Business Consulting services

Many of the businesses we work with have grown successfully to a certain point and then hit a plateau. Revenue stays flat, margins narrow and the owner cannot figure out why. The answer is usually one of three things: the pricing model has not kept up with costs, the sales effort is spread too thin across too many segments, or the business is competing on factors that customers do not actually value.

Our strategy engagement starts with a two-day diagnostic. We interview your leadership team, review three years of financial data and analyse your top ten customers by profitability (not just revenue). That analysis alone often reveals surprises.

What you get at the end:

• A clear picture of which customers and products generate real profit
• A pricing review with specific recommendations, not a generic "raise prices" suggestion
• A 12-month growth plan with quarterly targets and named owners for each action
• Two follow-up sessions (at month three and month six) to review progress

Typical duration: four to six weeks. We have run this programme for food distributors, engineering firms, recruitment agencies and care providers across Scotland and northern England.

Operational problems are expensive because they compound. A five-minute delay repeated 40 times a day across a team of eight people adds up to more than 26 hours of lost time every week. That is a full-time salary being burned on waiting, rework or miscommunication.

We map your core processes from end to end. Not with flowcharts drawn in a boardroom, but by shadowing staff on the floor, at the desk and on the phone. We time each step, count handoffs and identify where errors enter the system.

The output is a redesigned process with fewer steps, clearer responsibilities and measurable checkpoints. We then work alongside your team to implement the changes over two to four weeks, adjusting as we go.

Deliverables include:

• Current-state process map with time and error data
• Redesigned process with documented standard operating procedures
• Staff training sessions (typically two half-day workshops)
• A 30-day post-implementation review to measure results

This service works well for distribution, manufacturing, professional services and any business where the same process runs hundreds of times a month.

Staff turnover is the single most underestimated cost in mid-sized businesses. Recruiting, onboarding and training a replacement for a £35k role typically costs between £15k and £25k when you account for agency fees, lost productivity during the vacancy and the learning curve of the new hire. When turnover runs above 25%, it drains cash faster than most owners realise.

We tackle this from two directions. First, we look at structure: are roles clearly defined? Do managers know what they are responsible for and what authority they have? Is the reporting line logical or has it grown organically into something confusing? Second, we look at management capability. Many first-time managers are promoted because they were good at their previous job, not because anyone taught them how to lead a team.

Our people programme includes:

• Organisational review: structure, role descriptions, reporting lines
• Management skills programme: six half-day sessions covering delegation, feedback, performance conversations and conflict resolution
• Recruitment process audit: where candidates drop out, how long hiring takes, whether job adverts attract the right people
• Retention analysis: exit interview data, engagement survey design and action planning

We have delivered this programme for care homes, tech start-ups and construction firms. The care sector results were particularly strong: one provider group cut agency staff spend by £120k over a year after reducing permanent staff turnover from 38% to 21%.