The junior handoff is a classic bait-and-switch, and honestly, it's part of a broader pattern I've seen across half a dozen agency partnerships. The senior person sells the vision, but the delivery team is often a rotation of juniors who are essentially learning on your budget. It's not malice - it's just the economics of the agency model. But that doesn't make it any less frustrating when you've sunk weeks into building trust with someone who vanishes the moment you commit.
Your point about measuring success beyond impressions hits the nail on the head. I've lost count of how many dashboards I've seen that are basically vanity metrics disguised as ROI. Reach and engagement are fine for brand awareness, but for a service business in Dubai - where CAC and lifetime value are everything - they're almost meaningless. If the report doesn't tie back to pipeline or actual revenue, it's just theatre.
The "similar business examples" question is one I now bake into every discovery call. Not a shiny case study from a global FMCG brand, but something local and comparable. Service businesses in Dubai have a unique cost structure and customer acquisition cycle - treating them like e-commerce or retail is a recipe for wasted spend.
To your question about verifying the junior handoff: I've found asking "Who will be the day-to-day contact and how many accounts do they manage?" is a good start, but it's rarely answered honestly. The real tell is when you ask to meet the account manager during the sales process. If they push back or say that person is 'too busy', you've already got your answer. Another tactic is to request a sample weekly report before signing - the depth of analysis tells you whether it's a junior or a senior driving the work. Even then, it's hard to fully know until you're in it. The only real safeguard is a short initial contract with a clear exit clause. That gives you room to test without being locked in for a year of mediocrity.
