Code puts a senior Commercial Director inside established businesses, part-time, to find the growth that is already there and help make it happen.
The number is a question, not a promise.
Braille is a code in itself. It is a reminder that the most valuable things in a business are often the hardest to see.
Owners are too close to the business and too busy running it. Teams may not have been down this road before. Nobody has the distance to see the next stage.
Code brings that distance, and thirty years of experience, to read what is already there: the customer you're under-serving, the product you should stop making, the capacity nobody is selling.
What we look at
What you really sell, and what customers really buy.
Who is most valuable, under-served or missing.
What to extend, launch or stop selling.
Whether the brand helps you charge more and sell more.
Retail, wholesale, distributors, export, online, direct.
Licences, principals, co-manufacturing, joint ventures.
Full cost-to-net-revenue economics, set with discipline.
Spare capacity, know-how, data or relationships.
Sometimes the answer is branding. Often it's a new product, market, channel, partner or commercial model.
How it works
I spend time inside the business and come back with three to five opportunities, each sized and ranked.
A monthly commercial review, sessions with the team, and hands-on ownership of the growth plan.
Owners, leadership, the numbers, the business model.
Customers, channels, competitors, suppliers.
A long list of opportunities, cut down and valued.
Three to five priorities and the first 90 days.
You receive a written review, a leadership workshop and a 90-day plan.
Who it's for
South Africa and the UK
Reviews and fractional work on the ground across the region, with deep experience in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe. That includes food, wine, spirits and ingredient producers who want to sell into the UK.
The same model, run with on-site weeks in the UK and remote work in between. Also for UK businesses sourcing from, or selling into, Southern Africa.
Who you get
Thirty years on both sides of the commercial fence. I built one of South Africa's leading independent branding agencies, then spent fourteen years as National Sales and Marketing Director of a food ingredients importer, carrying the P&L and the key accounts.
I read a business the way a Commercial Director does, through customers, channels, pricing and margin. I also know what a strong brand, product or proposition can do to those numbers, because I've built them.
Cannes Lions Direct jury, two terms · Loerie Awards jury chairman, 2003 · Grand Prix and awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD and New York Festivals
A belief
“Businesses are not spreadsheets with people attached to them. They are human relationships under pressure.”
From Failure, My Teacher, Sean's forthcoming book
Not every business I've started has worked. The ones that didn't taught me more, once I took the time to reflect on them properly.
The review applies the same discipline to your business: an honest, outside look at what is working, what isn't, and what you could become.
Questions
A senior Commercial Director who works in your business part-time, usually one or two days a week, reporting to the CEO or owner. You get the experience and accountability of the role without a full-time salary.
The real priorities are rarely the ones anyone expects on day one. Three to four weeks gives us both enough evidence to decide whether, and how, to keep working together. If you only want the review, that's fine.
The review is a fixed fee agreed before we start, based on the size of the business. Fractional work is a monthly retainer for an agreed number of days, usually with a three-month minimum. You'll get a clear number after a first conversation.
Yes. I'm a British citizen based in Cape Town and I spend regular time in the UK. The review includes on-site time in your business, and fractional work combines UK visits with remote sessions. UK fees are quoted in pounds.
Branding is one tool among several. When the answer is a new brand, packaging or website, the work is delivered with trusted design partners. When it isn't, we don't sell you one.
Everything I see stays confidential, and I'm happy to sign an NDA before we start. Client work is never published without permission.
Contact
A first conversation takes an hour and costs nothing. Bring the numbers if you like. Bring the question either way.