FRACTIONAL COMMERCIAL ADVISORY

FRACTIONAL COMMERCIAL ADVISORY

A leak no P&L line owns.

A leak no P&L line owns.

Marketing, sales and customer success each run their own race, and revenue leaks in the handoffs between them. The long-standing estimates say 10% or more. But an estimate isn't your number. We measure where your engine actually leaks, on your own data, on a scale you can re-score — then close the seams with your team, so the fix is theirs from day one.

Marketing, sales and customer success each run their own race, and revenue leaks in the handoffs between them. The long-standing estimates say 10% or more. But an estimate isn't your number. We measure where your engine actually leaks, on your own data, on a scale you can re-score — then close the seams with your team, so the fix is theirs from day one.

Book a discovery call

Size your leak

€750 diagnostic credited 100% toward the assessment within 30 days.A 30-minute fit call comes first . if I'm not the right fix, I'll say so there.

€750 diagnostic credited 100% toward the assessment within 30 days.A 30-minute fit call comes first . if I'm not the right fix, I'll say so there.

WHY IT MATTERS

Why it never shows up as one broken function

It rarely shows up as one broken function. It hides in the handoffs — which is why finance is usually the last to see it. Three teams grow up around three scoreboards, each rational on its own, with no one owning how they add up. The result is quiet, and expensive. And because every dashboard belongs to a function, the leak has no dashboard: what leaks between the teams is precisely what none of them is measured on.

Three teams, three scoreboards.

Marketing, sales and CS each optimise their own metric. No shared pipeline, no shared customer.

Marketing, sales and CS each optimise their own metric. No shared pipeline, no shared customer.

Momentum resets with every leadership change.

Each new commercial lead rebuilds half the system, then moves on. The engine never finishes setting.

Each new commercial lead rebuilds half the system, then moves on. The engine never finishes setting.

Built for an earlier stage.

This process that made sense at half the size, and hasn't been revisited since.

This process that made sense at half the size, and hasn't been revisited since.

Commercial execution is hard to see.

Cost and pricing show up on a P&L line. Execution across marketing, sales and CS doesn't, so it's rarely where planning time goes.

Cost and pricing show up on a P&L line. Execution across marketing, sales and CS doesn't, so it's rarely where planning time goes.

About that 10%. A long-standing analyst estimate (IDC) puts the cost of misaligned commercial functions at 10% or more of revenue per year. It's an established, decade-old estimate. It is useful for sizing the problem, useless as your answer. You will never find the 10% on a P&L: a leak is revenue that didn't happen, and systems only record what did. That's why I treat the benchmark as a starting prior, and the assessment replaces it with your measured number.

About that 10%. A long-standing analyst estimate (IDC) puts the cost of misaligned commercial functions at 10% or more of revenue per year. It's an established, decade-old estimate. It is useful for sizing the problem, useless as your answer. You will never find the 10% on a P&L: a leak is revenue that didn't happen, and systems only record what did. That's why I treat the benchmark as a starting prior, and the assessment replaces it with your measured number.

SIZE YOUR LEAK

Put a first number on it in 2 minutes

This applies the benchmark to your revenue — conservative math, every assumption shown, no email required. It's a sizing prior, not your measured number; the assessment replaces it with yours. It also gives you an honest answer on whether you're ready to locate the leak at all.

Your numbers

Recurring or project-based, combined. A rough total is fine.

Is most of it recurring?

Subscriptions and retainers count as recurring.

Rough numbers are fine. Nothing here is stored or sent anywhere unless you ask for the one-pager at the end.

The math, in the open

A long-standing analyst estimate (IDC) puts the cost of misaligned commercial functions at 10% or more of revenue per year. It's an established estimate that has held for over a decade — not a fresh study, and I present it as exactly that. This calculator uses 10% — the estimate's own floor — as its default. If you think your engine runs tighter, lower it and see what the number does.

10%

One deliberate omission: the "1–5% revenue leakage" figures you may have seen (usually attributed to EY and MGI Research) measure billing and contract-to-cash slippage — a different, additional leak. This calculator doesn't count it.

Sources
  • IDC — estimate that B2B companies' inability to align sales and marketing around the right processes and technologies costs 10% or more of revenue per year. A long-standing analyst estimate, circulated for over a decade — presented here as exactly that (as cited), and used as a sizing prior only: the assessment replaces it with a number measured on your own data.

FOUR OUTCOMES

What fixing it buys you

What fixing it buys you

Where you are
Where this takes you

A forecast you brace for

A forecast you stand behind

Three dashboards that disagree

One number that the board trusts

Growth that routes through one person

An engine your team runs

Explaining the miss

Showing the trend

A benchmark you've read

A number you've measured

Revenue recorded — the leak located seam by seam, closed, and re-scored, so you can prove it closed, not just feel it.

Waste cut — every channel and motion scored; what produces nothing gets stopped, so growth costs less per euro.

A system you couldn´t build alone —the named frameworks, dashboards and playbooks, scored on one standard, re-scorable scale, - so you see where you stand, not just how you feel.

Headaches gone — A forecast you can stand behind, a business that no longer routes through one person, a board question you can finally answer cleanly.

Book a discovery call

WHAT IT IS

One engine, one scoreboard

Marketing, sales and customer success, run as a single system with one shared definition of the customer, and one number the board can trust. It starts with a structured health-check of the engine you already have.

CEMA (Commercial Engine Maturity Assessment) is your commercial engine, scored across 12 dimensions in 4 zones, on your own data. Out comes one GTM Efficiency number and your top 3 revenue leaks, with estimated impact.

CEMA (Commercial Engine Maturity Assessment) is your commercial engine, scored across 12 dimensions in 4 zones, on your own data. Out comes one GTM Efficiency number and your top 3 revenue leaks, with estimated impact.

Financial picture

GTM efficiency: what you spend to grow vs. the growth you get.

GTM efficiency: what you spend to grow vs. the growth you get.

Sales

Qualified pipeline; forecast accuracy; productivity.

Qualified pipeline; forecast accuracy; productivity.

Marketing

Demand & signal economics; attribution everyone trusts.

Demand & signal economics; attribution everyone trusts.

Customer success

Onboarding; keeping and growing existing customers; voice of customer

Onboarding; keeping and growing existing customers; voice of customer

Plus the two enablers — key-person dependency - how much of revenue still routes through one person, and data & AI readiness.

Plus the two enablers — key-person dependency - how much of revenue still routes through one person, and data & AI readiness.

What the assessment shows you

What the assessment shows you

Every engagement, whatever the rung, produces the same core artifact — the CEMA scorecard. This is a sample, with illustrative data.

Revenue Engine Position — Sample
Functions built for their job
highlyminimally
minimallyhighly
Functions that connect
Where this company sitsStrong functions, weak seams — the classic disconnected engine. Each team is capable; the value leaks between them.
The blind spotCompanies tend to read themselves one quadrant to the right of where the evidence puts them. You can't self-score what no one owns — which is why the seams are where the surprise usually is.
Where the install moves youRightward — closing the seams — without flattening the specialization you've already built. Position, and direction of travel.

The framework adapts Felin & Powell's differentiation–integration matrix to the revenue engine. What you're paying for is the placement. Where a company actually sits, read from interviews, CRM and financials, not self-report, and the operating years that make it accurate. The frame anyone can have; the placement is the product. The matrix shows the between-functions position; which specific seams pulled it there is the within-functions detail the full assessment adds.

Two engines

It leaks in two opposite directions — the same diagnostic finds both.

Overspending — the disconnected engine.

Every function exists, but they don't connect: spend creeping up, growth flat, three scoreboards and no shared customer. Nobody chose this — it's what functions scaling on separate tracks naturally produce. The diagnostic finds where the spend leaks; the install closes the seams.

Every function exists, but they don't connect: spend creeping up, growth flat, three scoreboards and no shared customer. Nobody chose this — it's what functions scaling on separate tracks naturally produce. The diagnostic finds where the spend leaks; the install closes the seams.

Underspending — the engine not yet built.

Product-strong and founder-led: the commercial engine simply hasn't been the priority yet, and growth still runs through the founder's own selling. That's a stage, not a flaw — but it caps how far a strong product can travel. The diagnostic maps what's missing; the install builds and sequences it.

Product-strong and founder-led: the commercial engine simply hasn't been the priority yet, and growth still runs through the founder's own selling. That's a stage, not a flaw — but it caps how far a strong product can travel. The diagnostic maps what's missing; the install builds and sequences it.

One diagnostic, both directions — I score the engine that exists; then we build what's missing, or close what's leaking.

HOW IT WORKS

Diagnose, install, embed

Diagnose, install, embed

90 days end-to-end

90 days end-to-end

Fast track

Fast track

Fast track

Up to 3 tracks

Up to 3 tracks

Marketing - Sales - CS

Marketing - Sales - CS

Marketing - Sales - CS

8 playbooks

8 playbooks

At full scope

At full scope

At full scope

Diagnose · Weeks 1-2

Diagnose · Weeks 1-2

Score the engine, set the GTM Efficiency number, surface the top 3 revenue leaks with estimated impact. By week 2: the engine scored — CEMA complete, one number, three leaks named.

Score the engine, set the GTM Efficiency number, surface the top 3 revenue leaks with estimated impact. By week 2: the engine scored — CEMA complete, one number, three leaks named.

Install · Weeks 3-12

Install · Weeks 3-12

Foundations first (customer definition and value) then playbooks, documented across the tracks you see (one, two, or all three). By week 5: first fixes live — one agreed customer definition, a clean pipeline number, 2–3 revenue-protecting fixes underway.

Foundations first (customer definition and value) then playbooks, documented across the tracks you see (one, two, or all three). By week 5: first fixes live — one agreed customer definition, a clean pipeline number, 2–3 revenue-protecting fixes underway.

Embed

Embed

A monthly operating rhythm handed to your team, your first board-ready revenue section, and capability transfer. The system live at full scope: one metric layer across marketing, sales & CS, playbooks running, a rhythm your team can run with or without me.

A monthly operating rhythm handed to your team, your first board-ready revenue section, and capability transfer. The system live at full scope: one metric layer across marketing, sales & CS, playbooks running, a rhythm your team can run with or without me.

Light on the team by design. A handful of interviews and one named owner per track who shape and sign off the playbooks for their track. I do the heavy lifting, your people shape the playbooks they'll run, and the business never stops moving.

Light on the team by design. A handful of interviews and one named owner per track who shape and sign off the playbooks for their track. I do the heavy lifting, your people shape the playbooks they'll run, and the business never stops moving.

WHERE TO START

Start as small as you like.
Every step credits forward.

Start as small as you like.
Every step credits forward.

Start as small as you like.
Every step credits forward.


You don't have to commit to a full assessment to see the method work. Start with a €750 diagnostic; if you go further, it credits forward. Each step earns the next.

You don’t have to commit to a full assessment to see the method work. Start with a paid 60-minute diagnostic on your draft numbers, or go straight to the full ROMA Assessment on your real data. Either way, the first fee comes back to you if you go further.

You don’t have to commit to a full assessment to see the method work. Start with a paid 60-minute diagnostic on your draft numbers, or go straight to the full CEMA Assessment on your real data. Either way, the first fee comes back to you if you go further.

COS Efficiency Diagnostic €750

A paid 60-minute live walkthrough. I take the numbers you give me, run them through the CEMA scoring model, and show you the three leaks I'd expect to find — with a one-page summary to keep. Paid at booking. Credited 100% toward the CEMA Assessment if you book within 30 days. Best if you want to see the substance before committing.

CEMA Assessment from €6,000

The full, validated diagnostic: your engine scored across 12 dimensions on your own data, your GTM Efficiency Index, your top 3 leaks with estimated impact, and a costed install plan scoped to size and complexity — the exact fee is confirmed at the fit call. Delivered in 5–10 business days. 50% credited toward the Install if you book within 30 days. Best if you're ready to act on what it finds.

€750 Diagnostic → Assessment from €6,500 → Install from €18,000 → Operating Retainer from €2,200/mo Each step credits forward. Stop at any rung — everything delivered is yours.

€750 Diagnostic → Assessment from €6,500 → Install from €18,000 → Operating Retainer from €2,200/mo Each step credits forward. Stop at any rung — everything delivered is yours.

Book a discovery call

WHY ONE SYSTEM

Everyone claims the whole engine. Almost nobody measures it.

Everyone claims the whole engine. Almost nobody measures it.

Running marketing, sales and customer success as one revenue engine isn't a niche idea anymore — it's where the market has already gone. Gartner predicted 75% of the highest-growth companies would run a unified revenue-operations model, and companies with mature revenue operations are twice as likely to exceed their revenue goals (Gartner, as cited). The catch is in the word mature: adoption is everywhere, measurement is rare. Most "one engine" setups are three functions sharing a slide.

That's the gap this method closes. Slice specialists fix their slice — RevOps consultants the pipeline, agencies the funnel, CS consultancies retention — and each brings its own metrics, so you end up with three vendors and three competing definitions of pipeline. I do the opposite of adding a fourth opinion: one instrument across all three functions, on one re-scorable scale, with the frame shown openly and the placement read from your evidence — not self-report, not vendor dashboards. Your function leaders keep their engine rooms; I own the seams between them, and the dashboard your CEO opens on Monday shows marketing spend, sales velocity and customer expansion in a single view, with the same definitions across them.

The connective work is the job. The measurement is the proof it happened.

WHY ME

I've sat on every side of the seams and researched why they leak.

Built commercial engines and researched why they leak

I'm Maarit Asikainen. My work is commercialization and alignment: making complex offerings buyable, and getting marketing, sales and customer success to run as one engine instead of three. I've spent my career in commercial, product and marketing roles across companies like Telia, Qt, Nokia and Basware, and owned a business-unit P&L at SSH which means I've been on every side of the seams where revenue leaks, not just one.

A placement is only as good as the person reading the evidence. That's the difference: most advisors own a single slice — the pipeline, the funnel, the retention motion — and read your engine through it. I read the whole engine against one scale, and I went back to research why the same leaks repeat across companies — my doctoral work at the University of Vaasa is that question, made rigorous. CEMA is the answer made operational. Your function leaders keep their engine rooms; working with me is simpler than the method sounds: direct questions, drafts early, no theatre.

More about me

FAQ

Questions & answers.

Straight answers

Do you have client results to show?
Where does the "10%" figure come from. Should I believe it?
What's the difference between the Diagnostic and the Assessment?
How do I know if I'm ready for the assessment?
What happens after the assessment?
Why does the Sprint cost more than the steps added together?
What am I actually buying?
Why work with one advisor instead of a consultancy?
What if the real problem isn't commercial?
Is this just a report?
Do we need special tools or extra people?
We're on a deadline. Can this go faster?
How much of my team's time does it take?
What does it cost?

INSIGHTS

Explore insights and stay ahead

Explore insights and stay ahead

Notes on why commercial engines leak and how to fix them. Drawn from doctoral research and years of practical experience.

Notes on why commercial engines leak and how to fix them. Drawn from doctoral research and years of practical experience.

Nobody has ever seen the 10% What the misalignment statistics actually measure — and what they can't.

Nobody has ever seen the 10% What the misalignment statistics actually measure — and what they can't.

The coordination tax. Why the 10% is normal — and why normal isn't the same as fine.

The coordination tax. Why the 10% is normal — and why normal isn't the same as fine.

The two leaks - why fixing your billing won't fix your forecast.

The two leaks - why fixing your billing won't fix your forecast.

Get your number — starting at €750.

Begin with a 60-minute COS Efficiency Diagnostic, or go straight to the CEMA Assessment. Either way you leave with a number that's yours, not an industry estimate — and if it turns out I'm not the right fix, I'll say so in the first call.

Book a discovery call

€750 diagnostic credited 100% toward the assessment within 30 days.