What an engagement looks like.
The fair question before signing anything is: what would we actually get? Here are two examples, month one to month six, built around the questions a CEO asks. Both companies are fictitious. The work is not: it is what CESSON commits to in writing.
Harlow & Park Studio: 21 years of work that buyers’ AI had never heard of.
An architecture firm in Charleston, known for historic preservation and coastal homes. Its founder, Margot Harlow, runs the practice and, in the hours left over, the marketing.
Read this first
Harlow & Park Studio is a fictitious company. The “work” lines are what CESSON commits to in writing. The “illustration” lines show the kind of movement we work toward. They are not a forecast or a promise, and no one can guarantee results. For what real clients saw, read the case studies.
Harlow & Park has 21 years of work, design awards three years running and clients a buyer would recognize, and the AI assistants its buyers now ask do not know it. Across 125 runs of five buyer questions on five assistants, the firm was named twice. That is not a reputation problem. It is a plumbing problem: the site blocks the bots ChatGPT and Perplexity use, no page answers a buyer’s question in plain words, and there is no way to book without a phone call that went to voicemail.
- DNamed by AI assistants
- D+Named in Google’s AI answers
- C-What AI says about you
- CCan AI read your site
- D-Answers worth quoting
- B-Found on Google
- FCan an AI agent buy from you
- CUsing AI, or talking about it
Left out, on purpose: Paid Advertising. No ad budget until the site can turn a visitor into a booked call.
| What Margot asked | Month 1: where it stood | Month 6 |
|---|---|---|
| “When a buyer asks ChatGPT for a preservation architect in Charleston, are we named?” | Named in 2 of 125 test runs. Two of the five assistants could not read the site at all. | Work Bots unblocked in the first week. Five answer pages published, one for each buyer question. The founder page and every listing corrected so each source says the same thing. All 125 runs repeated every month. Illustration Named in 34 of 125 runs. |
| “Are we on page one of Google for the projects we want?” | First for the firm’s own name. Page two for all five buyer questions. | Work Technical fixes done. Google Business Profile completed: services, hours, 20 photos and a booking link. Two articles a month, each on a question buyers search. Illustration Page one for three of the five questions, and in the map results for two. |
| “Can a client book us without playing phone tag?” | No booking link. A contact form behind a CAPTCHA. Our weekday test call went to voicemail. | Work A booking link on the site and on the Google profile. The form cut to four fields. Fee ranges written on the site as text. Every inquiry answered the same day. Illustration Nine consultations booked through the link in month six. |
| “Does the website show 21 years of our best work?” | A handsome portfolio that answers none of the questions a buyer arrives with. | Work The six pages a buyer reads before calling, rebuilt around those questions. Four project walkthrough videos filmed, each with a written transcript on the site. Illustration Visitors who reach a project page book a call about twice as often as in month one. |
| “Do we look like the leader in Charleston?” | Three LinkedIn posts in twelve months. No video. Four reviews, the last from 2023. | Work One LinkedIn post a week in Margot’s own voice, drafted from a 20-minute conversation each month. Ten past clients asked for a review. Illustration Eight new reviews. LinkedIn followers up by half. |
| “Is any of this turning into projects?” | Nobody could say. Visits from AI assistants were counted as “direct”. | Work Tracking set up, visits from AI assistants counted separately, one written definition of a qualified inquiry, and one page of numbers every month. Illustration Seven qualified inquiries traced to Google or an AI assistant in months four to six. Two became proposals. |
Tallis Ridge Physical Therapy: eight clinics, one ad budget, and no way to tell what it bought.
A physical therapy group with eight clinics in Ohio and Kentucky, a CEO who watches the numbers and one marketing manager who does everything else.
Read this first
Tallis Ridge Physical Therapy is a fictitious company. The “work” lines are what CESSON commits to in writing. The “illustration” lines show the kind of movement we work toward. They are not a forecast or a promise, and no one can guarantee results. For what real clients saw, read the case studies.
Tallis Ridge is found. Its trouble starts after that. Advertising is bought as one budget for eight clinics, so nobody can say which campaign filled which schedule, and a new patient who writes in waits most of a day for a reply. Three clinics are full and five are not, and the reports cannot explain why.
- CNamed by AI assistants
- C+Named in Google’s AI answers
- B-What AI says about you
- BCan AI read your site
- C-Answers worth quoting
- BFound on Google
- DCan an AI agent buy from you
- D+Using AI, or talking about it
Left out, on purpose: Content & Social Media and Websites. The marketing manager runs both in house and does them well.
| What the CEO asked | Month 1: where it stood | Month 6 |
|---|---|---|
| “We spend $22,000 a month on ads. What does it bring back?” | The ad platforms claimed 410 leads a month. The clinics’ own system showed 190 new-patient inquiries. Nobody could say which campaign produced which. | Work Tracking rebuilt. Call tracking on every clinic’s number. One written definition of a lead, agreed by the CEO, the marketing manager and the clinic directors. One page of numbers every month. Illustration Cost per booked first visit known for every clinic and every channel. Two campaigns stopped and their budget moved. |
| “Why are three clinics full and five not?” | One set of ads for all eight clinics, all landing on the home page. | Work Campaigns rebuilt clinic by clinic, each with its own page, phone number and budget. Media bought at cost in Tallis Ridge’s own accounts. Illustration Booked first visits at the five quieter clinics up by about a quarter, on the same total spend. |
| “How long does a new patient wait to hear from us?” | Web inquiries went to a shared inbox. Average first reply: 19 hours. | Work Every inquiry lands in one CRM with its source. A first reply goes out within minutes, and the clinic’s front desk is told at once. Illustration Typical first reply under ten minutes during opening hours. |
| “What happens to people who ask and never book?” | Nothing. | Work Three email sequences written and running: new inquiries, missed first visits, and past patients. Illustration About one in eight of those inquiries books within 60 days. |
| “Can our marketing manager run more of this herself?” | She ran social media and the newsletter, and had never been inside the ad accounts. | Work A working session every week. By month six she reads the weekly numbers, edits the email sequences and approves every ad herself. |
| “Should we be doing something about AI?” | Named in 31 of 125 test runs. No count of visits arriving from AI assistants. | Work Visits from AI assistants counted from month one and shown on the monthly page. AI Search held for the next plan, on purpose: first make the money already being spent answer for itself. |
How every CESSON engagement runs
It starts with a baseline
Usually the free AI Reality Check: eight grades and one score, so month six has something to be compared with.
The plan is written in month one
What gets done first, what waits, and what is left out on purpose. You approve it before anything is spent.
The work is in writing
Every “work” line above is the kind of commitment that goes into a CESSON plan. The movement that follows depends on your market, and we show it to you every month, whichever way it goes.
Philippe Cesson answers for it
He sets the strategy, reviews and directs all the work, and answers for the result. A named member of the CESSON team runs it day to day.
A checkpoint at 90 days
Six months to start, because onboarding is a real investment and we charge no setup fee for it. At 90 days we sit down with the plan from month one. If we haven’t done the work we said we would, you can leave on 30 days’ notice.
One flat fee
Neither example carries a price here, because the fee depends on the mix. Engagements start at $3,500 a month and most run between $4,000 and $6,000. The fee and the terms are on the pricing page.
The buck stops with Philippe
Philippe Cesson sets the strategy, reviews and directs all the work, and answers for the result. A named member of the CESSON team runs it day to day.
No surprise bills
One flat monthly fee. We don’t bill by the hour, so call, text or email as often as you need to. We answer within half a business day.
Reports in plain words
Leads and revenue from the data you already own. No jargon, no vanity numbers.
Let’s talk about your business.
Thirty minutes with Philippe. You’ll leave with a straight recommendation, even if it’s not us.
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