“Getting the word out” didn’t grow your business.
Compete for impact, not impressions.
In this fast, 4-step diagnostic, Hopeless Marketing founder Benjie Hughes guides you through the same framework he uses to evaluate new clients and kickstart their growth plans.
Gauge how well your marketing has worked, identify what’s wrong and list solutions.
You’ll get one 15-minute step in your inbox each day for one week — or you can move straight through the whole process in a single hour.
The tools we use. Yours, free.
Take your marketing’s temperature with Benjie’s 3 Slider framework
Compare what you do with what works using the Action Path worksheet
Run an Impact Test on your most important sales tool to score and improve its clarity
For the business seeking revenue (not attention).
Most companies grow in spurts. If you’re stuck at $1M or $5M or $15M, you already understand that getting to the next stage will take more than wishes.
Growth takes effort.
If you’ve made that effort and it hasn’t worked, this is for you.
Who’s the Reality Check meant for?
established, privately held business
you sell high-ticket services (not products)
2-200 employees
Industries like: MSP, consultancy, small manufacturer, fintech, data, 3PL, nonprofit
The Reality Check is meant to be taken by a leader in the business — probably your CEO, COO, CMO, CRO or their equivalent.
Why? This is a diagnostic, not an audit — it’s about a high-level view of what you’re doing and what you’re missing.
You won’t deep data, but you will need an intuitive sense of what’s going on in your business, especially as it pertains to customers and sales/marketing efforts.
What happens when I subscribe?
You’ll get a welcome email immediately with a video link explaining how the diagnostic works.
There are four steps after the welcome. Each has a PDF tool to download and fill out. A short video from Benjie guides you through the tool and offers extra insight.
Each step takes about 15 minutes. A reminder email helps you take small actions every day — or you can click ahead to work through the whole diagnostic in about an hour.
When you’re done, you’ll know what’s working in your marketing — and what’s not. You’ll have a plan for what to start doing, what to stop and where to double down on what’s already working.
You’ll know how to grow your business — without growing marketing expense.