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Fox Healey & Co

Free practical resource

12 Commercial Questions Every Manufacturing SME Should Be Able to Answer

A short, practical guide for owners, managing directors and commercial leaders of UK manufacturing and engineering SMEs. Use it to test how clearly your leadership team understands the commercial drivers of the business.

This is a management self-check. It is not a benchmark, an audit or a validated assessment; it is designed to prompt the right conversations and show where evidence is thin.

What is inside

  • 01

    12 questions

    Two focused questions for each of the six commercial pillars, written for the way manufacturing SMEs actually sell and price.

  • 02

    Green / Amber / Red rating

    Rate how confidently your business can answer each question today, using clear descriptions for each rating.

  • 03

    Why it matters and what evidence to look for

    Each question explains its commercial significance and the evidence that would support a confident answer.

  • 04

    Commercial Clarity Scorecard

    Bring your ratings together on one page to see where clarity is strong and where attention is needed first.

Get the free guide

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Six commercial pillars, two questions each

The questions follow the same six pillars Fox Healey & Co uses to structure commercial-performance work.

  1. Pillar 1Market and Growth
  2. Pillar 2Customers
  3. Pillar 3Sales Execution
  4. Pillar 4Pricing and Margin
  5. Pillar 5People and Capability
  6. Pillar 6Data and Systems

How the rating works

Score each question honestly against what you can evidence today, not what you believe to be true. The pattern of Amber and Red answers is usually more useful than the total.

  • Green: We can answer this confidently, with evidence.

  • Amber: We have a partial view, or the evidence is inconsistent.

  • Red: We cannot answer this with confidence today.

Want an evidence-led view?

The guide shows where clarity is missing. A Commercial Performance Snapshot provides an indicative view across all six pillars, based on the information you supply.

About the Commercial Performance Snapshot