Clarity Engine - How I work

I turn fragmented commercial effort into one shared direction.

The Clarity Engine does it in three stages: find where growth breaks, align marketing, sales and product, then put the direction into daily use.

3 phases

You can stop after any one

Fixed price

Per phase, agreed before we start

2–3 weeks

To the first written answer

4–6 hours

Of your leadership team's time

How the Clarity Engine works

Find the break. Align the system. Make the change stick.

Diagnose

Where is growth actually getting stuck?

The recurring issue is rarely strategy itself. It’s whether teams are moving in the same direction.
Built from patterns across Samsung, ASUS, Kingston and DS Smith engagements.

The shift
You stop treating symptoms and know what to fix first.

Align

Why do good teams still struggle to grow?

Sales blames marketing. Marketing blames positioning. Product blames the market.  But growth rarely breaks inside one function. It breaks between them. I reconnect strategy, positioning, product, marketing and sales around the same customer evidence.

The shift
You replace competing departmental views with one shared customer truth.

Activate

How do I turn shared direction into daily execution?

Most organisations respond to stalled growth with more campaigns, more meetings and more activity. That only scales the confusion.
I embed the shared direction into campaigns, enablement, ownership and operating routines, so every action reinforces the same commercial logic.

The shift
You turn shared direction into coordinated execution your team can sustain.
The engagement

Three phases. Three separate decisions

Not sure which
phase fits?

Start with a 30-minute clarity call. We’ll identify the right starting point, agree the scope, and confirm investment before we begin.

Proven in complex B2B

What lands
‍on your desk.

Not a slide deck nobody opens twice. Three artefacts your teams keep using after I'm gone.

01

Clarity Engine Alignment assessment

  • Identification of the 3 to 5 biggest growth/system gaps
  • Alignment gap summary across functions
  • Leadership readout
02

Positioning and commercial narrative

  • Go-to-market choices and trade-offs
  • Revenue logic
  • Written 90-day priority roadmap
03

Detailed activation plan

  • Review how the funnel and sales process operate in practice
  • Validate current commercial priorities against day-to-day execution
  • Translate the roadmap into a detailed activation plan
  • Course-correct as execution progresses
Proven in complex B2B

Different symptoms.
The same underlying problem

30
%
Annual growth

Kantar

Kantar office
27
+
Countries aligned

DS Smith

2
x
B2B revenue

Samsung Electronics

60
%
Market share

Kingston

David De Smedt
David De Smedt
David De Smedt
David De Smedt

You work with me. Not with a team you never met.

I lead every stage personally - from interviews and diagnosis to alignment and activation.

David De Smedt profile photo

20+ years inside the functions I now help align, rather than observing them from the outside.

SALES

Sold to complex B2B buyers

Product

Built and managed commercial propositions

Marketing

Led European and global marketing

Leadership

Worked as CMO, CRO and VP

Start with diagnose

Answer 5 questions. See where your commercial system is losing clarity.

A short diagnostic built on the Alignment Matrix. It points to where friction is most likely sitting — not a definitive answer.

Or Book a Clarity Call
Or Book a Clarity Call
faq

Answers to the most common questions

01

Is this a long engagement?

Not necessarily. Most engagements start with leadership teams that already have strategy, budget, and capable people in place, but struggle to create consistent execution across functions.

In many cases, a single clarity call or short diagnostic is enough to identify what’s really going on and where to act. From there, some clients choose to move forward together, others take the insights and run with their teams.

It’s designed to create clarity first, not commitment.

01

How do you charge?

It depends on the scope, but I keep it simple and transparent.

Some clients need a single session, others a defined project or interim support. Rather than forcing a fixed model, I align pricing with the outcome we’re working toward.

We’ll define that together upfront so there are no surprises.

01

What does a clarity call look like?

It’s a focused conversation designed to cut through noise quickly.

You bring the situation as it is. I’ll ask the questions that typically don’t get asked internally, and help you see where things are misaligned or unclear.

Most people leave with a sharper perspective and a clear next step.

01

Do you work with companies like ours?

Most likely, yes.

I typically work with B2B organizations dealing with growth, complexity, or misalignment across teams. The specifics vary, but the underlying patterns are often very similar.

If the situation involves strategy, marketing, and sales not fully connecting, it’s usually a strong fit.

01

What happens after I submit?

You’ll hear from me directly.

I’ll review your message and come back with a short response, usually suggesting a next step or a quick call if it makes sense.

No automated sequences or long intake processes. Just a straightforward reply.

‍

01

How fast will you respond?

Typically within 24 to 48 hours.

If something is urgent, you can mention it in your message and I’ll do my best to prioritize it.

I prefer thoughtful responses over instant ones, but I won’t leave you waiting.

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