You know your business better than anyone.
That’s exactly why the next opportunity is so hard to see.
“Founders don't need another strategy document. They need clear ideas they can get excited about, a plan they understand, and someone to help carry the weight of the thinking, and make sure the work gets done. That's what I do."
— Sarah Badcock
I’m Sarah.
I work with founders of established businesses, often family-run, often two or three generations in, who’ve built a business that works, and can’t quite see where the next chapter comes from.
25 years in sales, marketing and business development. The last 11 spent working alongside founders.
The work I’m brought in for comes before all that. I find the opportunity you’re too close to see, and I tell you what to do about it. More often than not, it’s the thing that also brings the buzz back, as well as the growth.
Does this feel familiar?
You know your customers. You know your products. But are you confident you know where your next bit of growth is actually going to come from?
Most founders don't. There's never enough time to properly step back and think.
So you look at marketing - sometimes that’s the answer - but often it’s something you haven’t spotted yet, already sitting in your business.
This is for you, if:
I love working with people who are genuinely behind their business - ambitious, and properly passionate about what they do. Because if you're not, it's hard for me to be too!
You've built something that's already working - a product or service, customers who value it, years of experience behind it.
You’re certain there’s more potential, and keen to untap this. With another decade or two ahead, you want it to feel easier too.
You'e tried plenty already, including agencies, consultants and advisors, and been left underwhelmed.
When you know what needs doing, you do it. Or you’ve got a team who can, or you’re open to bringing in the right help.
Here’s what I do
I come in from the outside and get to know your business properly. Your customers, your assets, your experience, your team.
Mostly I ask questions. Then more questions. That's where things start to show up - a customer group you'd never separated out, an asset doing one job that could easily do two, something you're brilliant at that you've never really sold.
I think out loud as we go. Ideas go up on the whiteboard as they form, and we keep coming back to them, working them through, getting sharper.
Then together we work out which one is worth going after, and what you'd actually do about it.
Examples
The person buying isn't always the person you're talking to
An at-home care provider spoke to the person receiving care in everything they did. But the person choosing, arranging and paying was usually their adult child — a completely different audience, wanting completely different things. Reassurance. Security. Trust.
We reworked who the communications spoke to, and how to reach them
A second revenue stream, hiding inside the business
An events provider had spent years building up a database of high-net-worth customers. Nobody was marketing to it. The data had just accumulated and was sitting there, valuable, unused.
We identified it as a separate audience with a huge opportunity, and one they already knew plenty about, including their interests and buying habits.
So we built a new line selling directly to them, with its own ecommerce site.
“Sarah brings serious expertise - strategic thinking, commercial awareness and practical, hands-on input. But she’s also incredibly easy to work with, trusted, and genuinely passionate about what we’re doing. She is part of the team.”
Lucy Roberts, Founder & MD