Recommended starting point · roughly 3–4 weeks
Sales diagnosis
What's holding your sales back, and what should you do first?
An independent review of your sales system to separate symptoms from causes, set a baseline and decide where to act first. It has its own scope, deliverables and close: you can hire it on its own.
- Baseline
- 3 objectives
- 3 ninety-day action plans
What it solves
The problem behind the symptom
- There's activity, data and experience, but no shared view of what's holding growth back.
- Marketing and sales initiatives pile up without a clear priority.
- The pipeline, the message or the processes raise doubts, but it isn't clear what's causing the problem.
How it works
From the first data point to the close-out session
We review the four areas and the six building blocks with your data and your team, even if it all lives in a spreadsheet today.
- 1
Baseline
Starting metrics and the data gaps that stop you deciding with confidence.
- 2
Reviewing the system
B2B market and message; pipeline, CRM and forecasting; team and method; marketing, sales and post-sale, joined up.
- 3
3 objectives and 3 plans
Priorities with an owner, milestones at 30, 60 and 90 days from the start of execution and a metric per plan.
- 4
Debrief and close
A session with your leadership to decide what gets done, in what order, and whether we continue.
Timeline
Two stretches: diagnosis and execution
First, the diagnosis (roughly 3–4 weeks). Once it closes, if you decide to continue, execution of the plans begins: the 30, 60 and 90-day milestones are counted from the start of execution, not from the diagnosis.
Weeks 1–4 · approximate
Diagnosis
Baseline, 3 priority objectives and 3 action plans over 90 days. It ends with the debrief and close-out session.
Plan execution · days counted from its start
- 0
Day 0
Execution starts
The 3 plans get going, with owners and dates.
- 30
Day 30
First milestone
Plans under way, clear owners and first adjustments.
- 60
Day 60
Second milestone
First metrics: what's moving and what needs unblocking.
- 90
Day 90
End of the quarter
Each plan reviewed against its metric.
- ↻
Every quarter
Quarterly review
Results, execution and priorities. We adjust priorities and plans for the next quarter.
The quarterly review covers results, execution and priorities. It doesn't repeat the full diagnosis: we only extend it when relevant changes or new evidence justify it, and only as far as needed.
Ways of working together
After the diagnosis, you decide
The levels are cumulative, not phases you have to buy one after the other: external sales leadership includes all of the oversight.
Sales diagnosis
- What for
- Understanding what's holding sales back and what to do first
- Duration
- Roughly 3–4 weeks
- What we do
- Baseline, 3 priority objectives, 3 ninety-day action plans and a debrief and close-out session
- Who makes the big decisions
- Your leadership
- Who oversees
- —
- Who leads sales
- Your company
- Who sells
- Your team
- Time commitment
- Fixed scope · 3–4 weeks (indicative)
- How it's hired
- On its own, with its own scope, deliverables and close
Level 1 · Action plan oversight
- What for
- Making sure what was decided actually gets done
- Duration
- Quarters of execution, with milestones at 30, 60 and 90 days from the start of execution
- What we do
- We support and review the execution of each plan against its milestones, spot blockers and propose adjustments
- Who makes the big decisions
- Your leadership
- Who oversees
- Us
- Who leads sales
- Your company
- Who sells
- Your team
- Time commitment
- Time commitment agreed according to scope
- How it's hired
- After the diagnosis (recommended) or building on your company's own recent analysis
Level 2 · External sales leadership
- What for
- Someone leading sales inside your company, without a full-time hire
- Duration
- Quarters of execution, with milestones at 30, 60 and 90 days from the start of execution
- What we do
- All of the above, and we also lead: sales targets, resources, SMART objectives and pipeline and forecast meetings with your team
- Who makes the big decisions
- Your leadership
- Who oversees
- Us
- Who leads sales
- Us, within the agreed mandate
- Who sells
- Your team
- Time commitment
- Time commitment agreed according to scope
- How it's hired
- After the diagnosis (recommended) or building on your company's own recent analysis
The quarterly review covers results, execution and priorities. It doesn't repeat the full diagnosis: we only extend it when relevant changes or new evidence justify it, and only as far as needed. Any cross-functional responsibility for marketing, post-sale or coordinating the whole revenue cycle is agreed explicitly in each project's mandate and scope. Analysing or working on an area doesn't mean taking over its leadership.
When it fits
A real base to build on
- ✓You have a defined product or service and real signs of sales interest, including startups that have already validated the product.
- ✓There's sales activity, even if it still depends on the founder, and data that can be checked.
- ✓Leadership needs focus before investing more time, budget or headcount.
Frequently asked questions
Does the diagnosis end with a report?+
It ends with a debrief and close-out session with your leadership, the baseline, 3 priority objectives and 3 ninety-day action plans. You can carry them out with your team or continue with us at one of the two levels of support.
Who carries out the plans?+
Your team. If you decide to continue, with oversight we support and review execution; with external sales leadership, we also lead it.
Do we need a CRM?+
No. What's needed is activity and evidence that let us reconstruct how a deal is generated and moves forward, even if it's in a spreadsheet. A CRM helps, but doesn't replace sales judgement.
Is the diagnosis repeated every quarter?+
No. The quarterly review covers results, execution and priorities. We only extend the diagnosis when there are relevant changes or new evidence, and only as far as needed.
First step · 30 minutes
Tell us your challenge and we'll work out where to start
In a 30-minute call we look at which part of your sales system to tackle first and whether the diagnosis makes sense for you.
We'll email you to agree a date and time.