Phase 1: The 30-Day Digital Pipeline Diagnostic

The 30-Day Digital Pipeline Diagnostic is Communication-IMPACT's fixed-fee starting point: a $15,000 audit that compares your online presence with your top competitors and finds where your pipeline leaks.


In 30 days, you get a written blueprint you own. Run it with your own team, or hire M.J. Plebon to build it.


What is the 30-Day Digital Pipeline Diagnostic?


The 30-Day Digital Pipeline Diagnostic is a fixed-fee audit of an industrial company's search visibility, technical content, sales tools, and CRM lead tracking, measured against its top competitors. It is Phase 1 of the Integration Framework. Nothing gets built until it is done.


Most agencies ask you to sign a 12-month contract before they understand your business, your sales cycle, or your buyers.

I do not work that way.


Before I build a single asset, I spend 30 days auditing your digital footprint against your top competitors. I find the gaps, map what it would take to close them, and hand you the blueprint.


If the math does not make sense, we shake hands. Your exposure stops at the fixed fee.

A spiral-bound notebook labeled

What does the Diagnostic include?


The Diagnostic has four parts, one for each person at your boardroom table: a competitor assessment for the CEO, a lost-bid review for the VP of Sales, a CRM and lead tracking audit for the CFO, and a tools and AI review for the owner.

1. The Competitor Threat Assessment (for the CEO)


Your product is technically better.


So why are you losing bids?


I audit the competitors taking your anchor accounts.


I map the searches buyers use to find them instead of you. Then I show you what it would take to change that.

2. The Lost-Bid Autopsy (for the VP of Sales)


Give me access to your CRM and the post-mortems on your last few lost deals.


I find the moments your reps walked into a negotiation without the information they needed to defend your price.


Then I show you which digital assets would have changed the outcome.

3. CRM and Lead Tracking Audit (for the CFO)


In most companies I walk into, the sales reps decide where each lead came from when they enter it in the CRM.


That means nobody knows what a customer really costs to acquire.


I audit how leads are tracked, find where the reporting breaks down, and set up a clean handoff from marketing to sales before we run a single campaign.

4. AI and Tools Audit (for the owner


I look at the software your team already pays for.


I tell you what to cancel, what to keep, and which AI tools your current staff can realistically run without adding headcount.

What does the Diagnostic cost, and what happens after?


The Diagnostic costs $15,000 CAD, fixed, with no retainer. It takes 30 days and ends with a written blueprint you own outright. After that, you can run the plan yourself or hire me for Phase 2, the Digital Arsenal Build.

  • Timeline: 30 days
  • Investment: $15,000, fixed fee. No open-ended retainer.
  • Deliverable: a written blueprint you own


Book Your 30-Minute Diagnostic Roadmap Session

What do you need from us?

For the Diagnostic, I need read-only access to your CRM and website analytics, the names of your top three competitors, and the post-mortems on a few recent lost deals. I sign an NDA if you need one, and I handle any personal information in your CRM according to Quebec's Law 25.


  • Read-only access to your CRM
  • Your website analytics
  • The names of your top three competitors online
  • Post-mortems on a few recent lost deals
  • About 30 minutes with your VP of Sales

I read your data. I do not change it, and it does not leave your systems.



Questions about the Diagnostic


These are the questions CEOs, CFOs, VPs of Sales, and owners ask before they sign. The short answers: the audit shows you what you cannot see on your own, CRM access sets the baseline we will both be measured against, I do not build without it, and your reps are not on trial.



The objections I hear in the boardroom


We already know who our competitors are and why we lose to them. Why pay $15,000 for an audit?


You know their products and their prices. What most owners have never seen is the list of searches that send buyers to a competitor's website instead of theirs. I map those searches and the pages that win them. Then I show you what it takes to win them back.



Why do you need access to our CRM just to do a marketing audit?


To set the baseline we will both be measured against. If your reps decide where each lead came from, nobody can tell you what a customer costs to acquire. I check how leads are recorded, find where the reporting breaks, and set the starting numbers for the 90-day SLA.



Can we skip the Diagnostic and just pay you to rebuild our website?


No. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. Without the audit, I would be guessing which pages to build and which searches to chase. I am not going to guess with your money.



Are you going to come in here and tell me my reps don't know how to close?


No. Your reps know how to close. I want to know what they were missing when they lost. I go through your lost deals and look for the moments a competitor had an ROI calculator, a comparison page, or specs online, and your rep had a PDF.


Then we build what your reps were missing.



Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot for a report. What do I actually get?


Compare it with signing off on a year of marketing spend based on guesswork. The Diagnostic tells you which tools, which searches, and which software are worth the money before you spend it. You get a written blueprint. If you do not like the math, we shake hands and you walk away. You owe nothing more.


Quick answers


Who is the Diagnostic for?


Established industrial and technical B2B companies that grew on referrals, trade shows, and long-time relationships, and are now seeing fewer RFQs or losing bids to competitors who are easier to find online.



How does the Diagnostic find pipeline leaks?


It compares what your buyers search for with what your website and sales tools give them. It checks whether your specs are easy to find and download. And it follows how leads are recorded in your CRM, to find where they get lost or credited to the wrong source.



Can the Diagnostic help when I want to sell the company someday?


It shows you the risk a buyer will see. If your sales depend on a few people's relationships, a buyer or investor will price that in. The Diagnostic shows how much of your pipeline depends on those relationships and what it would take to build one that does not.



Written by M.J. Plebon, Fractional CMO and founder of Communication-IMPACT, Montreal. Last updated October 21, 2026.