Building the operations of the agency you want to be.
What gets fixed. What gets built. What it costs.
Profitable delivery doesn't happen by accident. It happens when three things work together. And most agencies are managing all three separately.
Pricing and estimating. Whether the thinking behind the price makes it all the way through to delivery. Whether the team picking up a project has what they need to deliver it profitably or has to work it out from scratch. And whether pricing is built on what projects actually cost to deliver - not just what's always been charged.
Revenue forecasting. Whether the numbers reflect what's actually happening in delivery (not just what everyone hopes will happen). What the forecast is telling you about decisions you need to make now and in the long-term.
PM and resourcing. Whether the agency has the infrastructure to run projects consistently well. Clear handovers, defined responsibilities, systems and tools that support the work rather than create more of it. And whether the data exists to tell you what's actually happening.
Most agencies are managing all three. Few have them connected. That's where the profit goes.
These three areas are where the Visibility Session starts, where the Operating Model connects them, and where the Roadmap measures the distance.
The five stages
1. The Visibility Session
· £400
Most agency leaders have a feel for how the business is running. This session tests that feeling against reality. In 60 minutes we work through the three areas above - asking not what processes you have in place, but what your operation is allowing you to see right now, and what it's not.
Within three working days you receive a written summary: your three biggest visibility gaps, what those gaps are conservatively costing you each month, and an honest recommendation on next steps. It's useful on its own, and it's the foundation everything else is built from.
The £400 credits against Stage 2 if you proceed within 60 days.
2. The Operating Model · £3,000
Before we look at what needs fixing, we design where you're going.
This is a working session with you and your leadership team built around four things - your growth model, your service mix, your team structure, and your financial expectations. The output is a complete visual workflow of the agency you want to run, from the moment a lead comes in to the moment an invoice goes out, with every financial checkpoint, resourcing decision, and handover mapped in.
Every gap from the Visibility Session is addressed directly in the design. You leave with something concrete - specific enough to share with your team, detailed enough to brief someone to build from, and clear enough that the distance between where you are and where you're going is finally visible.
£2,600 for Visibility Session clients proceeding within 60 days.
3. The Roadmap · £4,000-£6,000
With the operating model designed, we go back into the agency to measure the distance between where you are and where you've decided to go.
Through structured conversations with your team, observation of how work actually moves day to day, and a review of your current tools and processes (all measured against the model from Stage 2) we build an accurate picture of what exists, what doesn't, and what needs to change.
You receive two things. A gap analysis that connects every finding to the model (not a list of problems, a specific account of the distance between where you are and the destination you've already chosen). And a sequenced action plan with enough detail to act on independently, brief someone else to deliver, or bring to Stage 4.
The plan accounts for both the structural changes needed and how the team will need to be brought through them. The most carefully designed process fails if the people responsible for it don't understand why it exists.
Price varies by agency size; up to 10 people: £4,000. Up to 30 people: £6,000.
4. The Build · From £10,000
The action plan from Stage 3 defines exactly what needs to be done. The Build does it.
Every template created. Every tool configured to support the workflow rather than the other way round. Every process embedded and understood by the people responsible for it. Implementation includes bringing your people through the change, not just delivering it around them.
Because the scope is already defined before we start, every element is agreed in advance. What gets built is exactly what was designed. Nothing more, nothing less.
Scoped individually after Stage 3. Minimum engagement £10,000.
5. Strategic Advisory · On application
For agencies that have completed the Build (or are already operating at an equivalent level) this is an ongoing oversight relationship rather than a hands-on delivery role.
The work doesn't change. What changes is what's being protected. Working with your existing ops function, we hold the standard as the business grows, ask the questions that keep the operation honest, and help navigate the decisions that come with scale - resourcing, tooling, team structure, new service lines.
It isn't fractional management and it isn't an embedded role. It's an experienced, independent perspective from someone who understands how well-run agencies at your stage actually operate - and what it takes to keep them that way.
Available to a small number of agencies at any one time. Enquire directly to discuss fit.
Where to start
Most clients start with the Visibility Session. It costs £400, takes 60 minutes, and ends with an honest view of where your agency's operation is. And whether the rest of the journey makes sense for you.