↳ Marketing consulting method
Four phases, from diagnosis to measurement.
The Bechis method is a marketing consulting method in four phases: Understand, Decide, Activate, Measure. It starts with a 3–4 week diagnosis, leads to a plan with objectives, budget and KPIs, takes that plan to market under a single direction and checks it every month with the leadership team.
01 Why a method
Principles first, then phases.
Established companies are rarely short of ideas, data or suppliers. What they often lack is the thread that ties analysis, choices, execution and review together. The method exists so that thread is never lost.
Consulting firms tend to stop at the plan; agencies start from execution. In between sit the questions that decide growth: where to compete, for which customers, with which offer, with what investment. And, above all, who checks six months later that those choices are actually delivering.
The Bechis method holds these four things together. Each phase has a goal, a defined group of people involved, a duration and a final document. And each phase closes with a leadership decision: continue, adjust or stop. The company always knows where it stands and how much it has invested.
There are always four phases, but the weight of each changes with the problem. A repositioning needs more time to understand; a launch with a fixed date needs quick decisions and careful activation. Underneath, six principles apply in every case.
- 01
What to stop doing
Every plan contains an explicit list of activities to stop. Without trade-offs, priorities stay on paper and the budget is spread too thin.
- 02
Working documents, not slides
I deliver documents you can use the next day: written positioning, briefs, priorities, a dashboard. Presentations are there to support decisions, not to fill folders.
- 03
One direction
Strategy and execution report to the same person. Fewer hand-overs, fewer mixed messages, one point of accountability to the leadership team.
- 04
Measure before you scale
Test small, measure, then invest. It applies to a channel, a market, a pop-up store or an artificial intelligence tool.
- 05
Leadership decides
The consultant proposes and argues the case; those who run the company decide. That is why every choice is written down, with the reason and the date.
- 06
Candour
If a project makes no sense, or the timing is wrong, I say so. Even when that means a smaller engagement.
02 The phases
Four phases.
One decision at a time.
Understand
Grasp where the company really stands before proposing anything. I separate facts from opinions and identify the two or three issues that will decide growth.
- Activities
- Analysis of sales and marketing data; interviews with management, the sales force and a sample of customers; map of competitors and channels; review of budget, suppliers and tools.
- Who is involved
- CEO or owners, marketing and sales leadership, some salespeople and customers.
- Duration
- 3–4 weeks
- Deliverable
- Strategic diagnosis and opportunity map, discussed with the leadership team.
Decide
Turn the diagnosis into choices: where to compete, for which customers, with which offer and with what investment. And what to stop doing, because the resources freed up fund the priorities.
- Activities
- Decision sessions with the leadership team; positioning and value proposition; priorities by market, channel and product; budget, indicators and an operating plan for the first quarter.
- Who is involved
- Leadership team and heads of function; the board, if the plan needs its approval.
- Duration
- 3–6 weeks
- Deliverable
- Strategic plan with objectives, budget and KPIs, plus the list of what stops.
Activate
Take the decisions to market without losing them along the way. Strategy becomes projects, each with an owner, a budget and a deadline: brand, campaigns, channels, technology, stores. I coordinate projects and operations directly: planning, suppliers, timing, budget and quality, with a single point of accountability.
- Activities
- Execution roadmap; briefs and supplier selection; direction of the in-house network or of your partners; quality control on materials; launch of priority projects.
- Who is involved
- Marketing and sales teams, agencies and suppliers, the Bechis ADV network where needed.
- Duration
- As per plan, with quarterly milestones
- Deliverable
- Execution roadmap, approved briefs, projects under way with owners and deadlines.
Measure
Know every month whether the decisions are working, and correct course quickly when they are not. A few indicators, chosen at the start, reviewed together with the leadership team.
- Activities
- KPI dashboard; monthly steering meeting; minutes of the decisions taken; quarterly review of priorities, budget and suppliers.
- Who is involved
- CEO and senior managers, owners of the projects under way.
- Duration
- Ongoing
- Deliverable
- KPI dashboard, decision minutes, quarterly strategy review.
03 At a glance
The method in one table.
Duration, outputs and people involved in each phase. The first two make up the strategic project; the last two are the direction that carries it through.
| Phase | Duration | Output | Who takes part |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Understand | 3–4 weeks | Strategic diagnosis and opportunity map | CEO or owners, marketing and sales leadership, salespeople, a sample of customers |
| 02 Decide | 3–6 weeks | Strategic plan with objectives, budget and KPIs; list of what stops | Leadership team, heads of function, the board if approval is needed |
| 03 Activate | As per plan | Execution roadmap, briefs, projects under way | In-house teams, agencies and suppliers, the Bechis ADV network where needed |
| 04 Measure | Ongoing | KPI dashboard, decision minutes, quarterly review | CEO and senior managers, project owners |
04 The method across engagement models
Same phases, different weights.
The method does not change with the engagement model: what changes is which phases are entrusted to me and for how long. Scope and fees are set out in a written proposal, per project or as a monthly retainer.
Strategic project
Understand and Decide, with initial support for activation. For a repositioning, a plan, a launch or entry into a new market.
6–12 weeksOngoing advisory
Mainly Measure: a steering meeting with the leadership team, review of choices, direct access when a decision has to be made.
MonthlyFractional marketing leadership
All four phases, with hands-on leadership of team, suppliers and budget. This is the fractional and interim CMO model.
1–3 days a weekExecutive workshop
A condensed version of Decide for boards and marketing teams: choices to be made now on strategy and artificial intelligence.
1–2 days
05 FAQ
Straight answers.
How long does a marketing strategy engagement take?
The first two phases, Understand and Decide, take 6 to 10 weeks in total and end with a plan approved by the leadership team. Activate and Measure then follow the plan: a strategic project needs only a few weeks of support, while ongoing advisory or fractional marketing leadership continues for months, with a review every quarter.
Can we start with the diagnosis only?
Yes. The Understand phase can be commissioned on its own as a marketing audit: in 3–4 weeks you receive a strategic diagnosis and an opportunity map. You then decide whether to continue, with me or with your own team. The diagnosis is yours either way.
How much management time does it require?
The commitment is concentrated in a few moments: one-to-one interviews in the first phase, a handful of decision sessions with the leadership team in the second, then the monthly steering meeting. The calendar is agreed at the start, so nobody discovers halfway through that they need days they do not have.
Does the method work with our own team and agencies?
Yes, that is the most common case. In the Activate phase I coordinate the people and partners you already have, write the briefs and check quality. The Bechis ADV network steps in only where skills or time are missing: it is an option, not a condition.
How do you measure the results of the consulting work?
With the indicators chosen in the Decide phase, before any money is spent: revenue from new customers or channels, acquisition cost, share of target accounts, brand awareness, time to launch. We review them every month at the steering meeting, and every quarter we check whether the strategy needs correcting.
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