You’ve decided to go to market. Here’s how we’d run it.
A document goes out, firms write back, three present, and the choice gets made on writing and rehearsal — none of which shows how a firm will work once the contract is signed. Read side by side, most proposals are hard to differentiate outside of scope and fees.
We run the search. The part’s that don’t work, we replace.
WHAT CHANGES
One - You define fit before anyone writes a word
The process tests firms against your definition, rather than the strongest document setting the standard
Two - You watch the actual team work, not present
The same team in front of you from the first conversation to the last, working on your real situation — not a pitch team that hands off after the win.
Three - You buy it in steps, and can stop at any of them
Each step is separately authorized, so the cost of finding out is in your control
HOW IT RUNS
Three steps, in order. Any of them can be the last. The same teams carry through from the first step to the last — nobody appears for the first time at the end.
STEP ONE
Strategic Fit Dialogue
STEP TWO
Advisor Blueprint Proposal
STEP THREE
Trusted Advisor Evaluation
In the room — Working conversations with a small set of firms about your real situation rather than a written specification. You see how each team thinks, what they ask, and where they take a conversation when nothing is scripted. You decide whether your incumbent joins.
In writing — The firms that continue set out their view; what they would focus on strategically and tactically, the team who would do the work and why them, scope, and fees. Not credentials and boilerplate — a considered position from people who have already sat with your situation.
In the room — The firms still in it lead live sessions on your hardest scenarios. This is where facilitation shows; how a team handles disagreement, surfaces what nobody has said out loud, and helps a room reach a decision it can live with.
The dialogue is ours to run: the same structure for every firm, observations captured and set side by side, and a guide whose job is drawing out what you need to see and understand — rather than what each firm would prefer to present.
Why you can trust the result
We place nothing, take no commissions or overrides, and our only compensation is a fee paid by you. Fees, commissions, and compensation across the participating firms are on the table from the start. That is what makes the outcome defensible when a committee or leadership asks how a decision was reached.
WHO WOULD BE IN THE ROOM?
Henry Noey
Has sat on every side of this: the employer buying the advice, the consultant delivering it, and the provider negotiating with both.
Catherine O’Neill
Two decades spent watching how advisor relationships actually perform once the contract is signed.
Melissa Henry
Runs the operating side: requests, materials, and scheduling across several firms at once, so your team isn’t carrying the process.
WHERE TO START
A conversation before the document goes out
The most useful hour is the one before anything is written.