The Marketing Diagnostic Clinic · Live examination session
Know what to fix before you spend more on marketing
Your marketing is producing activity. The commercial result still isn’t where it needs to be.
Bring the problem your team can’t agree on. In two hours, you’ll see which explanations hold up, what it would take to prove them, and what that means for the decision in front of you.
Thursday 25 February 2027
We’re getting leads, but revenue isn’t growing.
- 12:30pm to 2:30pm EAT
- Live on Google Meet
- From KES 3,500
- Applications open 7 January 2027
For founders, CEOs, COOs and marketing leaders · Led by Lorraine Agutu
Before you change the marketing, establish what needs to change.
Your team has an explanation. Your agency has a proposal. AI can produce ten more ideas before your next meeting. Each comes with a recommendation, and each recommendation costs money.
The question is which explanation the evidence supports.
The Marketing Diagnostic Clinic is a live, facilitated session for business leaders who need to understand a disappointing commercial result before deciding what to do about it. You examine a real business case, test competing explanations against the evidence each would need, and apply the same reasoning to a problem in your own organisation.
Choose the problem you want to examine
Each Clinic examines a different business problem. Choose the session closest to the decision you’re facing.
Thursday 25 February 2027
We’re getting leads, but revenue isn’t growing.
Enquiries arrive and sales stay flat. Marketing blames conversion. Sales blames lead quality. Leadership suspects the price or the offer.
For leaders deciding whether to fund another campaign, a sales hire or a change of strategy.
Applications open 7 January 2027
Thursday 20 May 2027
Our social media is busy, but enquiries aren’t coming in.
The team posts consistently and engagement is growing. Enquiries and sales have not followed. The proposed fixes range from more video to a new agency.
For leaders deciding whether to put more money into content, boosted posts or a different agency.
Applications open 1 April 2027
Thursday 28 October 2027
What should we fund in next year’s marketing budget?
Each team can argue for its share of next year’s budget, and none can show which activity produced this year’s results.
For leaders who have to decide what to fund, cut or test before the budget is set.
Applications open 9 September 2027
Thursday 25 November 2027
Our website looks good, but it brings in nothing.
The website looks professional and contributes little to enquiries or sales. The proposed fixes are more traffic, a redesign, new content or more SEO.
For leaders deciding which of those to pay for, if any.
Applications open 7 October 2027
All sessions run on Thursdays, 12:30pm to 2:30pm EAT, on Google Meet.
What happens in a Clinic
Each Clinic takes one problem and works through it in order: which explanations deserve attention, what evidence would support or weaken each one, and what the findings mean for the next decision.
Part 1: Examine the problem
60 minutes · A real case, anonymised
We work through a case from Qallann’s client work, with identifying details removed:
- The result the organisation wanted, and what happened.
- The explanation it first accepted.
- Other explanations that fit the same facts.
- What the evidence established, and what it left open.
- How the findings changed the decision.
You follow the reasoning as it unfolds, and question it.
Part 2: Apply the reasoning
60 minutes · Case seats only · Not recorded
Up to five organisations apply the same framework to their own problem, using a preparation worksheet completed in advance. Lorraine tests each organisation’s explanation with them and challenges the assumptions behind it.
You leave with your problem framed precisely and the evidence you need to settle it.
Choose how you want to participate
Case Seat
KES 7,500 | USD 60 per organisation
For leaders who want their own problem examined alongside the case.
Your seat includes:
- Both parts of the Clinic
- Your explanation tested in Part 2
- A preparation worksheet
- Up to two people from your organisation
- The Part 1 recording for seven days
Five seats per session · Fee credited in full against a Marketing Diagnostic booked and paid within 30 days
Observer Seat
KES 3,500 | USD 30 per person
For leaders who want to see the method in action before bringing a problem of their own.
Your seat includes:
- Part 1 of the Clinic
- The live case and the reasoning behind it
- The Part 1 recording for seven days
Ten seats per session
Prefer to keep it private? The Marketing Diagnostic examines your problem one to one, using your own data, at a time that suits you.
How it works
The dates for every 2027 session are fixed below.
- Register your interest. Choose your session and seat type. We email you when applications open.
- Apply. Applications open seven weeks before each session and close two weeks later.
- We review every application. Offers go out within five business days of the close.
- Confirm your place. Pay within seven days to secure your seat. You then receive the calendar invitation. Case seats also receive the preparation worksheet.
- Prepare. Case seats return the worksheet two weeks before the session.
- Attend. Thursday, 12:30pm to 2:30pm EAT, on Google Meet.
- Afterwards. The Part 1 recording is available for seven days. A case-seat fee is credited in full against a Marketing Diagnostic booked and paid within 30 days.
2027 Clinic dates
| Session | Applications open | Applications close | Offers sent by | Payment due | Worksheets due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday 25 February | 7 January | 21 January | 28 January | 4 February | 11 February |
| Thursday 20 May | 1 April | 15 April | 22 April | 29 April | 6 May |
| Thursday 28 October | 9 September | 23 September | 30 September | 7 October | 14 October |
| Thursday 25 November | 7 October | 21 October | 28 October | 4 November | 11 November |
Observer applications stay open until one week before each session: 18 February, 13 May, 21 October and 18 November. Late observer applications receive a reply within two business days.
If a place opens up after an offer lapses, we offer it to the next applicant, with 48 hours to pay.
What you'll leave with
Four things you can take into your next leadership meeting:
- The problem: the specific result you're trying to explain.
- The causes worth testing: beyond the first or loudest explanation.
- The evidence: what would tell those explanations apart.
- The decision: what you can act on now, and what to establish first.
What this looks like in practice
They were about to hire more salespeople
An established organisation was doing everything right on paper: growing visibility, steady content, a good website, events and several business development hires. Yet almost every new client still came through the CEO.
WHAT THEY BELIEVED
Buyers didn’t understand the offer. The plan was more content, more visibility and another business development hire.
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWED
Their sales records, repeat business and hiring history told a different story. Buyers trusted them. Only the CEO knew how to connect a buyer’s problem to the offer, and nobody had written it down.
WHAT THEY DID INSTEAD
They paused the hire and captured how the CEO sells, so the team could win work without the founder in the room. The money they nearly spent went to the real problem.
From a Qallann Marketing Diagnostic. Read the redacted report.
Is the Clinic right for you?
The Clinic is for leaders responsible for marketing performance, commercial growth or marketing budgets, with a problem whose cause is not yet clear:
- Founders and CEOs asking why marketing activity isn't producing growth.
- COOs resolving performance problems that cross teams.
- Marketing leaders who need a shared view of what is holding results back.
- Leaders deciding whether to fund a campaign, agency, hire, website or change of strategy.
- Leadership teams weighing conflicting advice from staff, agencies or AI.
Who leads the Clinic?
Lorraine Agutu, Founder and Principal Strategist, Qallann Marketing
Lorraine founded Qallann in 2018 after leading regional marketing for Nestlé across 22 countries in East Africa. She has since advised more than 50 organisations across Africa, the Gulf, the UK and Europe on marketing strategy, positioning, customer growth and the systems that deliver them.
Her work starts from one question: when a result disappoints, what is actually causing it? The Clinic brings that question into a room of peers.
WHAT PEOPLE ASK BEFORE THEY JOIN
Which seat suits me?
If the session’s problem is happening in your business now, take a case seat. If you want to see the method at work first, take an observer seat.
Will I leave with a strategy or an implementation plan?
No. You leave with what a strategy should rest on: a clearer view of what is causing the result, and how to confirm it.
Who attends?
The Clinic works at the level of the decision: where the money, effort and attention should go. It’s for the people who make that call, and for the people who need to make the case for it: founders, CEOs, COOs, and heads of marketing, sales or commercial teams, including marketing leads preparing a recommendation for their leadership. We review every application before confirming a place.
Can I move my place or get a refund?
You can move your place once to a later session with 14 days’ notice, or send a colleague instead. Fees are non-refundable.
Can we reserve places for a cohort?
Yes. Accelerators, enterprise programmes and business networks can reserve places in a public session or request a dedicated one. Contact us to arrange it.
What will I leave with?
Your problem framed precisely, the explanations worth testing in your business, and the evidence that would tell them apart. Every organisation records different things, so part of the session is identifying what you already hold and what you would need to start collecting.
Do I need to share confidential information?
No. You decide how much to share. The worksheet asks about the result you expected, what happened and the explanations in play. Figures, client names and internal documents aren’t needed. Part 2 isn’t recorded.
How much preparation is involved?
About 30 minutes on a worksheet we send when your place is confirmed. It’s due two weeks before the session.
Who should come with me?
A case seat covers two people from your organisation. Bring the person who holds the numbers, or the one who disagrees with your explanation.
What if my organisation isn't offered a case seat?
We’ll suggest a session or route that fits better. You’re welcome to join as an observer.
What if I want the problem examined inside my business?
The Marketing Diagnostic does that privately. Your case-seat fee is credited in full if you book and pay within 30 days.
What will I leave with?
A worked example on a real case: how the competing explanations were tested, what the evidence showed and how the decision changed. You can put the same questions to your own problem afterwards.
The case isn't from my industry. Will it still apply?
The case is chosen for the session’s problem. The reasoning carries across sectors.
How do observers take part?
You follow the case live and see the reasoning in full. Discussion of individual situations is reserved for case seats in Part 2.
Can I take a case seat in a later session?
Yes. Apply when that session’s applications open. Observer and case-seat fees are separate.
Your next marketing decision is coming. Make it on evidence.
You may already have a plausible explanation, a preferred solution or a proposal waiting for approval. Before you sign it off, establish what it rests on.