The finance director of a mining services company in Airport City needs a payroll and HR outsourcing partner before the new financial year. An NGO in East Legon wants an IT firm to secure its network ahead of a donor audit. A fast-growing fintech needs a recruitment consultancy to fill senior roles. Each of them starts the same way: a search, a few websites, and a message to the two firms that look most credible.
If you run a B2B services firm in Accra, those enquiries are either reaching you or reaching your competitors. You have probably been approached by agencies offering to make you visible. How do you separate the serious ones from the noise? This guide covers the criteria, the red flags and the list of things you should get in writing before signing anything.
Be clear about what you are buying
A consulting, HR or IT firm does not need likes or random visitors. It needs decision-makers, such as finance directors, HR heads, IT managers and programme leads on donor-funded projects, to find it at the moment they are looking for a provider, and to feel confident enough to get in touch. That is what a good visibility partner sells: being found by the right buyers and receiving qualified enquiries.
B2B selling has its own rhythm: long cycles, several people in the decision, tenders, and a heavy need for reassurance on credentials and compliance. Our guide on visibility for a B2B company covers this in detail. A partner who does not understand it will waste your time.
The criteria that matter
They understand your services and your buyers
In the first conversation, pay attention to their questions. Do they ask which services earn you the most, who your clients are, and how a contract gets approved on their side? Or do they jump straight to their tools and their prices? The first kind understands that selling an HR audit to a mining contractor is nothing like selling IT support to a small trading company.
They commit to what they control
Nobody decides on behalf of Google or an AI assistant. An honest partner says so and commits to what is in their hands: delivering what the contract specifies, on time, and measuring it. Ask for a concrete remedy if they fail to deliver.
They accept being measured in your own tools
Results should show up in your own Google accounts, not just in the partner's slides. Ask how often you will get reports, and when the first measured review takes place.
They limit how many of your competitors they serve
Accra's consulting and IT firms often chase the same corporate clients. A partner who works for all of them can defend none of them. Ask how many firms in your sector they accept in your area.
Red flags
- A promised top position or a guaranteed number of clients. That is a salesperson talking.
- Secrecy about deliverables, justified by a proprietary method.
- Results you cannot verify, shown only on dashboards they control.
- A low fee with no delivery commitment, which quickly becomes money spent for nothing.
- No verifiable proof of what they have achieved, even for their own business.
Our broader guide on how to choose a visibility partner sets these points out for any small business, and it applies equally in Ghana.
What to get in writing
- A precise description of the deliverables and the deadlines.
- The remedy if delivery is late.
- The length of the commitment, exit terms and the total first-year cost.
- The date of the first review and the figures it will cover.
- Ownership of your accounts and data if you switch partner.
- The cap on competing clients in your sector and area.
A partner who hesitates to write any of these down has already answered you.
One more practical test: ask each shortlisted partner to explain, in plain words, what your firm will look like to a finance director searching for your service in twelve months' time, and how you will both know whether that has happened. The answer should be about your buyers and your services, with measurement you can check. If it drifts into jargon, tools and vague growth talk, you have learned what working with them will feel like for the next year.
How Traffic Engine measures up
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your firm visible when decision-makers search for your services, on Google and in AI assistant answers, so that you receive qualified enquiries. Each criterion above has a written answer. You start with a Visibility Audit at $750: where you stand, how you compare with your sector, the potential and an action plan, delivered within 48 working hours and deducted from the $1,650 setup if you go ahead within 30 days.
Monthly plans are Presence at $1,200, Momentum at $2,100 and Flood at $3,850, on a 12-month commitment with a measured review at three months. You get a dated report every week and follow results in your own Search Console; if what your plan includes is not live on time, the next month is free. Each sector is capped at 3 seats per area, with an exclusive plan available while a sector is still empty. See the offer and the seats still open in Accra.
Where to start
Before you invite proposals, find out where you stand: the free website score gives you a first reading in seconds. Then estimate what invisibility costs you today; our guide on the cost of being invisible for a B2B services firm walks through the reasoning. With those two pieces in hand, you can compare partners on facts rather than promises.