Don't walk into the boardroom naked
"The CFO has a spreadsheet. You have a slide deck. The Board can't see the value. You need a translator."
The Pre-Board Stress Test
A fixed-fee way to try me before any retainer. Send me your board pack 48 hours before the meeting. I stress test the commercial logic the way a CFO or investor will, and feed back before you walk in. You present with answers, not surprises.
£950, one-off, no strings - and the fastest way to find out what I am like to work with.
Sometimes the CMO brings me in. Sometimes the CEO does.
The CMO Ally is board-level support for marketing leadership: one to two days a month putting hard numbers behind the plan, for consumer businesses from £80m to £200m turnover. The job is the same whoever hires me - win the CFO and investor arguments.
If you are the CMO. You are good at the job. But the CFO has a spreadsheet, you have a narrative, and boards believe spreadsheets. I help you turn the marketing plan into unit economics the board cannot argue with: customer-level profit, media payback, the numbers a buyer would believe. Your plan, your budget, your credibility - defended with evidence. I have sat in your chair at Majestic Wine, Hamleys and Wickes. I know what it takes to win the room.
If you are the CEO. You have a capable CMO and a board asking questions neither of you can answer fast enough. Bringing me in is not a verdict on your marketing leader - it is an investment in them. You get independent assurance that the commercial logic holds. Your CMO gets a senior ally who has carried the same P&L. Better answers at the board table, a stronger CMO, no politics.
The rule I work by. I make the CMO stronger, not smaller. I do not want the job. Everything lands as your team’s work, not a consultant’s report. I chair boards myself - Non-Executive Chair at Harvey Jones and ExtraCare Retail - so I know what your board needs to see, because I sit on the other side of the table.
How it works. One to two days a month on a fixed monthly fee, agreed after the first conversation. No long contract. If you need a full marketing rebuild, that is the Builder. If you need board-level governance, that is the Advisor. Three ways to work with me.
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. CMO or CEO - bring the problem that keeps marketing off the front foot. If I am not the right person, I will tell you.