Commercial & Revenue Diagnostics

Most companies feel the dysfunction years before they can name it.

Commercial systems quietly break as companies grow: slower cycles, misaligned handoffs, forecasts nobody fully trusts. They get treated as effort or talent problems when the cause is systemic, and they carry a cost standard accounting never records. We find that cost, put a euro figure on it, and rebuild the GTM and RevOps operating model that removes it.

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The problem

Everyone feels the drag. No one can price it yet.

Before you hire more reps, buy another tool, or rebuild the CRM again: find out where the system is actually breaking. A defensible number, and a roadmap to close it.

Teams work around a commercial system nobody has diagnosed.

Pilots and process changes launch, then stall before full rollout.

Leadership cannot defend what the dysfunction costs.

Everyone is busy, but nobody agrees on what to fix first.

Why this exists

A recurring pattern across four B2B growth environments.

Across enterprise software, an EdTech marketplace, and renewable energy, in European and Turkish markets, the same pattern kept repeating. Qualification frameworks built for one segment broke under the next. Motions built for one geography failed to transfer. Coordination that relied on direct conversation failed once roles and handoffs multiplied.

Field experience tells us where to look. The method tells us what it costs.

The cost model

Six dysfunction families. Six cost components.

The socio-economic approach was created by Henri Savall and subsequently developed with Véronique Zardet and the ISEOR research team in Lyon, then refined through more than five decades of international intervention-research. Kihon Labs adapts that framework specifically to commercial and revenue systems.

Cost componentsDysfunction family Over-
salaries		 Over-
time		 Over-
consumption		 Non-
production		 Non-creation
of potential		 Risk
Working conditions
Work organisation
Communication, coordination & concertation
Time management
Integrated training
Strategy implementation

A single dysfunction can produce cost across several components at once: excess time spent compensating, opportunities never created, and risk carried silently.Material dysfunctions supported by interview, operational, and financial evidence are quantified where the available data permits.

The tooling trap

Why new tools do not fix broken systems.

Most commercial problems arrive disguised as tooling problems. A new platform gets bought, and six months later the same number is still leaking from the same place.

Tools amplify what they sit on

A well-configured platform makes a functioning system faster. It makes a dysfunctional one fail faster, at greater expense, in front of more people.

The problem is rarely the configuration

Broken handoffs, misaligned qualification, territory design that stopped fitting two growth stages ago. None are CRM settings, and none are solved by replacing CRM.

Instruments, not the product

Kihon Labs is fluent in the same stack every commercial team runs. That fluency is the scalpel, not the practice. The work is knowing where to cut.

The framework

How it works

Kihon Labs translates the socio-economic intervention logic into four connected stages, from first diagnosis to measured result, built for real commercial teams and real operating constraints. Read the full methodology →

The four stages run as a loop, not a line Four stages, Diagnosis, Co-designed intervention project, Implementation and Evaluation, connected left to right by arrows. A prominent accent arc returns from Evaluation back to Diagnosis, marking the next cycle. 01 Diagnosis 02 Co-designed intervention project 03 Implementation 04 Evaluation the next cycle
The four stages run as a loop, not a line Four stages stacked top to bottom, Diagnosis, Co-designed intervention project, Implementation and Evaluation, with an accent arrow returning up the left side back to Diagnosis, marking the next cycle. the next cycle 01 Diagnosis 02 Co-designed intervention project 03 Implementation 04 Evaluation
01

Diagnosis

Role-based interviews and a documentary review find the material dysfunctions, quantified across six families and six cost components where the data permits.

02

Co-designed intervention project

Findings are reflected back through the mirror effect, and a project group designs interventions the organisation can implement and sustain.

03

Implementation

Interventions go into practice where the cost sits, sequenced by cost of inaction rather than spread thinly across everything at once.

04

Evaluation

Results are measured against the diagnosis baseline, so cost that has genuinely been removed is confirmed, not assumed.

What we do

Choose your starting point

Every engagement starts with evidence, not opinion. Build begins with discovery when no commercial system exists; Diagnosis begins by pricing dysfunction in an existing one. Compare all services →

Build

No commercial system yet. The first one gets built from scratch. Nothing is inherited or assumed.

  • Territory and account ownership design
  • First qualification framework
  • Initial outbound and inbound motion
  • CRM and pipeline structure

Perfect for: Founder led teams with no system yet to diagnose. Starting from zero.

See Build in detail

Diagnosis

Know what your commercial system is actually costing you, before you commit to fixing it. Evidence comes first.

  • Hidden-cost audit across 6 dysfunction families
  • Quantification across 6 cost components
  • Prioritised intervention roadmap
  • Executive briefing with next steps

Perfect for: Leaders who need a defensible number before committing to a fix.

See Diagnosis in detail

Operation

We do not hand over a report and leave. We open the system, remove what is broken, and stay until it holds.

  • Everything in Diagnosis
  • Direct execution of the intervention roadmap
  • Fractional-CRO-style accountability for the outcome
  • Milestone check-ins until the system holds

Perfect for: Teams ready to fix what the diagnostic finds, not just read about it.

Explore Operation

Partnership

Standing coverage of the commercial system as it grows, not a fixed-scope project.

  • Diagnosis + Operation, on an ongoing basis
  • Leadership training and coaching included
  • Quarterly executive reporting
  • Standing advisory retainer for GTM/RevOps decisions

Perfect for: Teams that want ownership of the commercial system, not a one-off project.

Explore Partnership
Included in Partnership

Training

MEDDPICC-grounded sales, GTM, and leadership training. Standalone training is available where the capability gap is already known. Where it is not, training tends to solve the wrong problem, so a diagnostic comes first.

Ask about standalone training →
Where we sit

Deep diagnosis and end to end execution, in one place.

Most of the market does one or the other. Consultants and academics go deep, then hand over a report and leave. Commodity GTM agencies execute, but from a tool with no diagnosis underneath.

Positioning map A quadrant map with depth of diagnosis on the vertical axis and execution on the horizontal axis. Consultants and academics sit top left, deep but they hand over a report. Commodity GTM agencies sit bottom right, they execute but with no diagnosis. Kihon Labs sits top right, deep diagnosis plus end to end execution. deep shallow hands over a report executes end to end consultants and academics deep insight, delivered as a report Kihon Labs we diagnose the loss, then we close it commodity GTM agencies fast execution, no diagnosis

Depth without execution stays a report. Execution without depth is a guess. Kihon Labs is built to do both.

About

How this started

Cem trained as an engineer in Istanbul, then spent every year after an MSc in Barcelona inside commercial systems rather than around them, at SAP and Veritas, at Preply, at Delfos Energy. The same failure kept appearing at every stage: the system that worked yesterday became today's constraint, and nobody could put a number on why. That question led to preparation for an Executive DBA at EADA Business School, in partnership with Le CNAM-Paris.

Read the full story, the research, and how we work →

Cem Gorer, Founder

FAQ

Straightforward answers to common questions.

What is Kihon Labs?
A B2B GTM and revenue diagnostics practice applying the ISEOR socio-economic methodology to commercial systems: quantifying hidden cost, then designing the intervention that removes it.
How does a hidden-cost diagnostic benefit my business?
It replaces a vague sense that something is off with a defensible euro figure and a prioritised roadmap, so leadership intervenes based on cost, not gut feel.
What services do you offer?
Build (no system yet), Diagnosis (audit and roadmap), Operation (direct execution), Partnership (continuous engagement), and Training. Most engagements start with Diagnosis and move into Operation once the number is on the table.
How do I get started?
Book a 30-minute diagnostic call. No deck, no pitch, just where your commercial system is under strain.
Get started

Your commercial system is already producing hidden costs. Let's put a number on it.

One call, 30 minutes. We review what is working, what is stalling, and where the cost actually sits. You leave with a concrete next step, whether that is Kihon Labs or not.

Book a diagnostic call

Not ready to talk? Take the two-minute Strain Check →