Protect the return. Put growth back into the portfolio company.
The investment case was sound. The business is not going to deliver the return you were hoping for unless something changes. I work with the board and the leadership team for a short time, as a growth expert, and leave them with a plan they have agreed to own.
- 01Growth AssessmentFree, about five minutes
- 02Growth InsightAI-powered, a few weeks
- 03Growth PathwayYour plan, included
The analysis was sound. The hoped-for return is now at risk.
Hold periods are longer and exits are harder to time. More of the return has to come from inside the business. The sales engine is often the quickest route to enterprise value, and a sales-training brief is usually too narrow for a board-level issue.
The exit looks further away
Revenue has flattened, or the curve the model assumed has not arrived, and the hold period is stretching.
Margins have eased
Growth is harder won, and more of it is being given away in discount, mix or delivery.
The leadership team is not aligned
Each member has a different explanation. The board hears all of them, and none of them quite add up.
The obvious fix is a new sales director
Months to recruit, more months to settle in. The new person inherits the same team, the same reward plan and the same habits.
Another programme is on the table
A sales trainer is cheap to brief and expensive if it is the wrong constraint. The board needs a wider read first.
False starts cost hold-period time
Every quarter spent on the wrong fix is a quarter the exit multiple cannot recover.
A few weeks with the leadership team gives you an independent view, before you make the big call.
Boards would rather put in a growth expert than a sales trainer. Someone who will work with them for a short time, then leave a plan the business can run.
What presents as a sales problem is usually a board problem.
The portfolio company does not need another programme. It needs a clear view of the constraint, agreed by the people who have to move it, in language the board can act on.
What the board hears: “We need a new sales director.”
What is often really going on: The team may not be rewarded to work together. A new VP walks into the same problem on day one, and six months are gone.
What the board hears: “Send them on a sales programme.”
What is often really going on: That is the right answer when the gap is wide. Often one or two people need coaching, and the rest are doing well. A trainer is a narrow brief for a board-level question.
What the board hears: “The plan is fine. They just need to execute.”
What is often really going on: The leadership team may not share a view of the problem. Until they do, execution is three plans running at once.
What the board hears: “We have already put a consultant in.”
What is often really going on: A growth consultant who stays for months is a different brief. This is a short piece of work with the board: find the constraint, agree the path, then get out of the way.
What the board hears: “The numbers will come if they work harder.”
What is often really going on: Pressure without direction rarely produces the return. The team has to believe the target, and be rewarded to hit it together.
What the board hears: “It is a market problem.”
What is often really going on: Sometimes it is. Sometimes the product, the delivery or the way information is shared is making selling harder, and the market is getting the blame.
Value now has to be built inside the business.
Exits are harder to time. More of the return has to come from commercial and operational improvement, and the last quarter of the year is when 2027 plans get locked.
A few weeks with the leadership team, working from the business’s own data, gives you an independent view of the constraints and a plan the team has agreed to own. That is a better basis for the next board than another hire or another programme.
The six levers behind the numbers you report.
Growth Insight looks at all six across the leadership team, using their scorecards, confidential conversations and the company's own numbers. The board sees which two or three will make the biggest difference before exit.
- 01
How the team is rewarded
Pay and recognition that set people against each other, so the pipeline stays private and larger deals stall.
What the board may already be seeing: Forecasts surprise the board, and nobody quite trusts them.
- 02
Leadership direction
The MD or sales lead is demanding results without bringing the team with them, or the team does not share a view of the target.
What the board may already be seeing: Three explanations in the board pack, and no single plan.
- 03
The one or two
Most of the team performs. One or two people, or a star who will not follow the process, are holding the rest back.
What the board may already be seeing: The conversation has already turned to a replacement hire.
- 04
Sales capability
The skills to win, negotiate and grow the right accounts are thin. A programme may be needed. The data will say so.
What the board may already be seeing: Win rates are down, and discount is doing too much of the work.
- 05
Information and pipeline
Decisions rest on numbers the team does not share day to day. A new CRM will not fix a habit that is not there.
What the board may already be seeing: The board pack looks tidy. The commercial picture underneath does not.
- 06
The whole business
Product, operations or delivery is making selling harder. The sales team is spending time apologising, and the multiple is paying for it.
What the board may already be seeing: Customers leave after the sale, and margin leaks in delivery.
What a stronger path to exit looks like.
The return you were hoping for depends on commercial performance inside the portfolio company. Real growth here means momentum the leadership team will own, and fewer expensive false starts on the way to exit.
- An independent viewOf what is really holding growth and value back, in language the board can use.
- An aligned leadership teamAgreed on the few things that matter most, and on who owns them.
- MomentumA plan the people who deliver it have already agreed to run.
- Fewer false startsLess money and less hold-period time spent on the wrong hire or the wrong programme.
- A clearer route to exitCommercial performance moving in the direction the original case assumed.
From where you are today, to growth that lasts.
- NowA board-level read
A shared view of the constraint, from the leadership team's own words and numbers.
- First 90 daysEarly moves
The low-cost changes that build momentum, before a hire or a programme is funded.
- 2027The plan in motion
The bigger levers pulled in the right order, with the team owning the result.
- Toward exitValue you can defend
A commercial story the next buyer can follow.
Before and after.
- Three explanations in the board packOne view the leadership team will own
- Briefing a sales trainerA growth expert the board can use
- Replacing the sales director on instinctKnowing whether that is the real constraint
- A return that is slippingA path the original case can still meet
A short, focused piece of work with the board. Then a plan they can run.
PE advisers would rather put in a growth expert than a sales trainer. This path is built for that brief: a few weeks, the company's own data, and a Growth Pathway the board can follow.
Board-level, then out
I work with the board and the leadership team for a short time. The aim is a plan they run, not a consultant who stays.
Weeks, not a hold-period project
A few weeks to find the constraint, before you fund a hire, a system or another programme.
Their data, their plan
Scorecards, confidential conversations and the company's own numbers. That is why the team acts on it.
AI-powered
Patterns across the leadership team show up clearly, then I test them against thirty years of experience.
Safe for the team to be honest
Findings describe patterns. Nobody is named. The board still gets a clear recommendation.
Nothing you do not need
Coaching, a sales programme or a hire, only if the data points there. I will not sell what will not work.
Three steps. You can stop at any of them.
Growth Assessment
The leadership team, or you, answer nine statements and one reflection in about five minutes. A quick read on the conditions for growth.
Growth Insight
An AI-powered look inside the business with the leadership team and their own data, to find where growth is stalling and how much more is possible.
Growth Pathway
A clear action plan and roadmap for 2027 and beyond, agreed by the people who have to deliver it, and shared with the board as you wish.
A short, focused piece of work with the leadership team.
For eighteen years I worked with the leadership and sales teams of companies such as Atos, Siemens, EY, G4S and Vestas, on complex sales where a single deal could be worth millions.
Today I combine that commercial experience with executive and systemic team coaching. For a portfolio business, that means a short, focused piece of work with the board and leadership team, built on their own data, that brings the real issues into the open and agrees what to do about them.
What clients and colleagues say.
Stephen is a consummate sales and marketing coach, helping companies to achieve step-change growth.
It has been a pleasure to work with Stephen of the last period. Having a fresh external perspective, supported by extensive experience in change management from various sectors has been extremely useful.
We worked with Stephen on several occasions to help us evaluate our sales approach and drive business growth.
How is this different from a sales trainer?
A sales trainer arrives with a programme. I arrive with a question: what is actually constraining growth in this business? Training is one possible answer, and I have programmes ready if the data says so. Often the answer is reward, leadership, information or the rest of the business.
Will the findings name individuals?
No. Findings describe patterns across the leadership team, so people can be honest. Where one or two people need support, the plan says what kind, without singling anyone out.
How much of the leadership team's time does it take?
A scorecard and a one-to-one conversation for each leader, and a working session at the end. It usually runs over a few weeks.
Can the board see the Growth Pathway?
Yes, shared with the board as you wish. It is written to be followed, with an action plan and a roadmap.
What if we already have an operating partner in the business?
Then this sits alongside that work. A few weeks to get an independent, data-based view of the commercial constraint, which your operating partner can use.
A quick call, without obligation.
If a portfolio business has lost momentum, let's compare notes on what might be in the way. Or take the Growth Assessment yourself, answering about the business.