Claim Your Market
Signature case study · 18 months · BoardSuite Accelerate

How Apex CMG* went from chasing RFPs to boards reaching out directly.

In 2022, Apex CMG was growing organically — winning the deals their referral network put in front of them, losing the ones that needed a system. By month 18, they were turning down associations that didn't fit their portfolio.

The contracted outcome
+535%
lead intake increase
3×
proposal request growth
+1,580%
YoY monthly opportunities
Before · after

Same team. Same market.
Different operating system.

Nothing about Apex CMG's people changed. What changed is the system underneath them — and what that system makes possible.

Dimension
Before Alloy
After
Pipeline
Sporadic RFPs from referrals. Volume tied to who-knew-who.
Steady inbound from boards searching for management. Pipeline you can model.
Search visibility
Page 2–3 for the queries boards actually run.
Top three for primary metro + cited inside AI search answers.
Authority
Capable team, but invisible outside referral circle.
Quoted in trade press. Speaking at chapter events. Boards arrive pre-sold.
Proposal process
Customized from scratch each time. Lost on price, not fit.
Standardized template + discovery script. Boards see Apex CMG's thinking, not just rates.
Retention
Annual churn assumed inevitable. No board feedback loop.
Onboarding + board education curriculum. Renewals are a conversation, not a re-pitch.
BD motion
Owner-led, episodic, dependent on calendar gaps.
Groundwork BD running concurrent outreach to qualified, exclusive territories.
The mid-engagement quote

"I stopped explaining what we do. The website does it. The articles do it. The boards arrive already convinced."

Marcus Webb
Marcus Webb
CEO, Apex CMG* · month 9
Apex CMGgrowthoperating systemATTRACTBoards find Apex CMG firstAUTHORITYPre-sold before pitchCLOSE & KEEPWins → renewalsLocal SEOGEO / AI searchTrade pressSpeakingProposal redesignOnboarding system
The 18-month build

Phase by phase. No shortcuts.

Engineered growth is a sequence. You can't run authority before you've built findability. You can't scale BD before you've fixed the proposal. Here's how the work actually stacked.

01
Months 0–3
Diagnostic & foundation

Tear it down to the studs.

  • ·Full market and competitive audit — service area mapped, every competing CAM firm scored.
  • ·Technical SEO rebuild: site architecture, page speed, schema markup, internal linking.
  • ·Discovery process redesign: a real intake script, not a brochure.
  • ·Baseline analytics + attribution wired up — so every later metric has a real before-state.
02
Months 3–6
Authority & visibility

Become findable. Become quotable.

  • ·Pillar content campaign: 14 cornerstone articles answering the questions boards search.
  • ·Google Business Profile rebuild + 40+ targeted local citations.
  • ·GEO / AI-search optimization — Apex CMG began appearing inside ChatGPT and Perplexity answers.
  • ·First trade press placements + chapter speaking slots booked.
03
Months 6–12
Compounding inbound

The flywheel turns.

  • ·Lead intake crossed 4× baseline. Inbound mix flipped: more boards searching, fewer cold approaches.
  • ·Proposal template overhaul — discovery → diagnosis → engineered plan, not a price sheet.
  • ·Groundwork BD launched on qualified, exclusive territories the inbound wasn't reaching.
  • ·Quarterly business review cadence locked in — wins, losses, and what to rebuild next.
04
Months 12–18
Engineered, not lucky

Selectivity, not scarcity.

  • ·Lead intake landed at +535%. Proposal requests at 3×. Monthly opportunities at +1,580% YoY.
  • ·Onboarding + board education curriculum live — renewals stopped being a re-pitch.
  • ·Apex CMG began declining associations that weren't a portfolio fit.
  • ·Operating system documented and run by Apex CMG's team — Alloy moved into strategic-partner cadence.
What we built, by engine

Four engines. One system. Connected on purpose.

Each engine has its own playbook. The point isn't running them in parallel — it's running them so they compound.

Engine

Attract

Boards find Apex CMG before they start shopping.

Local SEO, GEO/AI-search, content engine, and paid media — coordinated, not stacked.

Technical SEO rebuild
Site architecture, schema, internal linking, page speed under 1.4s.
Local + GEO / AI search
Top-3 local visibility for primary metro; cited in AI search answers.
Pillar content engine
14 cornerstone articles + 60+ supporting pieces across 18 months.
Paid + retargeting
Conversion-engineered Google Ads on board-stage queries; retargeting on unfit visitors deprioritized.
Engine

Authority

Boards arrive pre-sold.

Trade press, speaking, and earned media that turn a competent firm into the obvious choice.

Trade press placements
Quoted in industry publications across the engagement window.
Chapter speaking
Local CAI chapter slots — board members hearing Apex CMG in the room before reading them online.
Proprietary methodology framing
Apex CMG's approach packaged into named frameworks boards can repeat.
Owner thought-leadership cadence
Monthly LinkedIn + newsletter pieces from the CEO chair, not the marketing seat.
Engine

Close

More leads, plus a higher hit rate.

Proposal redesign, discovery process, and Groundwork BD — so what walks in actually walks across the line.

Discovery script + diagnosis call
Replaced 'send us your RFP' with a real intake — boards leave the call already engaged.
Proposal template rebuild
Apex CMG's thinking, the engineered plan, the people. Not a rate card.
Groundwork BD outreach
Targeted, market-exclusive territory outreach concurrent with inbound — net-new pipeline that wasn't searching yet.
Lost-deal post-mortems
Every loss reviewed; pattern-matched into the next quarter's playbook.
Engine

Keep

Renewals that aren't re-pitches.

Onboarding, board education, and feedback loops that turn a year-one client into a five-year reference.

First-90-days onboarding system
Documented sequence — boards know what's happening when, no surprises.
Board education curriculum
Quarterly sessions on governance, vendor management, reserves — boards get smarter; Apex CMG gets credit.
Satisfaction + signal monitoring
Quarterly board pulse + early-warning indicators on accounts at risk.
Reference & referral motion
Happy boards talk to other boards — engineered, not assumed.
What got built

The artifacts behind the numbers.

Engineered growth leaves a trail. Here's the inventory of systems, content, and processes Apex CMG now owns and operates.

Content & SEO
  • 14 cornerstone pillar articles
  • 60+ supporting articles & FAQs
  • Full technical SEO rebuild
  • Schema markup across the site
  • Google Business Profile + 40+ citations
  • AI-search optimization (GEO)
Authority & PR
  • Trade press placement strategy
  • Chapter speaking calendar
  • CEO thought-leadership cadence
  • Newsletter program
  • Earned-media follow-up system
Conversion & BD
  • Discovery / diagnosis script
  • Proposal template rebuild
  • Lost-deal review cadence
  • Groundwork BD outreach
  • CRM + attribution wiring
Retention
  • First-90-days onboarding system
  • Board education curriculum
  • Quarterly satisfaction pulse
  • Reference & referral motion
Where they are now
"We don't think about lead flow anymore. We think about which boards we want to take on next year. That's a completely different problem to have."
Marcus Webb
Marcus Webb
CEO, Apex CMG* · post-engagement
The honest disclosure

Apex CMG's results are real, contracted, and measured against their pre-engagement baseline. They are also one firm, in one market, with the discipline to execute the system month after month. Your starting point and execution pace will produce different numbers. We'll model honest expectations during your diagnostic.

* Client name and identifying details changed to protect confidentiality. Results are real and on file.

Ready when you are

Three engines. One playbook. Your market.

Attract, close, and keep — engineered as one connected system. 30 minutes tells you which engine to fix first.

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