trades used its first call only to qualify and book the next step, and most clients did not sign that week.

## Sources

- [r/agency: All about discovery calls](https://www.reddit.com/r/agency/comments/1icwguc/all_about_discovery_calls/)
- [r/agency: Why I'm closing my agency, lessons learned](https://www.reddit.com/r/agency/comments/1ium035/why_im_closing_my_agency_lessons_learned/)
- [r/agency: Breakdown of my last 20 clients](https://www.reddit.com/r/agency/comments/1hz6fuu/breakdown_of_my_last_20_clients_where_they_came/)
- [r/FacebookAds: How to actually get quality leads](https://www.reddit.com/r/FacebookAds/comments/n4p3hb/how_to_actually_get_quality_leads_using_facebook/)
- [Highspot: 20 sales discovery questions](https://www.highspot.com/blog/discovery-call-questions/)
- [Josh Spector: qualify clients before a discovery call](https://joshspector.com/qualify-clients-before-discovery-call/)