You're working harder than your numbers say you should be.
Two free diagnostic tools reveal the numbers most agency owners never have in writing. Which services make money. Whether your model is built to scale. Both answered in under 20 minutes.
Free Access to our Alpha Tools. No credit card. No sales call. Just your numbers.
Which of your services are genuinely making money, and which are being quietly subsidised by the rest?
Is your agency model actually built to be profitable, or is it just built to be busy?
What 20 minutes used to cost months and thousands to find out.
The information these tools surface has historically required a consultant, a retainer, and weeks of analysis. These tools return the equivalent output in under 20 minutes, at no cost.
| What you need to know | Traditional route | FCO Alpha Tools — Free |
|---|---|---|
| True gross margin per service line | ✕ Usually unknown or estimated | ✓ Calculated immediately |
| Effective hourly rate by service | ✕ Weeks of manual analysis | ✓ Returned in minutes |
| Grow / Fix / Sunset decision per service | ✕ Requires consultant review | ✓ Built into the output |
| Real capacity utilization rate | ✕ Rarely calculated accurately | ✓ Specific to your team |
| Gross margin health score | ✕ Requires financial review | ✓ Benchmarked and scored |
| Whether your model can support scaling | ✕ Strategy engagement needed | ✓ Visible in your data |
| Total cost | $2,000 to $15,000+ | ✓ Free |
"I had no idea that client was actually unprofitable. Two years. Two years we thought they were one of our best."
"The service we're most known for has the worst margin in the business. Now I have the number. Now I can do something about it."
"We've been over capacity for six months and didn't know it. No wonder the team is stretched. Now we know exactly why."
You're making critical decisions without the numbers to make them well.
These aren't edge cases. They're the problems that quietly cap how far a marketing agency can grow.
Revenue grows. Profit doesn't follow.
More clients, more invoices, more work. At the end of the year the margin is almost identical. Something is structurally wrong and you can't see what.
You don't know which services make money.
You know what each service invoices. You have no idea what it actually profits after real delivery costs. Those two numbers are almost never the same.
Capacity decisions are gut calls.
When a new client asks if you can take them on, you don't have a real picture of your actual capacity. You say yes and figure out the consequences later.
You want to scale but don't know what breaks.
Adding clients without knowing where your model cracks is how agencies end up busier, more stretched, and less profitable. Growth without data is accelerated risk.
Find out which services you should grow, reprice, or stop offering.
Revenue from a service and profit from a service are almost never the same number. This tool breaks every service line down by true gross margin, real delivery cost, and effective hourly rate so you finally have the numbers to make the right call.
Most agencies have a service they're known for, proud of, built their reputation on, that is the least profitable thing they offer. It consumes the most delivery hours and generates the worst margin per pound of revenue. The tool makes this visible and impossible to ignore.
Free with account. No credit card. 10 to 15 minutes.
Find out whether your model is built to be profitable, or just built to be busy.
Revenue and profit move together in a healthy agency model. When they don't, there's a structural reason. This tool calculates the economic rules of your specific agency so you can see what is working, what is not, and what the numbers say needs to change.
Free with account. No credit card. 10 to 20 minutes.
Real answers in under 20 minutes.
Each tool is a guided diagnostic. You answer questions. The tool returns specific numbers, scores, and decisions built from your inputs. Not advice. Not benchmarks. Your numbers.
Minutes total
Most finish in one session
Cost to start
No credit card or trial
Reruns included
Numbers change as you grow
Create your free account
Takes under a minute. No credit card. No commitment. Both tools are ready the moment you sign in.
Choose a tool and begin the diagnostic
Each tool walks you through structured questions. Service breakdown, team size, delivery hours, revenue, cost structure. Nothing requires an accountant.
Get numbers specific to your agency
Not general advice. Numbers calculated from your inputs, about your agency, in your situation.
Come back every time something changes
Both tools are built to be rerun. Before a pricing conversation. After a new hire. At the start of every quarter.
The numbers most agency owners have never seen about their own business.
These are not hypothetical findings. They are what owners discover when they run these tools for the first time.
Your most recognisable service has the worst margin
The thing you're known for, the service in your case studies, is often the one with the lowest effective hourly rate in the business. It takes the most time and generates the worst return per hour delivered.
One service is carrying the profitability of everything else
Most agencies have a single service doing the heavy lifting. Two or three others are quietly draining margin. Without the breakdown you can't see it. Without seeing it, you can't change it.
You're already over capacity and didn't know it
When you calculate utilization properly, many agencies are already past the safe threshold. The breaking point arrives gradually and then suddenly. The tool shows you where you are before the break.
Your pricing hasn't kept up with what delivery actually costs
Rates set two or three years ago don't reflect current team, overhead, or delivery complexity. The effective hourly rate calculation makes the gap impossible to unsee.
Built for agency owners who want real numbers, not more advice.
These tools were designed around the specific operational questions that come up when a marketing agency is growing but can't work out why profit isn't keeping pace.
These tools are not the right fit if:
You want general business advice or strategic frameworks. These tools give you operational diagnostics specific to your numbers, not a substitute for a business coach.
You are pre-revenue or in the first few months of operation. The tools need existing service data to calculate meaningful outputs.
You are looking for a done-for-you solution. The tools give you the data. If you want help implementing what you find, that is what our services are built for.
Need someone to help you act on what you find?
Explore FCO ServicesEverything you want to know before you start.
If something is not answered here, create your account and ask inside the app.
Yes. Both tools are free with account creation. No credit card. No trial period. No locked version requiring an upgrade. You create an account and both tools are available immediately, in full.
These tools are in active development. They are fully functional and give you real, useful answers today. As we gather feedback and refine the experience, outputs, formats, and features will evolve. You're getting access to something genuinely useful early, with the understanding that it will only improve over time.
Yes. Most agency owners run these tools with estimates on their first pass and still walk away with directional insight they've never had. If your estimates are reasonably close, the outputs will show you the right patterns. Run once with estimates, review what comes back, then rerun with more accurate inputs when you have them.
The Service Profitability Controller takes 10 to 15 minutes depending on how many service lines you offer. The Agency Operating Model Builder takes 10 to 20 minutes. Most agency owners complete both in a single session. The questions are specific but straightforward. No deep financial knowledge required.
That is, genuinely, the point. Most agency owners run these tools and discover something they suspected but never had written down. Seeing the number is the first step toward doing something about it. The tool doesn't judge your agency. It gives you information to make better decisions.
Yes, unlimited times. These tools are designed to be rerun as your agency changes. Quarterly, before a pricing review, before adding a service, before a new hire. The value compounds the more consistently you use them.
That is exactly what the rest of First Class Operations is built for. The tools surface the problem. The 3-Hour Live Operations Audit helps you identify and begin solving your five biggest bottlenecks in a single session. The Fractional COO service works alongside you over time to implement real, lasting change.
Your operational inputs are encrypted and remain in your private account. We do not sell, share, or use your business data for any purpose other than powering your tool results. Your numbers belong to you.
The answers are already in your numbers.
You just haven't had the right tools to surface them. Create your free account, run your first diagnostic today, and walk away with numbers most agency owners never have.