Count the whole cost
A marketing proposal should distinguish the money paid to an advertising platform from the work needed to run the campaign. Management, creative production, landing pages, tracking, software and maintenance may be separate items. Ask what is included, what is optional and which costs continue after launch. A low management fee alone says little about the complete budget.
Work back from the jobs you want
Discuss contribution margin, available capacity and the value of a new customer. A full correction and coating package has different economics from a maintenance wash. Use your own sales records to estimate how many suitable enquiries become bookings. Treat any forecast as a scenario with explicit assumptions, then replace those assumptions with observed data.
Buy a useful learning period
The starting budget needs to support a meaningful test in your market. Ask what the test is meant to establish, which services it will cover and when the results will be reviewed. If the spend cannot answer the question, narrow the service area or offer before dividing it among more channels. Launch costs and ongoing costs should both be visible.
Know what happens when the scope changes
Agree who owns the ad account, website, creative and customer data. List software subscriptions and any handover work. Require a discussion before budgets or deliverables expand. MotiveReach provides a free initial quote; campaign work and media spend are scoped separately so you can decide with the full cost in view.