Phase 1
A structured look at what your marketing is actually producing, what's working, what isn't, and what to fix first. Three to four weeks. A written report that's yours to keep regardless of what comes next.
What it is
Most growing B2B companies have been spending on marketing long enough to accumulate symptoms: a sales team that complains about lead quality, an agency producing activity metrics that don't connect to revenue, a junior marketer working hard without direction. What they haven't had is someone willing to look at the full picture and name the actual problem, not the symptoms it produces.
That's what the Keystone Diagnostic does. It's a structured audit of your marketing, your pipeline, your positioning, and your team. The output is a written report, eight to twelve pages, built to be read in one sitting. Not a presentation. Not a 40-page research deck. A clear-eyed assessment of what's broken and what to do about it first.
The competitive context and market landscape inform the findings. They're not the findings. The question the Diagnostic answers is specific: given your business, your buyers, your team, and your current spend, where is the real problem, and what's the right sequence for fixing it?
"For the first time, we could actually explain why our best clients chose us. That changed everything downstream."
The Keystone Report names the real problem in priority order. Most CEOs say it's the first time someone told them what was actually wrong, not just what they should try next.
How it works
The Diagnostic is designed to be efficient with your calendar. Most of the work happens independently. The timeline reflects the reality of coordinating conversations with your sales lead, marketing team, and where possible, a handful of clients. Scheduling those conversations is usually what takes the most time. The analysis moves quickly once that's done.
Rob comes in having already done background research on your company, your market, and your competitive context. The conversation, two to three hours, covers the business, the marketing, the pipeline, the agency relationship, and the team. No homework required beforehand. You talk. Rob listens and asks the questions most people don't think to ask.
This is where the real picture starts to form. What the CEO believes about the marketing versus what the data actually shows. Where the gap is between what's being spent and what it's producing.
Rob will also schedule separate conversations with your head of sales and your internal marketing lead, typically one hour each. Keeping those conversations separate produces a more honest picture than a group meeting does.
Your time: 2 – 3 hours · Sales and marketing lead: ~1 hour eachRob audits the channels, the spend, the agency reports, and the positioning. He talks to your head of sales to understand the gap between what marketing is producing and what the sales team is actually using. Where possible, he also speaks with two to four clients to understand the real buyer journey, why they chose you, in their own words, not yours. That conversation is often where the most useful positioning insight comes from.
This is where the pattern recognition happens. Your calendar commitment during this phase is close to zero.
Your time: minimalOne hour. Rob walks through the Keystone Report section by section, names the findings in priority order, and answers questions. This isn't a presentation. It's a conversation. The goal is to make sure the findings land clearly and that the 90-day action plan feels actionable, not abstract.
For clients who want to understand what comes next, Rob will also walk through what the Blueprint phase would look like given the specific findings, what it would focus on, what it would produce, and what the investment and timeline would be. That picture is there if you want it. The decision about whether to continue is entirely yours.
The report goes home with you that day.
Your time: 1 hourWhat you receive
Not a slide deck. Not a research summary. A written document that names what's broken, explains why, and tells you what to fix first.
Section 1
One page. The core finding, stated plainly, before the detail. A CEO should be able to read this section and feel like someone finally said the quiet part out loud.
Section 2
Whether the picture of what your marketing is actually producing exists, and what it shows if it does. Where the closed deals are coming from. Whether the spend is pointed at the right buyers. What the data reveals about channel performance, and what its absence reveals about how decisions are being made.
Section 3
How your positioning holds when a qualified buyer encounters it. Why prospects default to price or don't decide at all. What your best clients say about why they chose you, in their own words, and whether that language appears anywhere in your marketing.
Section 4
Whether your internal marketer has the direction and senior judgment they need to do their best work. Where the agency relationship stands relative to actual business outcomes. Where the governance gap is between what the reports show and what the pipeline reflects. Where access allows, Rob will speak directly with the team and agency to get the full picture.
Section 5
The findings in priority order. Not a list of everything that could be better. The two or three things that are actually driving the gap between what the marketing is producing and what the business needs.
Section 6
A prioritized sequence of what to address and in what order, focused on the strategic and structural moves that will have the most impact. This is not a tactical checklist. It's a clear set of priorities your team can act on the day after the findings conversation ends, with or without further engagement.
What happens next
The Keystone Report names the real problem and establishes the right priorities. Most clients leave the findings conversation already knowing what they want to do next. The Blueprint phase is where those priorities get built into a full marketing operating system. It's the natural continuation of the work. That said, the report belongs to your company the moment the findings conversation ends, and what follows is your decision.
The natural next step
For most clients, the findings conversation makes the path forward clear. The Keystone Blueprint builds the full marketing operating system from the diagnostic findings: positioning, messaging architecture, channel strategy, team structure. Four to six weeks. Built with your team, not handed to them.
Also an option
Some clients take the report and the 90-day plan and hand it to their existing team to execute. Use it to rewrite the agency brief, refine the next hire, or redirect the budget. The report is built to be actionable without further engagement if that's the right call for your situation.
Also an option
Some clients take the report, work through it on their own timeline, and re-engage when the moment is right. Six months, twelve months. The findings don't expire. The conversation picks up where it left off.
The investment in the Diagnostic is not a down payment on a longer engagement. It is a defined deliverable with a defined cost, and the company owns what comes out of it. Most clients find one thing in the Diagnostic that was costing them more than the Diagnostic itself.
Not sure if you're ready?
The Foundation Check is a free self-assessment for B2B CEOs. Eleven questions across four areas of your marketing: your buyer, your pipeline, your team and vendors, and your clarity. No scoring guide dressed up as a sales pitch. Just honest questions worth sitting with.
Most CEOs find that two or three of the eleven are harder to answer than they expected. That's usually where the conversation starts.
Free self-assessment
Eleven questions B2B CEOs should be able to answer clearly. There are no right answers. Just honest ones worth sitting with.
Take the AssessmentThe first call is 30 minutes. No pitch deck. Rob will ask about your situation and give you a straight read on whether the Diagnostic makes sense for where you are.