Find the friction. Then the fix.
A focused engagement to score where you stand, name what to fix first, and decide which engagement comes next. The cheapest way to start.
Most audits get filed. Then nothing happens.
An audit only earns its keep if it leads to a decision. Most stay in the deck where they were delivered.
of strategic audits never make it past the slide deck. The findings sit in a folder. The friction stays.
McKinsey Quarterly
multiplier on engagement cost when a team starts the wrong work first. Rebrands chase positioning problems. Forecasts chase voice problems.
Internal client benchmark
major marketing initiatives are later traced to a mis-diagnosed root cause. The work was fine. The starting point wasn't.
Harvard Business Review
A diagnosis worth acting on. Or proof there's nothing to fix.
A clear picture of where you stand and the engagement that earns its keep next. Sometimes the honest answer is "nothing yet."
Audit scorecard
Six dimensions scored on a 0 to 10 scale against benchmark, with the weakest flagged. The page exec teams stop arguing in front of.
- 5.8 / 10. Room to move
- Priority. Forecast credibility scored 4.0
Priority matrix
Findings sorted into four quadrants. Quick wins. Major projects. Strategic. Avoid.
Working sessions
Two to three live sessions with leadership. We pressure-test findings, hear pushback, sharpen.
Quick-win playbook
Five fixes you can run yourself, ranked by impact and effort. No engagement required.
Decision document
One page that names what to do next. Sometimes it's us. Sometimes it's not. We say so either way.
Five steps. Diagnosed, then decided.
A condensed engagement that ends with a decision, not a deck. Most of the work is listening before judging.
Inventory
Collect the docs, dashboards, decks and gut-feels in flight. The current state, captured.
Score
Assess each dimension against benchmark. The numbers without the spin.
Workshop
Working sessions with the team. Pressure-test, debate, sharpen the findings together.
Prioritize
Sort findings into the priority matrix. Quick wins, strategic, major projects, ignore.
Recommend
A one-page decision doc. What to do, what to skip, who runs the next engagement.
What honesty reads like.
A redacted decision document from a recent audit. The page leadership cites when picking the next engagement.
Decision
The one page leadership cites for the next 90 days. Everything else in this document supports it.
Start with BI & Forecasting. Voice work and rebrand can wait. Skip the logo refresh entirely.
Three things this decision names:
A start. The lowest-scored dimension was forecast credibility. Fix that before adding more dashboards or voice work.
A wait. Voice work scored 5.0. Worth doing, but not before the forecast question is settled.
A skip. Brand recognition scored 8.0. The logo refresh on the table is a vanity project. Don't do it.
Questions we hear most.
If yours isn't here, ask. We'll answer plainly.
Is this just a sales call dressed up as an audit?
No. The audit is the engagement, not a lead-in. You pay a fixed fee, you walk away with the scorecard, priority matrix, quick-win playbook and decision doc, whether or not you continue with us. Sometimes the decision says "do nothing right now."
Who runs it from your side?
A senior strategist runs the audit end to end. No juniors, no rotating account team. The person scoring is the person on the workshop calls.
What scope does the audit cover?
Six dimensions by default. Strategy clarity, voice consistency, forecast credibility, channel fit, brand recognition, workflow efficiency. We can add or swap one if the brief points us elsewhere.
How long does the audit take?
A tight window. We will not pad the timeline. We move at the pace of your team being available for working sessions and our access to the materials in flight.
What if you find we shouldn't work together?
That happens. The decision document says so plainly, names the engagement we'd suggest instead (sometimes with another agency, sometimes with no one), and you keep all the deliverables.
Can the audit lead straight into another engagement?
Yes. The decision doc names the next engagement explicitly. If that engagement is one of ours, we credit the audit fee against the next scope. If it is not ours, no credit, but we will tell you who to talk to.
Diagnose first. Decide once.
A short call to see if an audit is the right next move. If it isn't, we'll tell you what is.