Big news, Martyn Cohen is officially joining Cockerill & Co. After a decade plus leading sales and ops across major flooring names, then launching MC Growth Consultancy earlier this year, Martyn is bringing his people first approach into the community. In this episode Tom digs into why he said yes, what he has learned helping retailers, commercial contractors and manufacturers, and how he will add firepower for our members in 2026.

About Martyn

Former senior leader at Headlam and Carpetright, now growth consultant working across retail, commercial and manufacturing. Known for building high performing teams, fixing recruitment bottlenecks, improving buying terms, and making complex installer set ups work in the real world, HMRC included.

What we cover

• The announcement, why Martyn is joining Cockerill & Co, and how the partnership works
• From redundancy to momentum, the first 8 to 9 months of MC Growth Consultancy
• The £2 to £3 million ceiling, when systems, people and process become the growth lever
• Two magic moments, franchise results and a commercial client that needed to scale capacity before sales
• People first performance, recruitment done right, culture, and honest conversations that avoid formal performance cases
• Third party fitter networks, pricing, VAT, HMRC headaches, and how to stay on the right side of the line
• Buying power, where the hidden points are in supplier terms, and why a thirty minute call can save tens of thousands
• Unplanned services that now matter, recruitment search, interview support, and prep for sale or full business exits
• Why the Cockerill & Co community works, who not how, and proof from peer results, not pitch decks

Key takeaways

• Growth is usually blocked by capacity and capability, not just leads or orders
• Recruit well, train well, support well, and you will keep good people
• Buying smarter puts profit straight to the bottom line, many miss it through sheer busyness
• Community beats going it alone, the right room saves time and money
• If we cannot add value, we will say so, the goal is impact, not invoices

Who this helps

• Independent retailers who want to scale without losing sleep
• Commercial contractors hitting operational limits
• Manufacturers building UK routes to market or fitter ecosystems
• Owners preparing to sell in the next two to three years

Chapter guide

00:00 Welcome back, and the announcement

02:00 Martyn’s journey, redundancy to consultancy

06:30 Early wins, franchise systems and commercial capacity

11:45 Risk, reputation, and why the pipeline kept growing

14:30 What Martyn brings, people, recruitment, HR and culture

18:30 Installer networks and HMRC, lessons from Carpetright

21:30 Buying power that moves the P and L

24:30 Recruitment as a service, interview help, and search

26:30 Prep for sale, valuation thinking and finding buyers

29:30 Why the community matters more than the features

33:00 Values, saying no when it is not a fit, doing the real work

39:00 How to get involved and next steps

Links

• Watch on YouTube
• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Cockerill & Co, join the community or request a consult
• Connect with Martyn on LinkedIn

Work with us

Want a straight talking plan to grow, sort your people challenges, or unlock margin, reach out and we will set up a proper call.

Credits

Host, Tom Cockerill

Guest, Martyn Cohen

Produced by The UK Flooring Podcast

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