case study

What we did:

I am supporting a creative agency in its 4th decade as a strategic advisor with one clear mandate: make web work profitable, predictable, and something the agency could sell with confidence again. Starting with department-level discovery, I produced a full initiative report for the CEO, then began executing across three priorities:

  • Streamlining internal roles and responsibilities
  • Building a design and development bridge so nothing falls through the cracks
  • Rebuilding the agency’s web project pipeline

The work is ongoing, and this case study will be updated as results compound.

Client Challenge:

This agency has been doing exceptional work for nearly four decades. That kind of longevity is earned through relationships, craft, and consistency. But web projects had become a quiet source of stress. The last few hadn’t gone the way the owner envisioned, and she knew something had to change before she could confidently say yes to the clients who were already asking.

Behind the scenes, the dysfunction was structural:

  • Account executives without deep web knowledge were trying to translate developer language into client conversations and becoming order takers in the process
  • Developers were executing exactly what was asked without anyone thinking three steps ahead about how the site would need to grow and adapt
  • Specialized web staff were spending time on work that didn’t require their expertise
  • Clients were happy with the results, but the margins and the momentum told a different story
Clients were happy with the results, but behind the scenes, the margins and the momentum told a different story.

Our Solution:

The first step was listening. I met with each department to understand what was working and what wasn’t from their perspective, from the inside out. That discovery process shaped a formal initiative report presented directly to the CEO, with a clear roadmap for the engagement ahead.

From there, we moved into execution across three initiatives:

  1. Role restructuring: identifying work assigned to specialized developers that could be handled by administrative support, freeing the technical team to focus where their expertise actually matters
  2. A design guide and template system to give the design team a reliable resource for every project, so interactive UX elements and design specs are captured consistently and nothing gets missed in the handoff to development
  3. A strategic bridge between design and development: I’m now available to account executives via Slack and can jump into client calls to discuss web strategy directly, so AEs no longer have to translate a language they weren’t trained to speak
  4. Pipeline development: leading strategic planning sessions with clients focused on how their websites will work for them over the next three to five years, using the new project structure to ensure every web engagement is both profitable and positioned for growth

Client Results:

  • The team is selling web projects with confidence again
  • Account executives feel supported and know they have a strategic resource one message away when a client conversation gets technical
  • The developer’s schedule is more focused and efficient
  • The pipeline is moving faster than anyone anticipated. New projects are tracking to come in earlier, because the new structure made it possible to pursue them with clarity instead of caution

This is what happens when the right structure meets a team that was already excellent. Now they have the right foundation.

What this means for you

If you saw yourself in this story and you have clients asking for web work yet something in you hesitates before saying yes, that hesitation is worth paying attention to. It usually means there’s a gap somewhere between your team’s capability and your process for delivering on it. And that gap is costing you in margins, confidence, and the projects you’re quietly talking yourself out of.

This is my zone of genius. Seeing what’s underneath, building what’s missing, and helping agencies do the web work they’re already capable of in a way that is profitable, predictable, and with a team that actually feels good about it. If that sounds like the conversation you need to have, I’d love to have it with you.

“Clients were happy with the results — but behind the scenes, the margins and the momentum told a different story.”

Clarity is just a click away.
Schedule a call.

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