These guides are written for owners who are curious about performance-based growth arrangements but want to understand them properly before talking to anyone. Each one is practical, Canada-specific where it matters, and usable whether or not you ever work with us. Read them in the order that matches where you are.
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Building a baseline both partners can trust
Every performance arrangement compares results against a baseline: what the business would probably have done anyway. Get the baseline wrong and the partnership is unfair from day one. This guide shows how to build one from your own records.
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How to vet a performance-based partner
Performance pay sounds like it removes the risk of hiring the wrong adviser. It doesn't; it changes the shape of the risk. This guide gives Canadian owners a practical checklist for testing any partner, including us.
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Why growth partnerships break down
Most failed performance partnerships don't fail because the work was bad. They fail because something nobody wrote down turned into a dispute. Here are the usual causes and the clauses that prevent them.
Building a baseline both partners can trust
The baseline is the number every performance payment is measured against, so it has to be fair. This guide walks through a seven-step method: choosing the result, pulling monthly history, marking one-off events, adjusting for Canada's sharp seasons, setting attribution rules and testing that someone else can reproduce the figures. A worked table shows how one large contract and one short-staffed month change the picture.
It's the most technical of the three and the most useful if you already keep decent records. Read building a trustworthy baseline.
How to vet a performance-based partner
Performance pay doesn't remove risk; it moves it into the definitions and the fine print. This guide gives you six tests to apply to any partner: what they say before seeing your numbers, whether their evidence is checkable, how they'll measure results, who owns the accounts, how the arrangement ends, and whether your privacy and anti-spam obligations are respected.
It ends with a list of warning signs and an invitation to apply the same tests to us. Read how to vet a performance partner.
Why growth partnerships break down
Most failed partnerships fail on something nobody wrote down. This guide covers the seven most common causes, including vague attribution, unfair baselines, capacity limits, stalled decisions and unplanned endings, with the written terms that prevent each one. A pre-signing checklist summarises what should be in any agreement.
It's the one to read just before you sign anything. Read why partnerships break down.
How the guides connect to our services
Each guide matches a step in how we set up a partnership. The baseline guide reflects the work done in a shared growth scorecard. The vetting guide reflects the questions we'd expect you to ask about the Growth Partner Program. The breakdown guide reflects what the readiness review and the written agreement are designed to prevent.
None of them are legal, tax or accounting advice. Where an agreement is involved, have your own lawyer and accountant review it.
Who the guides are for
They are written for owners and managing partners, not for marketers. You don't need any technical background to follow them. Each guide assumes you know your business well, have access to its basic records, and want to judge an arrangement on its merits rather than on a sales pitch. If you have a bookkeeper, accountant or operations lead, it's worth sharing the baseline guide with them, since they'll usually be the ones producing the reports it describes.
The guides are also useful if you're on the other side of the table, for example if you're considering offering a performance arrangement to your own clients. The same principles of fair measurement apply in both directions.
What these guides won't tell you
They won't tell you what our partnership terms are, because there aren't standard ones. The specific terms of each partnership are agreed case by case and set out in a written agreement. The guides also won't promise that a partnership will produce growth; nobody can honestly promise that. What they will do is help you ask better questions, spot weak arrangements and set up a fair one.
If something in a guide raises a question about your own business, call, text or email. The contact page lists what to include, and the FAQ answers the most common questions about the program.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to read all three guides?
No. If you're early in your thinking, start with vetting a partner. If you're close to signing, the guide on why partnerships break down is the most useful.
Are the guides specific to your program?
They are written to apply to any performance-based arrangement. We refer to our own program where it helps, but the checklists work with any partner.
Can I use the baseline method without a partner?
Yes. A clear baseline makes every marketing and pricing decision easier to judge, partnership or not.