SH Consulting

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Engineering of Hercules AI

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Hercules AI is a document intelligence platform: clients upload files, our AI extracts structured data, and the results land in dynamic tables for review, validation and export.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SH Consulting to accomplish?

• Diagnose why our outbound email was landing in spam
• Audit our full sending path across Microsoft 365, DNS, HubSpot, Salesforce and Gong
• Get a prioritized, system-by-system remediation plan we could execute in-house

SOLUTION

How did you find SH Consulting?

Online Search

Why did you select SH Consulting over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from SH Consulting were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The engagement was a fixed scope audit that ran from mid June to early July 2026. It started with a kickoff call where we walked them through our stack and the symptoms we were seeing.

We then granted their lead a time boxed, read only Security Reader role in our Microsoft 365 tenant so they could measure our real configuration rather than work from our description of it. That access was scoped to expire on a date we agreed up front.

From there they audited our Microsoft 365 mail flow and outbound policies, our DNS and email authentication records, and how HubSpot, Salesforce and Gong were each sending on our behalf.

The key deliverables were a written audit report covering what they found in each system, and a spam folder playbook that laid out the remediation steps in priority order so we could execute them in house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

I do not have a single headline metric to point to, and I would rather not manufacture one. What I can say is that the deliverable did exactly what we hired it to do.

We went into this suspecting a deliverability problem and came out with a documented, system by system picture of where our sending infrastructure was actually misconfigured, with the fixes ranked by priority. The spam folder playbook turned that into a concrete work list my team could execute instead of continuing to guess.

For an audit engagement, that clarity was the outcome we were buying, and we got it on schedule.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

This was the strongest part of the engagement. They were professional from the beginning to the end.

They hit the timeline we agreed at kickoff and delivered the final report on schedule. Communication was frequent and proactive, so I never had to chase them for a status update, which is usually my main complaint with outside consultants.

When we raised security and data protection requirements during contracting, including data residency and scoping their access to read only and time boxed, they engaged with all of it seriously and negotiated in good faith rather than treating our process as an obstacle.

What was your primary form of communication with SH Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their transparency. They were open about what they were finding as they found it, including the problems that were plainly our own fault, and they were straight about what was and was not in scope rather than quietly expanding it.

I also did not expect a firm of their size to accept the contractual commitments we asked for around data handling, US data residency and time boxed read only access. A lot of small vendors push back on that kind of process. They worked through it with us.

Combined with how frequently they communicated, it made a project that touched our core email infrastructure feel genuinely low risk from my side.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SH Consulting could have done differently?

Nothing significant, and I would hire them again.

If I am reaching for one thing, I would have liked a quantified before and after baseline built into the audit scope itself. The findings and the remediation plan were solid, but a set of starting metrics would have made it much easier for me to demonstrate the impact internally as we worked through the fixes.

That is a scoping note for the next engagement rather than a complaint about the work they delivered.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of The Law Offices of Stephen K. Hachey

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Flat Fee MLS Realty is a Florida-licensed real estate brokerage that helps homeowners list their properties on the MLS and major real estate websites for a fixed flat fee, giving sellers broad exposure while helping them avoid traditional listing-agent commissions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SH Consulting to accomplish?

• The priority was protecting the firm's domain from spoofing and phishing. As a practice, we send sensitive client communications every day, and the prospect of someone impersonating our domain was a real concern. I wanted our email properly authenticated, our outbound traffic encrypted, and full visibility into what was actually happening with our domain. Doing it correctly mattered more than doing it quickly.

SOLUTION

How did you find SH Consulting?

Online Search

Why did you select SH Consulting over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

They handled the complete email security and authentication setup for our domain, built around our Clio and Google Workspace stack. That meant proper DKIM signing, deploying DMARC and enforcing it at the strictest level, implementing MTA-STS so our mail is delivered over encrypted connections, and setting up TLS-RPT so we have reporting on any encryption failures. They also reviewed our Clio configuration, connected monitoring through Google and Yahoo Postmaster Tools, and confirmed our domain and IPs were clean across the major blacklists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

DMARC enforced at p=reject, blocking domain spoofing. MTA-STS and TLS-RPT active, enforcing encrypted mail delivery. Full DKIM authentication aligned with Google Workspace. Domain and sending IPs verified clean across all major blacklists.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Deadlines were met consistently and communicated promptly.

What was your primary form of communication with SH Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Two things. First, the genuine specialization - this is what they do, and it shows. They handled the technical work confidently and explained it in terms I could actually follow. Second, the thoroughness. They didn't just check a box; they hardened the entire environment and left me with clear documentation of every change. As a professional who values precision, that stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SH Consulting could have done differently?

Not that I can point to. The work was done properly and explained well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Product of LoLo, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

LoLo (Locals Supporting Locals) automates the monthly touchpoints you need to stay connected with your sphere of influence by sharing delightful, locally curated surprises with the people who send you business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SH Consulting to accomplish?

• Audit/Review our SendGrid migration
• Help Restore our Domain Reputation

SOLUTION

How did you find SH Consulting?

Conference

Why did you select SH Consulting over others?

• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SH Consulting were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our project started with a deep audit of both our legacy and new SendGrid accounts - they pulled apart everything: authentication setup, IP and domain reputation, mailbox provider performance, content. They isolated the exact send events that caused our reputation to drop. After the audit they stayed on for a separate Microsoft deliverability optimization engagement that included an IP mitigation request with Microsoft, a more conservative sunsetting policy, and aligning our content and cadence with how Microsoft actually filters mail. They also helped us with one-click unsubscribe, branded links, reverse DNS on our secondary IP and DMARC work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

They pinpointed the cause of our domain reputation drop down to specific send events and after implementing their recommendations we got our deliverability back on track and our Gmail open rates recovered substantially. on the Microsoft side, the IP mitigation request went through and our inbox placement at Microsoft domains came back significantly.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were clear about timelines from the start and hit them. Communication was easy - they're responsive, they explain technical stuff in a way our non-engineering folks could follow, and when we needed to bring more of our team into a conversation they made it work. Luke was a pleasure to work with and super knowledgeable.

What was your primary form of communication with SH Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The depth of expertise specifically around SendGrid and multi-tenant platforms. Luke previously ran deliverability at SendGrid, which means he knows that platform inside and out - every feature, every edge case, every gotcha. For us that was huge because most of our problems were SendGrid-specific. They also actually do the work, not just tell you what to do. A lot of consultants will hand you a list of recommendations and disappear. These guys were with us to the end and are still available to chat when needed!

Are there any areas for improvement or something SH Consulting could have done differently?

If anything we wish we'd brought them in before the migration instead of after - but that's on us, not them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Sierra Interactive

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sierra Interactive provides IDX website and CRM software to real estate agents, teams and brokerages across the US and Canada

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SH Consulting to accomplish?

• Sierra Interactive operates a SaaS platform that sends email on behalf of thousands of real estate professionals through shared infrastructure. We engaged SH Consulting to audit our deliverability posture, identify risks specific to a multi-tenant model, and recommend a path to maintain strong sender reputation as we scale. We wanted an outside expert review of our infrastructure, authentication, and reporting - areas where our own visibility had gaps.

SOLUTION

How did you find SH Consulting?

Referral

Why did you select SH Consulting over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from SH Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

They conducted a comprehensive audit covering IP and domain reputation, complaint rate analysis, ESP account configuration, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), email content review, and our overall sending architecture. Beyond the audit itself, they delivered a prioritized roadmap of recommendations tailored to the realities of running a shared-infrastructure platform - things like Feedback-ID segmentation, engagement-based sunsetting policies, link branding, DMARC enforcement progression, and event webhook integration for per-sender visibility.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The audit confirmed High domain and IP reputation across all our dedicated IPs, which was a strong validation of the program. More importantly, it identified the areas where we had blind spots - specifically around per-sender visibility and complaint segmentation - and gave us a concrete roadmap to address them. We came out of the engagement with a much clearer picture of where we stood, what risks we needed to mitigate, and how to build long-term resilience into the platform.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management was excellent.  The engagement was scoped clearly upfront, deliverables came in on the agreed timeline, and communication was consistent throughout.  They were responsive to questions and accomodating when we needed to pull additional people from our side into the conversation.  No surprises, no slippage.

What was your primary form of communication with SH Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The depth of expertise specific to multi-tenant SaaS environments was impressive. Most deliverability consultants are oriented toward single-sender brands, and the dynamics on a shared platform are fundamentally different - reputation is driven by the combined behavior of every customer on the network, and the risks compound differently. Luke and the team clearly understood that distinction from the first conversation, and the entire audit was framed around the realities of running a platform business. That perspective is rare

Are there any areas for improvement or something SH Consulting could have done differently?

Honestly, nothing significant. If anything, the audit surfaced enough opportunities that we could have expanded the scope to include implementation support on some of the recommendations - but that's a function of how comprehensive the findings were, not a shortcoming of the engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of The Ashton Real Estate Group of REMAX Advantage, a real estate company. We help consumers buy and sell homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SH Consulting?

We were dealing with poor delivery and spam issues and needed help with deliverability and security.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SH Consulting has dealt with improving our email deliverability and security and segmenting our database. They’ve set up DMARC, SPF, and DKIM properly across our sending domains, fixed our IP and domain reputation, cleaned up and segmented our database, and built out monitoring so we can see deliverability and open rates in real time. They also send us regular reports and jump in when something needs attention. Basically, they own our email infrastructure end-to-end.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from SH Consulting.

How did you come to work with SH Consulting?

SH Consulting was referred to me, and our company values aligned.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2024, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our open rates have gone from around 23% to 45%, click rates have gone from 1.5% to over 3%, and we’re getting 20% more opens while sending 20% fewer emails. Our domain reputation has moved from medium to high, and our IP reputation has gone from bad/medium to high. Overall, deliverability has been night and day compared to where we were.We have dashboards for DMARC monitoring and Google Postmaster, plus deliverability and inbox placement tracking across the major mailbox providers. SH Consulting has also deployed their own email analytics platform for us, built on a Snowflake data warehouse with S3 storage, connected to our SendGrid and Mandrill via webhook. It pulls in every send, open, click, bounce, and engagement event in real time and gives us way deeper insight than the standard ESP dashboards. We can slice by domain, mailbox provider, send type, subject lines, bounce codes, etc. They also provide regular monthly reports summarizing what’s happening.Better deliverability has translated into real business results. We’re seeing more website traffic from our email campaigns, more booked calls with our sales team, and ultimately more revenue. When emails actually land in the inbox instead of spam, every step of the funnel improves.

How did SH Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

SH Consulting’s project management is excellent. They have proactive communication, deliverables on time, and are always responsive. They feel like an extension of our team rather than an outside vendor. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Alex (Founder & CEO) is such an expert in this area that I would be lost without his knowledge and advice. They have a deep level of expertise. Luke (Co-Founder & CTO) previously ran deliverability at SendGrid, and they’ve built us a custom analytics platform we couldn’t get anywhere else. They’re also hands-on with the work, not just advisory, which is a rare combination.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, there’s nothing major. If anything, the deliverability space is so technical that there’s a learning curve on our end to fully understand all the reports and dashboards they provide. More of our team could probably benefit from going deeper on that side, but that’s on us. SH Consulting is always happy to walk us through anything we ask about.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Bramlett Partners

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Central, TX residential real estate company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SH Consulting to accomplish?

• Fix bad microsoft email deliverability
• Audit email deliverability and health

SOLUTION

How did you find SH Consulting?

Referral

Why did you select SH Consulting over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me

How many teammates from SH Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Scope of Work Primary engagement: Multi-month email deliverability recovery and email infrastructure consolidation for Bramlett Partners, a 100+ agent real estate brokerage operating across multiple domains and sending platforms. Core problem statement: Inbox placement degradation at Microsoft properties (Outlook, Hotmail, Live) was impacting agent-to-client communication and lead nurture campaign performance. Compounding this was a fragmented SendGrid account structure across multiple sub-brands and team domains, creating reputation contamination risk and management overhead. Engagement structure: Monthly retainer model, invoiced per month of active engagement, with scope expansion as additional infrastructure issues surfaced through DMARC monitoring and audit work. Key Deliverables 1. Microsoft Deliverability Recovery Diagnosed root causes of inbox placement degradation at Microsoft properties Executed remediation plan against Outlook, Hotmail, and Live sender reputation Restored inbox placement to acceptable baselines Established ongoing monitoring to detect future degradation early 2. SendGrid Account Consolidation Audited existing SendGrid footprint across sub-brands and team accounts Consolidated multiple accounts into a clean, manageable structure Eliminated reputation contamination risk from shared IP / cross-brand sending Reduced ongoing administrative overhead and cost duplication 3. DKIM/DMARC Authentication — Portfolio-Wide Authenticated DKIM across secondary domains: Pecan Creek Realty, Berbas Group, Upside TX, Synergy Home Finders Configured DMARC policy and reporting for full portfolio visibility Resolved authentication gaps that were exposing domains to spoofing risk and degraded deliverability 4. Ongoing DMARC Monitoring & Proactive Issue Detection Configured DMARC aggregate reporting for continuous deliverability surveillance Detected and flagged a Mailchimp authentication failure on synergyhomefinders.com (~150 emails affected) that would have gone unnoticed without their monitoring Translated raw DMARC data into actionable remediation steps for our team 5. Sending Infrastructure Documentation & Knowledge Transfer Documented authentication state across all domains in our portfolio Provided clear handoff materials for our internal operations team to maintain Available for ongoing technical questions and infrastructure decisions as our stack evolves Outcomes Restored Microsoft inbox placement Consolidated SendGrid infrastructure with cleaner reputation profile Full DKIM/DMARC coverage across our domain portfolio Continuous deliverability monitoring with proactive issue flagging Trusted vendor relationship for ongoing email infrastructure work Differentiators Demonstrated During Engagement Technical depth: Working knowledge of SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, ESP routing, and ISP-specific reputation mechanics at a level most agencies lack Communication clarity: Translated complex authentication and reputation concepts into operator-level decisions without dumbing down or burying us in jargon Proactive posture: Caught and flagged issues outside the original scope rather than waiting to be told Responsiveness: Fast turnaround, no chasing required, no missed handoffs Operator-friendly execution: Worked directly with our team, our internal vendors, and our portfolio companies without requiring constant supervision

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

-- Restored Microsoft inbox placement -- Consolidated SendGrid infrastructure with cleaner reputation profile -- Full DKIM/DMARC coverage across our domain portfolio -- Continuous deliverability monitoring with proactive issue flagging -- Trusted vendor relationship for ongoing email infrastructure work

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes — they delivered on time across the engagement.-- Monthly retainer milestones hit on schedule, with second-month invoice arriving exactly when the work transitioned into the next phase -- DKIM/DMARC remediation across multiple secondary domains was turned around quickly once we provided DNS access — Pecan Creek Realty was authenticated same-day after I completed the DNS work on my end -- No missed handoffs, no dropped threads, no scope items that required follow-up to complete -- When work depended on us (DNS access, vendor logins, internal coordination), they made the dependency explicit and waited cleanly rather than pushing back on our pace

What was your primary form of communication with SH Consulting?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Three things stood out, in order of importance:1. They operate as embedded infrastructure, not as a vendorMost consultants execute against a defined scope and stop at the boundary. SH Consulting treats your sending infrastructure as their ongoing concern — they monitor it, flag issues proactively, and surface problems you didn't know you had.The clearest example: they caught a Mailchimp authentication failure on one of our secondary domains via DMARC reporting and flagged it within days. We weren't paying them to monitor that domain. They did it anyway because it was downstream of work they'd done. That's the difference between a vendor who completes tasks and a partner who owns outcomes.2. Technical depth + operator-grade communication is genuinely rareEmail deliverability is a field where most vendors fall into one of two failure modes:-- Marketing-led shops with thin technical chops who talk in generalities and can't actually fix anything at the infrastructure layer -- Pure-tech operators who can fix anything but can't translate the work into business decisions, so you end up either rubber-stamping or micromanagingSH Consulting is the rare team that operates fluently at both levels. Alex sent me a 23-page technical proposal and — in the same email — offered to give me a condensed version so I wouldn't have to read the full thing unless I wanted to. That single moment of judgment told me more about how they operate than any case study would have.They calibrate communication to the audience. When I needed depth, they delivered depth. When I needed a decision, they gave me a clean recommendation. No jargon as a moat, no oversimplification as a crutch.3. Zero-overhead operating modelWorking with them required no project management overhead on our side. No status meetings. No chasing. No clarifying. No scope debates. They scoped clearly, executed cleanly, invoiced on schedule, and surfaced what needed our attention.For an operator running a 100+ agent brokerage and a property management company, that matters more than almost anything else. The mental overhead of managing vendors is real and most vendors create more of it than they offset. SH Consulting reduces it.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SH Consulting could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing and product manager of a digital agency that specializes in individual lead generation, campaigns, and web development for B2B and B2C customers. We combine modern automation with personalized marketing strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SH Consulting?

We wanted to build a reliable sending infrastructure for our email outreach campaigns and upgrade our open rates.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a two-month project where SH Consulting consulted us about building the infrastructure, how to maintain it, and which KPIs were relevant to us. The team also set up platforms and created documentation.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–5 teammates from SH Consulting.

How did you come to work with SH Consulting?

We found them through an online search and ChatGPT. We chose them because our company values aligned.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May 2025–February 2026.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We had greater open and reply rates and a lot of new knowledge. We also generated more leads and had a clearer process in the setup of our campaigns. We knew how to fix issues if they occurred.

How did SH Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicated through virtual meetings. SH Consulting delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SH Consulting was an expert in their field and always available.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was a pleasure working with them.