How I Work | By Zoe Commercial Method

I understand the business before I tell you what needs to change.

I don't arrive with a standard answer, or assume the obvious problem is the real one.

I start with what's actually happening — the numbers, the people, the process, what the customer gets. Then we decide what matters most and who does what.

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It starts with a question, not a package

Sometimes the question is small. One number has moved in the wrong direction and nobody can say why. That can be a few hours' work — your numbers, my model, and a figure on what it's costing you over a year.

Sometimes it's bigger. Working out how a business actually makes money — pricing, conversion, where deals stall, what happens after the sale — takes four or five days.

Either way you get the same thing back: what's actually happening, what it's costing you, and what to do about it. You pay for the work it takes, not for a package you didn't need.

Then it goes one of two ways

A project. A defined problem, an agreed outcome, an end date. You know what I'm responsible for and what I hand back.

Fractional. A set number of days a month, working with the leadership team, close enough to the business to keep things moving.

Most people don't know which one they need at the start. That's what the first piece of work is for.

Method

Five stages, one connected view

1. Understand
I spend time in the business before I recommend anything. I sit with the team, join the meetings, listen to sales and customer calls, follow a lead from enquiry through to outcome, and look at the numbers nobody has joined up. I want to see what's actually happening, not what everyone thinks is happening.

2. Diagnose
Then I work out where the problem really sits: the gaps, the wasted effort, the missed opportunities and the things people have learned to work around. This is where we separate the symptom from the cause and put evidence behind it.

3. Design
Once we know what needs to change, we build the plan. That means changing the process, making roles clear, setting the KPIs, reviewing the technology, reshaping the sales approach — and deciding what needs to stop. The plan is clear enough that everyone knows what they're responsible for.

4. Deliver
If I'm staying involved, this is where the change happens. I work with the team, coach the leaders, build the process, test the approach, support the conversations that matter, and keep things moving when the day job gets in the way. What I own is agreed at the start.

5. Embed
I document what we've built, train the people who'll run it and make ownership clear. If I've done it properly, it keeps working when I'm not there.

What you can expect from me

I will ask questions

Sometimes a lot of them. I need enough information to understand the problem properly before I tell you what I think.

I will challenge things that don't make sense to me

A process, a target, a supplier, a structure, or an assumption everyone has stopped questioning.

I will use evidence.

Where we have numbers, I'll use them. Where we don't, I'll look for facts we can observe and test.

I will tell you what I think.

You're paying for my judgement, not for me to agree with everything.

I will expect action.

If we agree something needs to change, I expect us both to do what we said we would to achieve the goals.

A good fit matters

I work best with businesses that are prepared to look properly at what's happening and make changes when the evidence says they should.

You don't need to know exactly what the problem is before we start. You do need to be prepared to do something about it once we find it.

FAQs

How long does the first piece of work take?

Anything from a few hours to about a week, depending on the question. One number that's moved in the wrong direction is short. Understanding how a whole business makes money takes days. We agree the scope before anything starts.

What do I get at the end of it?

What's happening, what it's costing you, and what to do about it, in priority order, in plain English. Where there are numbers, they're in it. It isn't a strategy deck.

What if we don't know what the problem is?

That's normal, and it's usually the point. You don't need to have diagnosed it before we start — you need to be ready to act on it once we find it.

Do you do the work, or just tell us what to do?

Both, depending on what we agree. Some businesses want the diagnosis and will run the changes themselves. Others want me in it. I'll tell you honestly which one I think you need.

How I Work By Zoe