Plotting Your Path: The Power of Self-Diagnosis

Ever felt overwhelmed trying to decide what to fix first in your business?

You’re not alone. In the pursuit of commercial excellence, leaders are often confronted with a sea of improvement opportunities-but knowing where to focus can feel like navigating in the dark.

When Clarity is the Real Competitive Advantage

Rolling out improvement programs is great-but which one will have the biggest impact? For many, the answer is hidden beneath the surface, and traditional consulting solutions often come with a hefty price tag. That’s why The Commercial Excellence Playbook was created: to put the power of diagnosis and prioritization directly in your hands.

==The Practical Power of Self-Assessment==

The Playbook introduces a simple but powerful approach: structured self-diagnosis using three lenses for every commercial function:

💭 AS IS: Where are you today? This lens prompts honest evaluation of your current state-no sugarcoating, just reality.

💭 IDEAL: Where do you realistically aspire to be? This lens encourages you to define your ambitions, knowing that not every area needs to be a perfect 10, but understanding where improvement will have the most impact.

💭 IMPORTANCE: How critical is this area for your business right now? This lens asks you to weigh relevance, urgency, and the potential return on focus-because not every gap is worth closing.

By reflecting through these lenses, you gain a nuanced understanding of your strengths, gaps, and true priorities.

From Reflection to Action: Scoring and Plotting

For each commercial area, you score yourself on all three lenses using a 1–10 scale. No fence-sitting-be honest and consistent. The Playbook then guides you to plot these scores on a simple chart:

• Y-axis: The gap between AS IS and IDEAL (the bigger the gap, the higher the priority).

• X-axis: The importance to your business.

• Circle size: The lower your maturity (AS IS), the larger the circle-making it easy to spot where you’re most exposed.

This visual approach reveals at a glance where the biggest gaps and highest priorities lie. 

Why This Matters

This approach turns complexity into clarity. Instead of over-investing in low-impact areas, you channel your resources where they’ll make the most difference. Over time, this process builds a high-level overview of your company’s commercial maturity, helping you track progress, guide strategic planning, and demonstrate value to boards or investors.

The Playbook Advantage

The Commercial Excellence Playbook doesn’t just offer theory-it provides reflection questions, scoring templates, and plotting guides to make self-diagnosis straightforward and actionable. Whether you’re a CEO, board member, or consultant, this tool helps you see your business with fresh eyes and plot a confident path forward.

When was the last time you mapped your commercial maturity? Ready to plot your path forward?

on kindle: https://lnkd.in/gk8jd6re.

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