Sprout · Sage
The S³ Method · Our Process

How we Start.
How we Scale.
How we Succeed.

Six phases. Twelve weeks. One predictable outcome. Every Sprout Sage engagement runs through the same disciplined process — the one that has shipped 450+ projects across the US, UK, Israel, Canada and India with 96% client retention.

6
Phases
12wk
Avg Engagement
7d
Kickoff Window
450+
Run Through It
96%
Retention

The S³ Method.
Six phases that
actually ship.

Most agencies wing it. We follow the same six-phase rhythm on every engagement — whether you are buying a $5,000 logo or a $250,000 platform rebuild. The process is what makes the work compound. Skip a phase and the wheels come off two months later.

01
Week 1

Discovery

What we do: 90-minute kick-off call with founders + key stakeholders. Audit existing brand, site, traffic, ad accounts, analytics, CRM. Interview 3-5 customers. Competitor sweep. Heuristic UX review. Document assumptions vs. evidence.

Deliverable: Discovery Report — 15-25 pages, written in plain English, covering brand audit, technical audit, competitive map, customer-quote library, prioritised opportunity list with revenue projections.

Your time: 2 hours kickoff + 4 hours interviews + async questions. We do the rest.

02
Week 2-3

Strategy

What we do: Translate discovery into a written plan. Brand positioning if it is a brand engagement. Sitemap + content model if it is a site engagement. Channel mix + budget split if it is paid media. KPI tree from revenue back to leading indicators.

Deliverable: Strategy Document — positioning statement, audience segments, message hierarchy, channel plan, sprint plan with milestones, success metrics, risk register.

Your time: 1-hour strategy review call + written feedback in Notion. Approved before a pixel moves.

03
Week 4-6

Design

What we do: Three visual directions in round one for brand or site work. Wireframes + flow diagrams for product/UX. Ad creative concepts in three hooks for paid media. Two rounds of structured revision built into the schedule.

Deliverable: Approved Figma file with all screens at desktop + mobile, brand guideline doc, asset library, motion specs if applicable. Production-ready handoff to engineering.

Your time: 30 minutes per review round (typically two rounds). Comments captured in Figma + Notion.

04
Week 5-10

Build

What we do: Two-week build sprints. Demo at end of each sprint. Staging environment available from day one so you can click around the work-in-progress. Code reviews on every PR. Performance budget enforced. Accessibility checks before merge.

Deliverable: Production-ready code, content populated, tests passing, schema markup, CMS configured for editor self-service, performance tuned to Lighthouse 90+.

Your time: 30-min sprint demo every two weeks. Async review of staging. Final UAT before launch.

05
Week 10-12

Launch

What we do: Production deploy with rollback plan. Redirect map from old URLs. GA4 + GSC + Tag Manager configured. Schema validated. Cache warmed. Soft-launch to a sample audience for 48 hours, monitor errors + Core Web Vitals, then go fully live.

Deliverable: Live site at production domain. Documented runbook. Training session for your team (recorded). 30 days of post-launch hyper-care included on every engagement at no extra cost.

Your time: 1-hour go-live war-room call + recorded training session.

06
Month 4+

Optimise — the part most agencies skip

What we do: Launch is the start, not the finish. Monthly CRO experiments based on heatmaps + session recordings. Weekly SEO content velocity. Bi-weekly ad creative refresh. Quarterly strategy reviews. Annual full re-audit.

Deliverable: Live Looker dashboard, weekly written narrative on what changed and why, monthly executive summary for leadership, quarterly compounding-results review.

Your time: 30-min monthly review call + weekly async report. Most clients stay 12-24 months in this phase. That is where the money is.

Tools & Methods

The stack we
actually use.

Figma

Single source of truth for design. Every project ships in a clean Figma file you can edit on day one.

Notion

Project workspace. Strategy docs, sprint boards, decision log, retrospective notes — all visible to you.

Slack

Always-on async channel with the senior team. No ticket portals, no email-tag, no day-long response delays.

GitHub

Code reviews on every PR, branch protection, automated tests, deploy previews. Engineering hygiene matters.

Looker Agency

Live performance dashboard combining GA4, GSC, Ahrefs, Meta and Google Ads in one view.

Hotjar / Microsoft Clarity

Heatmaps, session recordings, on-page surveys. Every CRO experiment starts with watching real users.

Loom

Async video walkthroughs replace 80% of meetings. We send you a 5-minute Loom every Friday recapping the week.

Stripe / Razorpay

Transparent billing. 50/50 for projects, monthly upfront for retainers. INR / USD / GBP / CAD accepted.

Your Stack

We adapt to your existing tools whenever possible. Linear, Asana, ClickUp, Trello, Monday — we have shipped on all of them.

Why It Works

The discipline
compounds.

The first agency we hired showed up with no plan and asked us what we wanted. Sprout Sage showed up with a strategy doc on day five and three sprint demos before we had to make our second payment. Different sport.

CT
Catherine T.
Founder, B2B SaaS Platform

Every Friday a Loom landed in my inbox showing exactly what shipped that week. After three months I started forwarding it to my board. They thought I had hired a full marketing team.

RP
Raghav P.
Co-founder, DTC Skincare Brand
Related Services

Pair this with what you already need.

Website Design
Conversion-architected, Core Web Vitals tuned, fully responsive.
SEO & Content
216 page-1 keywords across client sites.
Brand Identity
Visual systems built for recognition and recall.
UI/UX Design
Product design that earns its place on the screen.
Google Ads
Search and Performance Max campaigns built around margin.
Meta Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads with creative that converts.
About Us
Five years. 450+ projects. One senior team.
Free 30-min audit →
No pitch. Real recommendations.
Process FAQ

How it
actually works.

Eight questions clients ask before booking. If yours is missing, ask on the discovery call — we will answer in writing.

How do you handle revisions and feedback rounds?
+
Most engagements include three rounds of revisions per major deliverable. I send a Loom walkthrough of every milestone so you can review at your own pace, then we align via a 30-minute call. If we need a fourth round, we discuss whether scope changed — and adjust honestly. No surprise change orders.
Will I work directly with you or with a junior team member?
+
You work with me directly on strategy and major reviews. I have a small senior team that handles execution — design production, development, content writing, ad operations — but I personally review every deliverable before it leaves the studio. No account managers, no offshore handoffs you cannot reach.
What tools and platforms do you use?
+
For design: Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Spline for 3D. For development: Next.js, WordPress with Elementor or custom themes, Webflow, Shopify. For SEO: Ahrefs, Search Console, Screaming Frog, Surfer. For ads: Google Ads, Meta Business Suite, looker dashboards. For project management: Notion + Slack. I do not gate-keep tools — happy to share access to anything we use on your project.
Do you sign NDAs and protect confidential information?
+
Yes. Mutual NDAs available before any discovery call. All client work stays under tight access controls — only the team members directly working on your project can view files. After project close, I retain working files for two years for support purposes, then archive securely. Nothing goes into public portfolio without written approval.
How do you measure success after launch?
+
We agree on 3-5 KPIs before kickoff — usually a mix of leading indicators (traffic, engagement, click-through, time on site) and lagging ones (form submissions, calls, revenue, qualified pipeline). Monthly reports show movement on all of them, with a plain-English summary of what we shipped, what worked, and what is next. No vanity metrics. No 60-page PDFs you will never read.
Do you offer ongoing support and retainers?
+
Yes. After project delivery, you can move to a monthly retainer (typically 8-20 hours per month) for continuous improvement — A/B testing, content additions, performance optimization, new feature builds. Or pay hourly for ad-hoc work. Most clients stay on retainer for at least six months because compounding work outperforms one-off projects.
What is your typical client engagement length?
+
Project work runs 4-14 weeks depending on scope. Retainer clients average 18 months — most started with one project, saw results, and expanded the relationship. My longest active client is now in year four. I am playing for retention, not transactions.
What happens if we are not happy with the work?
+
First — we will not let that be the outcome. I check in weekly via Loom and Slack so issues surface early, not at the end. If something is not landing, we pause, diagnose, and adjust the approach. Every engagement carries a 14-day satisfaction window post-launch where any reasonable refinement is included at no extra cost.
How long does a typical engagement take?
+
A full brand + website + launch project runs 10-12 weeks end-to-end. Standalone work (logo only, ads only, SEO only) ranges 2-8 weeks. Big platform builds run 4-9 months. We give you a fixed timeline in the strategy phase before any visual work begins.
When do I see the first deliverable?
+
Discovery report at end of week 1. Strategy doc at end of week 2-3. First design concepts at end of week 4-6. Working staging environment by end of week 5. You see something tangible every two weeks, minimum.
How much of my time will this take?
+
Average 2-3 hours per week. We protect your calendar on purpose. Most communication is async via Slack + Notion. Live calls only when a decision needs to be made together.
What if I do not like the design direction?
+
Two rounds of revision are built into the schedule at no extra cost. If after round one all three directions miss, we go back to discovery and re-investigate brief. We have only had to do this twice in 5 years.
Do you skip phases for smaller projects?
+
No. Every project gets discovery and strategy — even a $3,000 logo. Skipping discovery is the single fastest way to ship work that misses. Phases get shorter, not skipped.
What does the post-launch hyper-care include?
+
30 days of unlimited bug fixes, performance issues, content updates, and small tweaks at no extra cost. Most engagements transition into a Scale or Agency retainer after the 30 days for ongoing optimisation.
Can you work faster if I pay more?
+
Sometimes. Rush engagements are possible at a 25-50% premium when team capacity allows. We will not compress the discovery or strategy phases — that is what protects the work.
What if I want to leave mid-engagement?
+
90-day pilots are quarterly cancellable. All assets, source files, accounts, and credentials are yours from day one. You take everything when you leave. We have only had three early-cancellations in 5 years — and two of them came back six months later.
Ready to Start?

Three questions
away from shipping.

01

What are you building?

Brand new launch, repositioning, scale-up, or migration off legacy stack? We need to know.

02

What is the deadline?

Fund-raise, product launch, conference, redesign of an existing brand — the date drives the plan.

03

What is your budget?

We are honest. We will tell you on the discovery call whether your budget fits the work you are asking for.

Book a Discovery Call