Operational reviews
An operational review starts with two to three days on-site. One of our analysts shadows your team through every step of a typical work cycle, from the moment a customer order arrives to the point where the product or service is delivered and invoiced.
We time each step, note handoff delays, and record where information gets re-entered or lost. The output is a process map with every bottleneck colour-coded by estimated annual cost.
Within ten working days you receive a written report containing the top five changes ranked by return on effort. Each recommendation includes an implementation checklist, a rough timeline, and the names of team members who should own the change. We do not recommend anything that requires a technology purchase unless the payback period is under 12 months.
Past reviews have uncovered issues such as duplicate quality-check steps that added two days to lead time, invoice approval chains that required four signatures when one would suffice, and warehouse picking routes that added 1.2 km of walking per shift.
Financial planning and analysis
We build financial models that answer the questions keeping you awake. Can we afford to hire three more people? What happens to cash flow if our biggest customer pays 15 days late? Should we lease or buy that equipment?
Every model is built in a standard spreadsheet format with clear input cells, labelled assumptions, and scenario toggles so your team can update the numbers each month without calling us back. We test each model against your last 12 months of actuals to make sure the assumptions hold up under real conditions.
Typical deliverables include a 12-month rolling cash flow forecast, a contribution margin analysis by product or service line, and a break-even calculator for any planned investment. If you are preparing for a bank loan or investor pitch, we also produce a summary pack with the financial narrative written in language a lender can follow without an accounting degree.
Engagements usually run four to six weeks. We meet your finance person weekly to review progress and adjust assumptions as new data comes in.
Growth strategy
Growth strategy work begins with a market sizing exercise. We identify your addressable market, estimate your current share, and map the competitors you are actually losing deals to. This is not desk research alone: we talk to your sales team, review won and lost proposals, and sometimes interview former prospects to find out why they chose someone else.
From there we build a growth plan with specific revenue targets, channel recommendations, and a marketing budget framework. If the plan involves entering a new geography, we research local regulations, tax implications, and distribution logistics.
For acquisition-led growth, we screen potential targets, build valuation models, and help you structure the approach. We have supported seven acquisitions in the past three years, ranging from £400k to £3.2m in deal value.
Every growth plan includes a 90-day sprint calendar so you know exactly what to do in the first three months. We check in fortnightly during that period to keep things on track.
People and culture
High staff turnover costs more than most owners realise. Recruitment fees, training time, lost productivity during the learning curve: for a £35k-salary role, the true replacement cost is often £12k or more.
We run confidential staff surveys, conduct one-to-one interviews with key team members, and analyse your exit-interview data (if you collect it; if you do not, we help you start). The goal is to find out why people leave and what would make them stay.
Common findings include unclear promotion paths, inconsistent management practices between departments, and compensation structures that reward tenure rather than performance. We design practical fixes: revised job descriptions, simple performance frameworks, and manager coaching sessions delivered in 90-minute workshops.
We also help with organisational design when your business has outgrown its original structure. If you started with five people and now have forty, the reporting lines that worked at five probably cause confusion at forty. We redraw the org chart with you, define each role clearly, and facilitate the conversations needed to make the new structure stick.
How a typical engagement works
Every project follows the same four-phase structure. The length of each phase varies, but the sequence does not.
Discovery
A free 30-minute call followed by a half-day scoping session at your premises. We define the problem, agree on success metrics, and set a timeline.
Analysis
On-site observation, data collection, stakeholder interviews. We gather the evidence needed to make recommendations that are grounded in your reality, not generic best practice.
Recommendations
A written report with prioritised actions, cost estimates, and an implementation plan. We present it in person and answer every question before you commit to anything.
Support
Fortnightly check-ins for the first 90 days of implementation. If something is not working, we adjust the plan. No extra charge during this phase.
Questions we hear often
Most engagements run between four and twelve weeks. An operational review is usually on the shorter end; a growth strategy with acquisition screening can take three months.
Yes. About 40% of our clients are based elsewhere in the UK. We travel to your site for the on-site phases and handle the rest remotely.
Most of our clients have between 10 and 250 employees and annual revenue between £1m and £30m. We have worked with smaller firms on focused projects, but our methods are designed for businesses with enough complexity to benefit from outside analysis.
Yes. Our retained advisory service gives you a fixed number of consulting hours per month. See the pricing page for details.