When choosing a search engine optimisation firm you should ask the following questions:
What are the best rankings or results the company has achieved for high traffic keywords in competitive markets?
For example: it's easy to rank highly for "doncaster plumber" and much harder to rank for a search term like "fitness equipment".
What is the company's current client retention rate?
What resources does the company have available to allocate to your project?
What are the measures of success for your search engine marketing project?
What % of the company is dedicated to search engine marketing?