Agency readiness score.
Answer six simple questions. The goal is not to shame you. The goal is to avoid buying expensive work before the inputs are clear enough for that work to succeed.
True agency cost.
The proposal price is rarely the full cost. Add internal time, tools, production, media, and revision drag so you know what you are really buying.
The green/yellow/red bands are our operating thresholds, not an industry benchmark (no credible public one exists). They come from the same math as our budgeting rule: a patient's contribution margin should cover about three times their acquisition cost, so green is a cost comfortably inside that ceiling for typical funded-telehealth margins and red is a cost most margins cannot carry.
What should you buy first?
Branding is useful. It is just not always the first purchase if you need near-term ROI. This sheet points the budget toward the closest constraint.
Proposal decoder.
Use this before signing. The best proposals make the business question clearer. The riskiest ones make expensive deliverables sound like a strategy.
| Phrase in proposal | Plain-English question | What good sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Brand strategy | What decision will this help us make? | It clarifies who we are for, what we should say, and what we should stop saying. |
| Creative testing | What are we testing: audience, offer, claim, format, channel, or CTA? | Each test has a hypothesis and a learning goal. |
| Performance marketing | What economics make paid spend worth scaling? | CAC, payback, conversion rate, and downstream quality are discussed. |
| Awareness | What should awareness lead to next? | The agency names the next behavior: search, click, book, subscribe, refer, or reply. |
Want a second opinion before you sign?
Send the proposal, scope, or pitch deck. I will help translate what you are buying, what is missing, and whether the spend matches your next growth problem.
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