The paid front door

Find out exactly how good your copywriters really are.

In two weeks, we score every copywriter you have against the one standard that separates an A++++ from a D — and hand your leadership a single number per person, so the talent gap the CEO keeps complaining about stops being a feeling and becomes a fact you can act on.

Why the front door is paid

The Scorecard creates the itch. The Audit diagnoses the disease.

Charging for the diagnosis does three jobs at once: it filters tire-kickers, it de-risks the program engagement by proving the problem first, and it qualifies the account in your own data before we ever quote the program. A buyer who won't pay for the diagnosis was never going to pay for the cure.

What you get

Five deliverables, built backward from the one that closes the deal.

01
The team scorecard

One composite (1–5) per copywriter, the team average, and the distribution. The page the Chief of Staff forwards to the CEO — gut feeling becomes a number on a page.

02
The capability heatmap

Where your team is strong and weak across the seven capabilities. Proves the problem is systemic, not one bad hire — which is what justifies a program, not a firing.

03
The binding finding

The single highest-leverage gap, plus the blunt one: whether you measure outcome at all. For most teams, the empty Outcome column is the headline.

04
Individual capability cards

Per copywriter: strengths, gaps, and ceiling — how far and how fast each can climb. We report potential against the bar. We never recommend who to cut.

05
The path

Gap-to-target: where they are, where elite is, and the route between — which is the program. For non-measuring buyers, this includes the self-funding math.

The boundary holds here. We provide the bar and the scores. Your org decides who doesn't clear it. We assess; you wield the axe. The individual cards report capability and ceiling — never a hire/fire verdict.
How the scores are generated

A standardized practical — the same timed exercises for every copywriter.

Comparable across people. Hard to dismiss as taste. A preview of the certification rigor to come. Plus a portfolio review of two to three recent real pieces — and observed AI use throughout, because fluency vs. fear is itself a finding.

  1. 01
    Research — themed, sourced message bank from raw inputs (AI permitted and observed)
  2. 02
    Message finding — surface and rank the messages from that bank
  3. 03
    Message mapping — assign messages to an awareness-staged funnel
  4. 04
    Constraint identification — given a brief and an underperforming asset, name the binding constraint
  5. 05
    Solution design — design the response (no prose yet)
  6. 06
    Assembling & writing — write the piece
  7. 07
    Validating & optimizing — read a real test result and say what it means and what to do next
Two-week timeline

Scope to readout in two weeks.

Week 0
Scope call. Collect roster and portfolios, schedule the practical, align on what leadership wants answered.
Week 1
The standardized practical: every copywriter runs the seven timed exercises; portfolios scored in parallel.
Week 2
Calibrate scores against the bar; build the scorecard, heatmap, cards, and verdict.
The readout
A live leadership session — not a PDF in an inbox. We walk the scorecard, the gap, and the path. The readout is the close.
What it costs

Designed to be a CFO no-brainer.

Base audit
$18,000

Up to 5 copywriters.

Each additional copywriter
+$2,500

Up to a 10-person ceiling.

The credit
Fully credited toward Month 1 if you enroll within 30 days of the readout.

~10% of a 6-month engagement. Big enough to signal seriousness; small enough a CFO greenlights it without a board. The credit makes proceeding feel free and puts a clock on the decision.