Buyers often ask for one kind of proof when they need two. Proof of work quality, a real sample and a reference who will actually talk, is what this page covers. Proof of results claims is a separate, harder step, covered elsewhere, and worth doing after this one.

Mostly no, for the mechanics of asking good questions and spotting real intent, which transfer between industries. A smaller set of things, your own vocabulary and what a good-fit buyer actually looks like, does need to be learned, and a short test in week one shows whether a provider can pick it up quickly.

Somewhere between four and six weeks, end to end, is a reasonable range for a considered decision, not one call and a signature. Here is what should happen in each of those weeks, and why skipping ahead is the most common way this goes wrong.

A real track record has a shape: how long a provider has run this, whether the evidence spans more than one industry, and whether they will give you a dated, specific figure with its own caveats attached. Here is that shape, and what a thin answer sounds like instead.

Before any live demo, get five things in writing: what counts as AI SDR work here, who owns the domain and the leads, how a qualified conversation is defined, the exit terms, and proof of a real track record. Here is how to ask for each one.

Two B2B businesses can still take meetings in very different ways. Here is what counts as a company like yours, how a provider can prove relevant experience without naming a client, and what to do if the honest answer is no.

A number alone, without a method behind it, tells you almost nothing worth acting on. Here is what a real track record should include, what to ask about meetings that never happened, and the red flags in how a provider talks about its own record.

A setup checklist assumes you have already chosen a provider. This page is about the earlier, harder question: what to check about the company itself, its references and its proposal, before any contract exists.

A general sign-up checklist covers build versus buy and how to judge quality once it is running. Here are the two questions it usually skips: what happens to the phone number and chat history, and what proof of relevant experience a provider should be able to show.

A general vetting checklist covers price and contract length, not what happens to your prospect list and the replies it produces. Here are the specific security and data questions to ask, what a proper written proposal should spell out, and how long a real review should take.

Most of a monthly delivery report is fractions, and the ones that matter most should be divided by messages delivered rather than messages sent. What sent, delivered, bounced, deferred, complaints and unsubscribes each mean, which way every row should be moving, and the five questions to put to whoever sends for you.