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Strat-Exx Decision Brief

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE DIAGNOSTIC • CSO • DIAGNOSIS • FROM 8 WEEKS • LEVER PRIORITIES

Your largest revenue and margin leaks and the 3–5 levers to close them.

When Commercial Performance Diagnostic creates the greatest value

Revenue, margin, or EBIT fall short of expectations. Yet functions explain the gap differently; pricing, mix, pipeline, coverage, and productivity are discussed in isolation. The critical question is which few causes truly drive the gap. Specifically, you need to

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Decide

  • Where the largest revenue and margin losses actually occur
  • Which apparent problems are root causes – and which are only symptoms
  • Which three to five levers deserve immediate priority and investment

Because

  • individual metrics reveal symptoms, but rarely the underlying cause.
  • isolated functional opinions otherwise trigger a flood of initiatives.
  • impact, speed, and feasibility must be assessed together.
01

VALUE DRIVER 1 · DESIRED BUSINESS OUTCOME

Clarity on the 3–5 levers that truly address your performance gap.

You receive a prioritized executive agenda – not a loose diagnostic inventory:

  • Your performance gap becomes visible as a whole. Market, pricing, mix, customers, pipeline, conversion, coverage, and productivity are linked in one causal logic.
  • Your strongest levers become investment-ready. Three to five initiatives receive evidence, an impact range, and a clear recommendation for stand-alone execution or transition into Commercial Excellence.
02

VALUE DRIVER 2 · HIGH DECISION CONFIDENCE

Your prioritization holds up because symptoms and root causes are not confused.

The Commercial Performance Heat Map and Leak & Lever Inventory answer three questions:

  • Locate the performance gap. Plan, actuals, pricing, mix, volume, customer, and pipeline effects are consolidated into one coherent fact base. Outcome: transparency on the largest revenue and margin losses.
  • Prove the root causes. Hypotheses are tested with evidence across segments, customers, funnel, coverage, and ways of working. Outcome: a Leak & Lever Inventory instead of isolated functional opinions.
  • Prioritize investment-ready levers. Each lever is assessed for impact, speed, feasibility, and dependencies. Outcome: three to five prioritized initiatives with robust business-case ranges.
03

VALUE DRIVER 3 · RAPID DECISION

Within 6–8 weeks, your prioritized Executive Performance Agenda is ready

The diagnostic shortens the path from many plausible explanations to a few proven root causes and investment-ready levers.

  • Weeks 1–2: Quantify the gap. Performance data are harmonized and revenue and margin losses localized.
  • Weeks 3–5: Prove root causes. Hypotheses on market, pricing, mix, pipeline, coverage, and productivity are tested.
  • Weeks 6–8: Prioritize levers. Impact ranges, the management agenda, and the execution decision are finalized.

Diagnostic principle. First quantify the gap, then prove root causes, then prioritize levers. Execution begins only once impact, timing, and feasibility are evidence-backed.

04

VALUE DRIVER 4 · LEAN CLIENT COMMITMENT

Existing data and a few targeted interviews are sufficient.

Strat-Exx connects financial, customer, pricing, pipeline, and organizational data into one causal view – without a parallel transformation program. Your organization contributes only four things:

  • financial, customer, pricing, pipeline, and organizational data,
  • existing analyses, initiatives, and performance hypotheses,
  • a few hypothesis-driven interviews with the CEO/business-unit leaders, Sales, Marketing, and Finance,
  • access to management for root-cause and prioritization decisions.
05

VALUE DRIVER 5 · CONTAINED EXECUTION RISK

No transformation program until root causes and levers are proven.

The greater risk is not starting an initiative later. It is investing time, budget, and management attention in symptoms while the few root-cause revenue and margin leaks persist. The diagnostic contains that risk:

  • All relevant performance dimensions are linked in one causal logic.
  • Hypotheses are proven with data or rigorously discarded.
  • Only levers with impact, speed, and feasibility receive priority.
  • Execution proceeds separately or selectively through the Commercial Excellence program.

Proven experience. In one engagement with a company generating approximately €800 million in revenue, the largest margin gap came from mix and pricing effects in two segments. At another company generating approximately €600 million, pricing and coverage – not pipeline – were the root causes. Both management teams then focused on three levers.

06

By the end of the diagnostic, every decision is backed by tangible evidence:

  1. a quantified Commercial Performance Heat Map covering revenue, margin, and profit contribution,
  2. a Leak & Lever Inventory with proven root causes instead of isolated functional opinions,
  3. three to five prioritized performance levers by impact, timing, and feasibility,
  4. robust impact and business-case ranges for every prioritized lever,
  5. an agreed Executive Management Agenda with decisions and accountable owners,
  6. a clear execution decision – stand-alone or through the Commercial Excellence program.

The measure of success. What matters is not the number of metrics analyzed, but whether a few proven root causes lead to a focused, investment-ready performance agenda.

CSO Briefing

Concise, for your next leadership meeting.

When Commercial Performance Diagnostic pays off for you, how we approach it and what you have on the table at the end: on three pages as PDF.

By submitting, we process your details to provide the briefing. Dr. Clemens Oertel or Bernd Hirschle may get in touch with you personally. Details in our privacy policy.

Which three root causes explain most of your commercial performance gap – and do you know, or are you guessing?

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