PAPERBOAT / READ THE SCOPE
Agency Proposal Scope Comparator
Two prices. Eight conversations worth having first.
Compare what each agency actually promises: deliverables, revisions, costs, access, reporting, client responsibilities, exclusions and the handoff at the end. Keep unanswered questions visible before the totals become the whole decision.
By Robert Urban. Free and ungated.
“Website and ongoing support” can describe very different work.
One proposal may price a defined build and offer maintenance separately. Another may spread the build across a recurring engagement. Both can be reasonable arrangements. Their headline prices do not tell you whether they cover the same work, the same time period or the same responsibilities.
This worksheet makes the wording comparable before you make the judgment. Enter two or three proposals, keep their dates or versions attached, and record what each says against the same eight topics. It produces a comparison followed by questions to take back to the proposers.
There is no weighted score. A client who needs source-file transfer on day one and a client who needs ongoing execution may value the same proposal differently. The tool preserves the obligations so you can decide whether they fit the project.
A revision round is a promise that needs a noun.
In the fictional example, Studio A includes two revision rounds. That is more specific than “collaborative revisions,” but it still leaves a useful question: two rounds of what? The initial design, every page, the copy, or the entire delivered site?
Studio B discusses a broader build-and-support engagement but leaves the page count to be agreed. Marking the deliverables topic “addressed” records that wording. It does not turn an unresolved page count into an agreed one.
Use the source notes to identify where the clarification belongs. “Scope appendix, section 2: confirm whether the two rounds include supplied copy changes” gives the proposer something concrete to answer. Keep the agreed response with the original proposal so a later conversation does not have to rely on memory.
Put the proposals on the same page
Use the actual wording or a faithful summary. Keep source page references in your notes. An addressed topic is not automatically an adequate commitment.
No comparison built.
Your notes stay in the page and are not saved between visits. Download before leaving. Turning off proposal C keeps its notes on this page but leaves it out of the comparison.
Read across one topic before moving to the next.
Deliverables and acceptance. A list of activities explains what people will do. Acceptance criteria explain what you will review. If the proposal says “analytics setup,” ask which events, properties, checks and handoff materials are included rather than assuming every person uses the phrase the same way.
Price and billing basis. Record the currency, period and separately charged items. Media spend, hosting, software and third-party production can sit outside the agency fee. Keep fixed work, recurring work and optional work distinguishable. This tool retains those terms as text because adding unlike amounts would hide the scope question.
Accounts and handoff. Access to a dashboard is different from administrative control of its account. Ask who creates and controls the relevant accounts, which working files are delivered and what transfer work is included. Record the answer rather than inferring it from a logo on the report.
Your side of the schedule. A proposal may depend on interviews, approvals, product information or legal review supplied by the client. Name those dependencies and ask how changes affect the sequence. A promised date can rest on an approval nobody has assigned.
Use uncertainty to make the next conversation shorter.
“Not established” means you have not recorded a dependable answer in this worksheet. It does not mean the agency refuses the work. “Explicitly excluded” should be reserved for wording that actually excludes it. A separate charge deserves its own explanation: what triggers the charge, how it is approved and what is delivered for it.
When every row has wording, the comparison still has no automatic winner. Read the original proposals, confirm that your summaries are faithful, and decide which commitments matter for this project. Keep any professional review of contractual terms separate from the worksheet’s job of organizing them.
If you need to define the reporting requirement before comparing proposals, use the Campaign Measurement Plan Builder. The Marketing Decision Tools collection connects the other workbenches.
Before you decide
Does the comparator recommend an agency?
No. It organizes the wording you enter and lists clarification questions. It does not score agencies, verify their claims or select a winner.
Can I compare a project fee with a monthly engagement?
You can record both, but their time periods, deliverables and separate costs need to be understood before comparing price. The worksheet keeps cost terms as text and does not add unlike fee structures.
What happens when I remove proposal C from the comparison?
Its notes remain in the page until you clear or leave it, but they are excluded from the generated comparison and download. Re-enable proposal C to include them again.
Make the assignment clear enough to compare.
If the proposals differ because the underlying brief is still unsettled, start there. Tell me what the project needs to accomplish, which responsibilities you want to keep and where the scope is hard to pin down. My services page explains the strategy, execution and specialist work I can help connect.