Helping portfolio businesses gain growth momentum.
The investment case was sound. The question now is what the leadership team, as it stands today, needs in order to deliver it, and which constraints are holding enterprise value back.
The analysis was sound. The numbers have not followed.
Revenue has flattened, or margins have eased, and the exit looks further away than the original plan. The board can see what needs to change. Whether the leadership team is aligned and committed to changing it is where most returns are won or lost.
Replacing the sales director, or funding another programme, is a big call to make without first understanding what is really going on inside the business.
Why now
Value now has to be built inside the business.
Hold periods are longer and exits are harder to time. More of the return has to come from operational and commercial improvement, and the sales engine is one of the quickest routes to enterprise value.
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.
How it works for you
Three stages. You can stop at any of them.
01
Growth Assessment
The leadership team, or you, answer ten questions in about five minutes. A quick read on the conditions for growth.
02
Growth Insight
I work with the leadership team and their own data to find what is really helping and holding back performance.
03
Growth Pathway
A clear action plan and roadmap, agreed by the people who have to deliver it, and shared with the board as you wish.
A clear route forward, agreed by the people who will act on it.
An independent view of what is really holding growth and value back
Fewer false starts, and less money spent on the wrong fix
A leadership team aligned on the few things that matter most
An action plan and roadmap the board can follow
Access to coaching, sales programmes and talent support where the plan calls for it
Why a growth expert
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.
LinkedIn recommendations
What clients and colleagues say.
Stephen is a consummate sales and marketing coach, helping companies to achieve step-change growth.
Martin Coombes
Co-Owner, Odyssey Pensions
February 2014 · Stephen was Martin's client
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.
Jeroen Van De Heijning
Technology Manager, Shell
January 2025 · Stephen's client
We worked with Stephen on several occasions to help us evaluate our sales approach and drive business growth.
David Bakst
Business Operations Leader, Sabien
November 2019 · Stephen's client
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.
