Why Marketing Agencies Shouldn't Work on Commission

I received this RFP last week and politely declined:

“Seeking a professional product marketing partner to support customer acquisition and go-to-market initiatives for our Software as a Service (SaaS) data product. The fee structure should be linked directly to the successful attainment of quantifiable outcomes. Happy to provide additional project requirements over a 15-to-30 minute discovery call for qualified proposal submissions.”

It’s a common ask—and a fair one, in theory. But tying marketing agency compensation directly to outcomes like sales or customer acquisitions usually sounds smarter than it actually is. On the surface, it’s logical. If marketing is working, shouldn't the results be crystal clear and directly tied to revenue?

Yes, and no.

I’m a strategic marketing leader who has worked with dozens of B2B and B2C tech companies and helped build go-to-market strategies from the ground up, and I’ll be direct: Agencies should not be working on commission-based or outcome-only compensation models. Not because they don't want to prove their value. But because, most of the time, they can’t. In most environments, the systems, processes, and internal coordination required to actually track full-funnel ROI just aren't there.

Why Commission Doesn’t Work for Agencies

1. Agencies Don't Own the Entire Funnel You want an agency to be accountable for results, sure. But they don't control your software stack, your CRM setup, your sales follow-up cadence, or, often, even your lead scoring model. They don't get to rewrite Salesforce workflows, fix broken integrations, or override internal politics. Even when they build beautiful campaigns and deliver highly-qualified leads, there's a massive gap if your sales team isn’t enabled, resourced, or aligned. It’s unfair to hold agencies accountable when so many crucial factors are outside their control.

2. Attribution Is Imperfect We'd love to track every touchpoint, every click, and every conversion. In reality? Your tracking is probably missing at least 30-50% of the picture. Cookie opt-outs, data privacy laws, poor tracking implementation, and messy CRMs mean the full story of "what worked" often gets lost. Attribution software can help, but it still requires a unified source of truth and disciplined internal tracking. Most orgs aren't there yet.

3. Commission-Based Models Attract the Wrong Kind of Agencies The best agencies aren't desperate. If you're a large company trying to dangle a performance-only carrot, you're likely to attract smaller, junior teams who are willing to gamble. The seasoned strategists—the ones who can actually guide your GTM and acquisition efforts—won't touch these deals. Why? Because they know they're being set up to fail in a system they can't control.

What Should You Track Instead?

You absolutely should expect accountability. And you should absolutely expect results. But here are three smarter, more effective ways to measure if your marketing investment is working:

1. Pipeline Influence, Not Just Closed Revenue Marketing's job isn't only to close deals. It's to create awareness, interest, and qualified engagement. Instead of fixating on closed-won attribution, look at how marketing is influencing the pipeline. Are they helping expand deal size? Accelerating velocity? Increasing conversion rates from MQL to SQL to opportunity?

2. Quality Engagement Metrics Skip the vanity metrics. Instead, track engagement metrics that signal real buyer interest. Are target accounts visiting key product pages? Are they spending time with your high-value content? Are your campaigns reaching the right personas and generating replies, not just clicks?

3. Sales Enablement Adoption and Feedback If your agency is delivering content and tools to support sales, are they being used? Ask your sales team: Are these materials actually helping close deals? Are you shortening sales cycles or getting fewer objections? Sales enablement is a core part of marketing's value. Don't overlook it.

Partnership Over Pressure

The best agency relationships are built on transparency, trust, and shared goals—not desperation or forced incentive structures. If you're serious about growth, invest in a strategic partner who will act like an extension of your team, not one chasing commissions.

ROI matters. Full stop. But how you measure it needs to evolve with the complexity of modern marketing. And if you're trying to solve a messy internal funnel by putting it all on your agency's shoulders, you're not setting anyone up to win.

Choose strategy. Choose clarity. Choose partnership.