SBC BOOKKEEPING & CONSULTING

Marketing Partner Evaluation & Strategic Recommendation

Independent Consulting Engagement | Summer 2026

Role: Marketing Partner Evaluation & Market Intelligence Analyst

The Challenge

SBC leadership faced an ambiguous strategic decision: determining which marketing alternative was best positioned to support the company's growth objectives while balancing strategic fit, execution capability, market knowledge, measurement, operational capacity, and implementation risk.

The objective was not simply to compare vendors. It was to create a consistent, evidence-backed decision process capable of supporting an executive recommendation.

The Approach

01 | Structure the Decision

Translated leadership priorities and project requirements into a 500-point evaluation framework across 12 weighted categories, assigning greater influence to factors most consequential to SBC's objectives.

02 | Build the Evidence Base

Conducted market, competitive, company, and capability due diligence and organized the research into a structured evidence library.

The final analytical system contained 150+ documented evidence points, creating traceability between research and evaluation.

03 | Develop the Analytical Model

Built an Excel-based decision model connecting:

Strategic Priorities → Weighted Categories → Evaluation Criteria → Supporting Evidence → Scoring → Comparative Results

Category performance was normalized to support consistent interpretation across criteria carrying different strategic weights.

04 | Analyze Tradeoffs & Risk

Moved beyond aggregate scores to identify the factors actually driving differences between alternatives.

Quantitative findings were considered alongside strategic fit, qualitative evidence, implementation risk, and business judgment rather than allowing a single score to determine the recommendation.

05 | Recommend to Leadership

Synthesized the analysis into an executive recommendation incorporating findings, risks, validation requirements, implementation considerations, and next steps.

The methodology and recommendation were then presented directly to SBC leadership.

Deliverables

Strategic Evaluation Framework
500-point weighted decision architecture

Evidence Library
Structured documentation supporting evaluation decisions

Analytical Decision Model
Excel-based weighted scoring and comparative analysis

Executive Dashboard
Visual synthesis of overall and category-level findings

Tradeoff & Risk Analysis
Identification of decision drivers, risks, and strategic considerations

Executive Recommendation Report
Synthesis of findings, conditions, and next steps

Leadership Presentation & Q&A
Presentation of methodology and recommendation directly to company leadership

By the Numbers

150+ documented evidence points
12 weighted evaluation categories
500 total evaluation points
2 finalists evaluated
1 executive recommendation

The Outcome

From an ambiguous strategic question to a structured, evidence-based executive recommendation.

The engagement gave leadership a consistent methodology for comparing strategic alternatives while making the underlying evidence, tradeoffs, uncertainties, and risks visible within the decision process.

Capabilities Demonstrated

Structured Problem Solving • Market Intelligence • Competitive Analysis • Due Diligence • Excel • Quantitative Decision Modeling • Business Judgment • Executive Communication • AI-Assisted Development

Confidentiality

Selected project materials are sanitized for public use. Vendor identities, individual scores, client financial information, proprietary information, detailed weaknesses, and the final recommendation are omitted or anonymized.