Find the growth.
Fix the blockers.
A four-week commercial diagnostic and a 90-day plan the management team will own.
Fixed scope · Four weeks · For businesses at £5m–£100m
The problem
Does any of this sound familiar?
Growth has plateaued, but nobody can accurately explain why.
Marketing spend has gone up but the pipeline hasn't.
Growth forecasts are always inaccurate.
Sales and marketing blame each other for the issues.
The board asks where growth comes from and the answer takes weeks to pull together.
You know there's an issue but you don't have the skillset in-house to know where to start.
If two or more of those resonate, this is built for you.
Why it happens
Most businesses at this size don't have a marketing problem, or a sales problem. They have a joining-up problem.
Proposition, demand generation, sales and data were each built at a different time, by a different person, to solve a different problem. Individually they function. Looked at as one system they don't join up, and that's where the value leaks.
The audit looks at seven separate commercial pillars as one commercial engine.
Then it tells you, with evidence, which connection is costing you the most.
What I assess
Seven pillars, one engine:
1. Proposition and positioning Offer clarity, differentiation and price position.
2. Market, customer and segmentation Who you target, why, and whether revenue agrees they're the right people.
3. Brand, marketing and demand generation What creates demand, what converts, and what's being wasted.
4. Sales, pipeline and conversion Where demand gets stuck or leaks out of the funnel.
5. Bids, tenders and renewals Revenue arriving through formal procurement, and how well it converts.
6. People, structure and capability Who's in place, what isn't working, and what's missing.
7. Data, systems and measurement What's measured, what isn't, and which decisions that prevents.
What you get
Four deliverables, in four weeks
Maturity scorecard: Seven pillars scored 1–5, each with a priority and a one-line rationale. Priority is set from a forced ranking taken across every interview, not from my opinion.
Findings report: Board-ready report carrying evidence, a commercial implication and a sized opportunity, however rough.
90-day plan: Prioritised and sequenced, with owners and effort estimates, built with the people who have to deliver it.
Leadership session: One hour with your team. Twenty minutes presenting, forty discussing the findings and the opportunities.
How it works
The four weeks:
Week 1: Kick-off, leadership interviews, data request issued.
Week 2: Functional and front-line interviews, systems walkthrough, data review.
Week 3: Customer, lost-deal and churn conversations where access allows, plus an external market view.
Week 4: Analysis, scoring, findings report and leadership presentation.
What I need from you:
A named internal sponsor. Read access to your CRM and marketing platforms. Commercial and marketing performance pack, issued on day one. Diaries booked before we start. And permission to talk to a handful of customers and lost opportunities.
Nothing in the report is ever attributed to an individual. That's what makes people tell you the truth.
Investment
Two versions of the same engine:
Commercial Engine Audit: £8,500 All seven pillars assessed. Leadership, functional and front-line interviews. Customer and lost-deal conversations. Maturity scorecard and findings report. 90-day plan and leadership presentation.
PE & Pre-Sale Audit: £11,250 Everything in the standard audit, plus exit readiness support, equity story review, quality of revenue assessment, contract transferability and VCP position, and commercial diligence readiness.
Fixed fee. 50% on commencement, 50% on delivery. Both exclude delivery of the 90-day plan, brand or creative production, and agency selection. Fractional support for plan delivery is available separately.
Run by Allan Rowan. Fifteen years at board level with two private equity exits as CCO (Endless to Opus Trust, NorthEdge to Blandford Capital). I've built the seven pillars this audit assesses across businesses from £10m to £320m, so I know where the leaks usually are, and how to rebuild the engine around them.
What happens next?
A 20-minute call where you describe the situation, I'll tell you honestly whether the audit is the right answer for your business.
FAQs
How long does it take?
1
Four weeks from kick-off to the leadership presentation. Diaries need to be booked before week one so the first week starts at pace.
How much of my team’s time does it take?
2
Around an hour each from the leadership team, thirty to sixty minutes from functional leads, and half an hour from operational and delivery staff. Plus whoever pulls the data pack together, which is usually the heaviest single ask.
Is this the same as commercial due-diligence?
3
No. Commercial due diligence is run for a buyer or an investor and assesses whether a business is worth backing. This is run for the business itself and assesses how the commercial engine works, what's constraining growth, and what to do about it in the next ninety days. The PE and pre-sale version does cover diligence readiness, which is a different thing again: finding the questions a buyer's adviser will ask, before they ask them.
Will this unsettle my team?
4
It's designed not to. Nothing is attributed to individuals, and the report names genuine strengths as well as problems. The plan I provide is shaped by what the people doing the work tell me, including what would stop them delivering it. Teams tend to find it a relief that someone is finally asking.
What if we already know the problem?
5
Then you may not need this. If the leadership team agrees on the diagnosis and the plan, spend the money on delivery instead. Where the audit earns its fee is when growth has stalled and nobody can agree on why.
Not as part of the audit. Fractional commercial leadership is available separately if you want help executing, but the plan is deliberately written so your own team can run it without me.
6
Do you deliver the plan?
What size of business is this for?
7
£5m to £100m turnover. Below that there usually isn't enough engine to audit. Above that, the scope and fee need a conversation first.