I’m a Board Advisor, Non-Executive Director and author of 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀.

I help organisations unlock value, recover performance and deliver lasting growth.

Many boards I work with are highly experienced in their domain.

I believe that’s also a risk.

Experience shapes our bias. 

I see boards naturally over-index on what feels “known”: 
𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.

For example, technical boards default to technical solutions: 
𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 (𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦).

The real opportunity may be more creative:
𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴, 
𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦, 
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.

My role is to help boards rebalance:

→ Discipline 𝘢𝘯𝘥 creativity
→ Governance 𝘢𝘯𝘥 growth
→ Managing risk 𝘢𝘯𝘥 backing bold moves

In practice, that means:

- Bringing an outside-in lens to challenge inside-out thinking
- Understanding if decisions are two-way or one-way doors
- Looking for asymmetric bets with fat-tailed upside

The simple way I frame it:

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟭 - 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹
Cost Discipline, Risk Management, Governance
Essential. Protects value. 

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟮 - 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Op. Excellence, Capital Allocation, Technology (inc. AI)
Improves productivity and returns. 
Necessary, but still incremental.

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟯 - 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Innovation, Growth Engines, Business Models
This is where trajectories change.

I help boards ensure L1 & 2 are solid,
then move deliberately and confidently into L3 -
with a strategy that is coherent across all three.

A primer on my experience:

- 15+ years across FTSE, private and family-owned businesses
- Investor readiness, sale preparation and due diligence
- Board-level strategy design across multiple industries
- Multi-year transformation leadership and governance
- Carve-outs and stand-ups of standalone businesses
- Business model and operating model innovation

If you’re navigating transformation, turnaround, or seeking bold growth, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, I’d welcome a conversation about how I can help your board drive value.

→ Message me here or reach out at Dan@DanMottram.com

Dan Mottram_

Clear Sales Message™  

A Clear Sales Message™  is how you communicate your offering online and offline. It has the power to transform both your confidence and your conversion.
.
𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀:
➡️ Simplifying complex/technical/new offerings
➡️ Differentiating in the marketplace.
➡️ "Justifying" the price of a high ticket or intangible offering.

𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:
🚀 Methodology is licensed to UCL/Birkbeck & others.
🚀 Took a specific client from £250k/m to £1M/m.
🚀 Helped clients secure £MM in VC funding.
🚀 500+ LinkedIn recommendations and counting...

Sales Messaging Expert | Sales Consultant | Sales Coach | Sales Trainer

Mentor (Sales) - The Hatchery

NBT (Next Big Thing)

Mentor

MSDUK

Content Partner- Sales

Birkbeck, University of London

Expert in residence - Sales

London & Partners

Content Partner - Sales

Mercedes-Benz in the UK

Key Account Manager

Ferrari

Aftersales Advisor

Service Advisor

Alfa Romeo

Struggle to communicate your offering? You need a Clear Sales Message™ Not sure how to sell? you need Selling Confidence™

→ Do you struggle to communicate and sell your offering?
→ Not really sure what to say to engage potential buyers?
→ Feel like you're not closing as much as you could or should?

A LOT of B2B founders experience the frustration of low sales/conversion (coming from people not quite “getting” your offering.) 

This can cause cash flow and confidence issues.

And… losing deals you know you should have won.

Maybe you can relate?

Unfortunately, it happens all too often.

I see it with my clients all the time - it’s why they come to me. 👍

Since 2018, I’ve been working with B2B founders with “hard to explain” offerings to create a Clear Sales Message™  that helps them close more deals.

With a Clear Sales Message™   you can stop worrying about:

❌ Being stumped by difficult objections/questions
❌ People just not seeing the value you offer
❌ Wasting time and ad spend trying to get people to simply understand why they need you. 

And instead...

✅ You have an “answer for EVERYTHING”.
✅ People come to you, knowing EXACTLY what you offer.
✅ Sales cycles shorten and ROAS increases as people FINALLY “get it.”


For example:

🚑 OnCue Transport came to me with a new “hard to explain” offering and I took them from £3M pa to £11M pa

🏢 Tobi from Diverse made £30k in 3 months when we dialled in his offer and made sure he knew EXACTLY how to sell it and what to say.

📣 Jack at Longman Media Co came to me wanting to be clearer on what he does and closed a £12k deal on the strength of a 2 word phrase we created for him (within 2 weeks).

👷‍♂️ John at Symterra wanted help explaining his offering and on the strength of that he was able to secure investor funding and SCALE the business as a result.


And that’s just a handful of the 300+ clients I have helped.

(Not to mention the 200+ students I've taught my Clear Sales Message™ methodology to at UCL and  and BirkBeck University of London) 

So, 

If you want to turn your "hard to explain" offering into a Clear Sales Message™ then book a call to speak with me here - www.bookacallwithjames.com

Talk soon

James 👋

James Newell

Yesterday I was invited by the lovely Selena Quick to celebrate 10 years of PAD London. 🥂 

Whilst near Baker Street, I couldn't help but pop to see where an old hero of mine used to live...

I love that this is an ACTUAL thing!

#dangermouse

(Great to see Stephen Evans, Machan Enever Tim Brown Business Coach London Yasmin Ulhaq, LLB and others! )

👉 WhatToSayToSell.com. Helping B2B founders close 1 extra deal every month. ⚫ Free Clarity Workshop coming in March

It's making an impact on other like this that drives me. ❤️ 

I always joke with Stephen that I'm like a proud father when I see his progress... and I mean it!

This post literally made my day. 

Feeling the love.

🫶

Connecting employers with their target audience using influencer marketing, events and content | Trusted by LinkedIn, HSBC, BBC and more.

I've spent £10K on coaching & courses. 

And I plan to spend 10 times more this year. 

Here’s what I’ve invested in so far: 

Sophie helped me figure out how position myself on LinkedIn.

James helped me with my sales calls which helped me close £30K in two weeks. 

Shoaib taught me how to write content that gets leads. 

Alicia helped me out when my LinkedIn was tanking.  

Jonny helped me diagnose and reposition my agency. 

Timothy taught me agency economics 

These investment have made me £200K+ in revenue to date. 

Not spending on self development is broke  energy. 

Because you’ve got to spend money to make money.

The gap between where you are and where you want to be is a skills issue.

I’d rather pay to close that gap as fast as possible. 

Than wasting time trying to figure out myself. 

That’s how smart Talent Wrks.  

What do you think?

Erm what actually happens in France?

Duolingo seems to be obsessed with personified cats?!

I can now also ask you if you’re a cat in French but not sure how useful that will be….

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

#dailysalesmessage episode 912 - Avoid THIS comparison

I love a good Acrostic.

It helps your message stand out and be memorable! 

#party #clearsalesmessage

#dailysalesmessage episode 903 - The Breath Test

I was inspired by a comment exchange with George Tural yesterday.

He asked about the foundational selling communication skills and what they are.

So I've listed (some of) them below - 👉 what would you add?

(there are 800+ things I consider when creating messaging for a client- madness!)

#clearsalesmessage

====

✅ Knowing exactly WHO the buyer is

✅ Naming the real PROBLEM the buyer feels

✅ Stating a clear OUTCOME the buyer wants

✅ Explaining HOW IT WORKS in simple language

✅ Making the value OBVIOUS before the price

✅ Using the BUYER'S WORDS, not jargon

✅ Linking the offer to a TANGIBLE result

✅ Being clear on WHY someone should choose you

Are you Ahead of the click™ ... ? 

Working with Liam O'Leary and the wonderful team at Laser Red is hands down one of my most favourite clients.

Finding a simple way to articulate everything they do was the brief and it makes me smile every time I see a Laser Red post or messaging using the term.

#clearsalesmessage

It's a one-way ticket to the desktop website...

Make sure your user experience ACTUALLY WORKS if you want people to buy from you.

What's the worst UX/UI fail you've seen?

#clearsalesmessage

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Dan Mottram_

James Newell

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