Operation

Find the leak, close it, and measure what changed.

For leadership teams that want the cause named and the fix made inside their own team, not handed over. The result is read against where you started.

Book a strategy callSee the Diagnosis
Deliverables

The Diagnosis, the fixes made in your team, and the result measured.

By the end of the nine months, the Monday rebuild of the forecast is gone, two teams use one definition of a stage, and the hours that went into rework are back in the pipeline, counted against the figure set at the start. Most diagnoses end at the recommendation. This one ends with the fix running inside your team.

The person who found the leak is the person who closes it. Nothing is handed to a delivery team that was not in the room when the problem was found.

Process

Four steps, in order, from where you start to the measured result.

The Diagnosis runs first, and the fixes follow in the order the cost figure sets. Each finding is carried to a measured result, not left as a recommendation.

  1. 1DiagnoseWhere you start
  2. 2Design togetherAgreed fixes
  3. 3FixOwners and check dates
  4. 4MeasureThe measured result
Step 101 / 04

Diagnose

Where you start"A fix aimed at a guess is just a more expensive guess."

The first two months are the full Diagnosis. It names the leak, prices it at your own cost rates and records where you start, which is what step four is read against.

What happens
  • The leaks, each with its evidence
  • How revenue is won and kept today, mapped
  • The cost at your own rates, with a marked gap where the evidence stops
  • The fix list in order, briefed to leadership
OutcomeThe leak named and priced, and the starting point recorded.
TimingTwo months
Step 202 / 04

Design together

Agreed fixes"A fix handed down from above is dropped from below."

After the briefing the findings go back to the people who do the work. A project group designs the fixes rather than receiving them, and each one gets an owner and a check date before anything moves.

What happens
  • A project group formed from the people who do the work
  • Who decides what, written down, including the decisions that never move to the adviser
  • One change at a time, the costliest leak first rather than the easiest fix
  • Check dates set before anything changes
OutcomeAgreed fixes, each with an owner and a check date.
TimingAfter the briefing
Step 303 / 04

Fix

Owners and check dates"The owner of a fix is the person who will still be there next quarter."

The agreed fixes are made where the cost sits, by named owners inside your company, with us beside them week by week.

What happens
  • Who you sell to and who covers them, and how roles and pay are set
  • How work passes between teams
  • Commercial data and the rhythm of reviews and decisions
  • Each fix with an owner inside your company and a set check date
OutcomeThe fixes running inside your own team.
TimingDepends on what the Diagnosis finds
Step 404 / 04

Measure

The measured result"A cycle that closes with nothing outstanding has usually stopped looking."

At each check date the result is read with the measure set at the start, so the cost removed is confirmed rather than assumed. What remains feeds the next cycle.

What happens
  • Results read with the same measure used at the start
  • The cost removed confirmed against the figure set at diagnosis
  • What remains, unresolved and why, carried forward in writing
  • The fix built to hold without us watching it
OutcomeA measured result, and what remains carried forward in writing.
TimingAt the check date set in step two
What we look at

How the fixes are run, week by week.

Nine months is long enough to drift, so the way the work is run is set before the first fix. Every fix stays visible until its check date says it held.

  1. 01

    One owner per fix

    A named person inside your company for each change, never the adviser.

  2. 02

    A check date

    Set before the change starts, with the measure it will be read against.

  3. 03

    A weekly rhythm

    A standing meeting with the project group: what moved, what is stuck, what needs a decision.

  4. 04

    A monthly read

    The cost figure from the Diagnosis read again, so progress is counted rather than felt.

  5. 05

    A scorecard

    One page with every fix, its owner, its date and its status, shared with leadership.

  6. 06

    A rule for what stalls

    A fix that stops moving goes to the leadership team with what it needs, not into the next meeting.

Is this for you?

For teams whose tool or reorganisation changed nothing.

  • A tool or a reorganisation has been tried, and the rework, the late renewals or the leavers came back
  • You need the fixes made, not handed over
  • A project group can be formed from the team itself, with owners inside your company
  • You want the cost removed checked against the figure set at diagnosis, rather than a satisfaction score

Not sure what is leaking yet? Start with the Diagnosis →

The evidence

Why fixes do not hold, in the published record.

What happens to a change after it is announced has been counted, and the count is not kind. Operation puts an owner and a check date on every fix because an announcement is not enough.

  1. 01

    81%

    Sales leaders considering replacing their CRM within a year, while 21% think its benefits outweigh its costs: the last tool fix is already being undone.

    monday.com, The State of Sales Technology 2025, 500 sales leaders in the US and UK, vendor survey, March 2025

  2. 02

    90% and 38%

    Leaders who say they coach their team at least monthly, against reps who say they are rarely or never coached. A fix the manager believes is running and the team cannot see is the usual shape of one that did not hold.

    MySalesCoach and Aircall, The State of Sales Coaching in 2025, more than 1,600 sales professionals, vendor survey, 2025

  3. 03

    40%

    Revenue leaders who say they cannot pinpoint where to coach a rep to improve performance. A fix aimed without a located cause lands beside the problem, and the problem stays.

    Clari, The 2024 Revenue Leak Report, 420 senior revenue leaders in the US and UK, vendor survey, 2024

  4. 04

    35% to 55%

    The share of measured hidden costs that ISEOR’s interventions convert into value added within six to fifteen months, through a structured participative process. The rest stays, which is why one cycle is read before the next begins.

    ISEOR (Savall, Zardet, Bonnet and Cappelletti), Valoriser la recherche par l’expérimentation en entreprise, Revue française de gestion n° 284, 2019, pp. 157 to 158

What happens next

Each fix is made and measured before the next one begins.

  1. 01

    When the cycle ends

    The last check date reads the change against the starting point set at diagnosis. By then the fix is held by its owner, not by us.

  2. 02

    Partnership

    Where your commercial organisation will keep changing shape after the cycle, Partnership continues from here: the next cycle re-read, decided, carried through and measured, at €6,000 a month for one day a week or €11,000 for two, with a twelve-month minimum.

    Explore Partnership →

  3. 03

    Coming from a Diagnosis

    The briefing already holds the leak, its cost and the fix list, so Operation starts at step two: the project group forms in the first week, not the third month.

    Explore the Diagnosis →

FAQ

Operation FAQs.

How much does Operation cost?
€65,000 flat, and the Diagnosis is included in it, not added to it. A Diagnosis bought first is credited in full against an Operation booked within 30 days of its leadership briefing, so continuing costs €50,000 more, not €65,000. The usual place to start is the €15,000 Diagnosis on its own, with Operation carrying the fixes after it; the €5,000 Executive Workshop comes before either, and Partnership can follow Operation or start on its own.
Who does the work?
The same person throughout, from scoping to the final check date. The fixes themselves are made by named owners inside your company: we design them with the project group, sit beside the owner while they run, and read the result with them at the check date.
How long does Operation take?
Nine months, with the Diagnosis as the first two. The Diagnosis takes two months from the day we get access to the leadership briefing; the fixes, their owners and the measurement fill the rest, and the check dates are set before anything changes.
What happens when the work ends?
The change is read against the figure set at diagnosis, and the fix is built to hold without us watching it. If the company will keep changing shape, Partnership can take it from there, one or two days a week on a twelve-month minimum; nothing continues unless you ask for it.
Get started

A fix list nobody acts on is a longer description of the problem.

Tell us where profit is leaking and what has already been tried. The call says whether Operation is the right shape, or whether the Diagnosis on its own is enough.

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