Current state process map

How you work today

This is how Scaleforte delivers today, captured across three working sessions. Steps marked as pain points are where the team told us the time goes.

Standard step

Routine work, running as intended.

Decision

A judgement call or branch in the flow.

Automation candidate

Repetitive and rules based.

Pain point

Named by the team as slow or costly.

Team

  • Daniel Cho, Founder and strategy
  • Priya Nair, Head of PPC
  • Sam Ortiz, PPC analyst
  • Marcus Webb, Catalogue lead
  • Ava Thompson, Account manager

Tools

Amazon Ads consoleSeller CentralHelium 10Google SheetsSlackNotionXeroClickUp
Stage 1

Acquisition

3 steps

From inbound lead to signed client.

Standard2 hrs, weekly

Lead intake

Inbound arrives by email, referral or the site form and lands in a shared inbox.

Ava ThompsonSlack
Pain point6 hrs, weekly

Manual prospect audit

An analyst pulls the prospect's Amazon data by hand and builds an audit deck for the pitch.

Sam OrtizHelium 10Google Sheets
Every proposal is a from scratch audit. It is hours before we even know if they are a fit.
Daniel ChoSession 1
? Decision2 hrs, weekly

Proposal and scope

Daniel reviews the audit, sets scope and pricing, and sends the proposal.

Daniel ChoNotion
Stage 2

Onboarding

3 steps

Standing up a new Amazon client.

Pain point4 hrs, weekly

Access and data collection

Ava chases advertising and Seller Central access and brand assets over email and Slack.

Ava ThompsonSlackSeller Central
Onboarding drags because we are always waiting on access and re asking for the same things.
Ava ThompsonSession 1
Standard3 hrs, weekly

Baseline and account setup

The team records a performance baseline and sets up tracking sheets per client.

Sam OrtizGoogle Sheets
Standard1 hrs, weekly

Kickoff

Daniel and Ava run the kickoff call and confirm goals.

Daniel ChoAva ThompsonSlack
Stage 3

PPC management

3 steps

The weekly advertising delivery loop.

Pain point12 hrs, weekly

Bid and budget adjustments

Analysts review every campaign and adjust bids and budgets account by account in the Ads console.

Priya NairSam OrtizAmazon Ads consoleGoogle Sheets
Two of us spend the better part of two days a week just nudging bids across the portfolio.
Priya NairSession 2
Automation6 hrs, weekly

Search term harvesting

Sam exports search term reports and mines new keywords and negatives by hand.

Sam OrtizAmazon Ads consoleGoogle Sheets
The search term mining is pure pattern work but it still eats a full morning.
Sam OrtizSession 2
? Decision3 hrs, weekly

Performance check and flags

Priya reviews ACOS and TACOS and decides which accounts need attention.

Priya NairAmazon Ads console
Stage 4

Catalogue optimization

3 steps

Listing and content delivery.

Pain point5 hrs, weekly

Keyword and competitor research

Marcus runs research per catalogue in Helium 10 and assembles it into a brief.

Marcus WebbHelium 10Google Sheets
Research is the same five steps every catalogue, just different products.
Marcus WebbSession 3
Pain point9 hrs, weekly

Listing copy and A plus content

Marcus drafts titles, bullets and A plus content from a blank doc each time.

Marcus WebbNotionSeller Central
Writing listings from scratch is the single biggest time sink on my side.
Marcus WebbSession 3
Automation4.5 hrs, weekly

Catalogue health checks

Someone manually scans for suppressed listings and buy box loss across clients.

Marcus WebbSeller Central
Stage 5

Reporting and billing

3 steps

Client reporting, retention and month end.

Pain point8 hrs, weekly

Weekly client reports

Each analyst rebuilds a report per client by copying numbers into a slide template.

Priya NairSam OrtizAmazon Ads consoleGoogle Sheets
Friday is reporting day and it is gone by lunch, every week, per person.
Priya NairSession 2
Pain point7 hrs, weekly

Status updates and inbox triage

Ava keeps clients updated across email and Slack and chases internal answers.

Ava ThompsonSlack
Pain point3.5 hrs, weekly

Spend reconciliation for invoicing

At month end ad spend is reconciled across accounts and passed to Xero.

Ava ThompsonAmazon Ads consoleXero
Reconciling spend before we can invoice is fiddly and easy to get wrong.
Ava ThompsonSession 3