Services for owner-managed businesses

Whether in the early stages with a proven idea and a few key customers, or more mature with an established customer base and a team to match, most owner-managed businesses face the same key challenge: how to grow the business.

Increase profit for owner managed business

It’s a structured, yet flexible approach, which focuses on four key areas:

Strategy and Management
Marketing and Sales
Systems, Processes and People
Financial strength

“You have really helped me clarify my goals for my business and to refine my strategies for achieving these goals. I would not have achieved what I have achieved without your support… I find your impartiality, even temperament and great skills highly beneficial to me.”

Christopher Bayliss, Managing Director, FastGrowth Services Ltd

“Tim has a proven ability to take an overview of business issues, tax, accounting, business efficiency and distil from the facts the key issues and then offer sound commercial advice for both individuals and business organizations. We appreciate the significant time, effort and care he puts in to building strong client relationships.”

David Thompson,Managing Partner, Moore Blatch LLP

“I very much enjoyed working with Tim. He was sincere, honest and brought a huge amount of business clarity and common sense to our project – as well as that all important independent perspective. I have no doubt he would deliver both value and results to any business he got involved in.”

Darren Baker, Managing Director of QED Wealth Management Ltd

“I just wanted to say thanks for your input and help with the project. Your collaborative and consultative style meant that everybody stayed on track and we got a lot further down the track than certainly I expected.”

David Crozier CFP, Director at Navigator Financial Planning Ltd

Achieving profitable growth is difficult, as there are inherent resource constraints: people, finance, systems, management time, expertise – to name a few.

But outstanding performance is achievable for those who have clear aspirations: knowing why they’re in business, what their business is about and what they want to achieve – and having an effective strategy to realise their long term goals.

There’s something else about these successful businesses: they’re willing to change. Growing the business also means ‘growing up’ and having to do some things differently.

We help our clients build strong, profitable businesses.

In the strongest and most successful businesses, we find there is alignment in the four key areas below and an overriding commercial perspective.

Our approach focuses on the aspirations of the people behind the business and the degree of alignment within the business, as we find those to be the most fundamental factors in determining success.

Strategy and Management

To grow successfully, owner managers need to want to grow. Unplanned growth is almost certainly unsustainable.

They also need to know why they want to grow. The aspirations of the owners will play a key part in determining how the business needs to look and feel.

But it’s not just about the owners. The business is shaped by the individuals who work in it – some may have different aspirations that need reconciling and converting into organised action plans.

Our services cover:

Strategic planning and direction
Business positioning
Organisational structure and key areas of responsibility
Controlling and managing the business
Management information and reporting
Performance measurement

Marketing and Sales

Businesses grow by defending what they’ve got and developing new opportunities.

Key to growth will be determining where the new opportunities will come from and what, in the minds of customers, distinguishes the business’s products or services from those of its competitors. Assessing the key growth drivers is fundamental: e.g. volume, product range, pricing, geographical coverage, franchising, online capability, or perhaps a combination of them all.

But looking after existing customers may be just as important in achieving growth; maintaining service levels and being attuned to their future needs, and adapting accordingly.

Our services cover:

Marketing strategy
Pricing strategy
Competitor analysis
Managing the marketing and sales process
Product/service delivery

Systems, Processes and People

Growing successfully requires substantial organisational change: in the roles and responsibilities of the management team, reporting lines, quality control, performance management and reward, and the capability of IT systems.

People are key: the way the business recruits, trains and incentivises its people all changes as the business grows.

Our services cover:

Operating processes: efficiency, accuracy and control
Cost control: monitoring and approval systems
Non-financial performance measurement
Productivity and capacity management
Appraisal systems
Efficient use of IT
Internal communication

Financial strength

Overwhelmingly, the rate of growth is determined by cash flow. Identifying how much is needed, and when, requires a detailed understanding of how the business consumes and generates cash. Only then will a business be able to determine how best to finance its requirements to match those with appropriate sources.

Profitable growth also requires an understanding of where the profit comes from (the profit drivers): the most profitable products/services and customers, and, as importantly, how the under-performers can be improved or removed.

Our services cover:

Historical financial analysis
Project cost analysis
Profit measurement (by product/service or customer)
Cash flow and working capital management
Pricing reviews
Product/service cycle analysis (the time from purchase to payment)
Breakeven and sensitivity analyses
KPIs: setting appropriate measures and effective monitoring
Funding adequacy reviews

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