Commercial Coaching
Embrace opportunity and mitigate risk to drive sustainable, stable growth
In a nutshell…
Expert coaching from a GTM professional with over two decades’ experience
Turn commercials from pain-point to superpower
Remove commercial exposure but deliver win-wins
Drive growth without the risk
Free up founders to focus the visionary
Why Commercial Coaching?
As sales people, business people, founders or entrepreneurs we all want to be rewarded fairly for our endeavours. But get commercials and contractuals wrong and you can seriously damage your business prospects, even your survival.
And I’m not here to scaremonger, but with over 25 years of commercial experience I’ve seen first-hand a multitude of business scenarios that could have been handled differently and - with hindsight - resulted in reduced exposure to risk.
And, yes, it’s true that you ‘don’t know what you don’t know’.
But today, here, I can help you to know.
To give you (and your teams) the grounding you need for confidence in commercial approach and strength in contractual coverage - delivering win-win outcomes for all and establishing a solid and robust foundation from which your business can grow.
Suitability
Is it for me?
Are you a founder with a technical or creative background who finds the commercial aspect of your work an unenjoyable and intimidating evil? Then yes.
Or a founder for whom the commercial aspects of business are a bottleneck? Then yes.
You’re finding yourself needing to empower others in this field so you can transition up and out towards being the strategic enabler? Again, yes.
You’re a leader or department head whose client-facing team is signing the business up to promises you can’t keep? I’m going to say it again, yes.
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What might be some signs that I’m a good fit?
There are a number of signs to look out for here, and you might find any or all of the below familiar:
You shudder at the thought of commercial negotiations
You’re getting embroiled in a race to the bottom on price
Having to deal with procurement is eating all your time
You’ve been burnt by a contract that left you and the business frighteningly exposed
You feel like you need some contractual input, but don't want the expense of hiring a lawyer every time
You've been working without contracts, statements of work or PO numbers - and your gut is telling you that's wrong
Previously agreed payment terms have led to cash flow challenges
“A superb leader, Jaime’s years of experience shine through enabling him to consistently drive successful outcomes for customers and the business.”
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How it works
Lay of the land
First things first, let’s have a kick-off conversation about the situation as is and the specific commercial/contractual challenges that you and the business are facing.
With an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in place we can talk through the issues transparently and quickly both to get to an understanding of what the key issues are and - crucially - what success in solving them would look like for you.
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Coaching build
Armed with the priority areas we’ve discussed I’ll build a tailored package of activity to meet your/your team’s needs, which could include some or all of the following:
Commercial awareness 101
Competing on value
Effective negotiation
Contract basics and evaluation
Client-centricity as a growth lever
Contract artefact audit & template creation/re-write
Transition from founder-led sales to repeatable sales team playbooks
If necessary I can also make appropriate introductions to a legal team well-equipped to support your more nuanced contract work moving forward.
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Knowledge transfer
For coaching delivery I find a combination of group workshops and 1:1s work best, with plenty of opportunity to role play scenarios and practice appropriate responses. Of course the cadence and schedule will be designed with your particular business needs in mind.
You can expect sessions to be very much human and designed as interactively as possible. These are no-blame zones with plenty of space to shape ideas, share feedback and even engage in reflection time (indoors & outdoors) to let new information or approaches sink in.
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Closing out
As our engagement closes out you and the team find yourselves armed with plenty of new knowledge, confidence in what you’re doing and the all-important reference materials that will keep you on track.
But it doesn’t end there.
To really make sure that things have changed for you here, after a 3-6 month bedding-in period I’ll return and help review the impact of the work. And if there are new (or existing) areas of support to be delivered or revisited then that’s what we’ll arrange.
What do I leave with?
The impact of commercial coaching is immediately tangible with team members (or yourself) exponentially better equipped to handle commercial negotiations and contractuals. You’ll notice a clear sense of confidence, a reduced amount of overhead and a new level of respect from your clients and suppliers too. Plus operationally you reap the rewards of a number of efficiencies such as:
Reduced exposure to commercial and legal risk
The removal of commercial bottlenecks (replaced by clear workflow, governance and team alignment around commercial goals)
Improved cash flow
Increased confidence and discipline in commercial execution (allowing for predictability and scale)
Increased revenue from client retention and growth
Reduced reliance on new customer acquisition
More confidence and space for you as a founder/leader
Outputs
FAQs
If you’re convinced and you’re ready to discuss next stes, get in touch and we can set up a conversation. Alternatively you might like to check out some FAQs below.
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Are you able to provide legal advice?
No because I’m not a lawyer - though if legal advice becomes a requirement I can point you to someone good who knows.
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What is your experience in this area?
The majority of my experience has been with small & medium-sized businesses (SMB), delivering specialist services into predominantly enterprise and large public sector clients. Sectors include financial services and banking, sports governing bodies, distribution, eCommerce, telecoms, and publishing with contract values ranging from £20k to £20m, for engagements with clients in the UK, EMEA and US.
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My sales team doesn’t handle contracts at all currently
Great - this is your opportunity to own the sales process end-to-end, reduce the sales cycle time and drive sales conversion.
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Can this work be delivered remotely?
Yes absolutely, but I would always prefer some element of in-person as that is where we can really connect, focus and avoid the temptations of distraction that are inevitable when ‘dialling-in’.
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What about ongoing support?
I find there is always huge value in revisiting this work at an agreed juncture after the initial knowledge transfer has taken place. It’s an opportunity to look back at what worked well and what still needs attention - because old habits can die hard and further refinement or reinforcement can be required. So while ongoing support is not an obligation it could of course be baked in on an ad-hoc or retained basis.
Ready?
