Business advice news | UK Business Advisors

Communication – the key to unlocking growth and success

November 4, 2019 By Mike Pill

At the heart of every business one factor continuously calls for our attention – improving communication with a view to unlocking business growth and success.

Over the years many a consultant has advised and implemented varying communication scenarios for their clients; the Total Quality Management (TQM) business management approach enjoyed widespread attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s before being overshadowed by the standards specification of ISO 9000 and the improvement methodologies of Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma. The common thread of all these procedures is communication.

How do these approaches differ?

TMQ consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on demand products and services that customers will find of particular value.

The ISO 9000 family of quality management systems standards is designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service.

Lean manufacturing or lean production is a systematic method originating in the Japanese manufacturing industry for the minimization of waste within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity, which can cause problems. Similar principles can be applied to services.

Six Sigma is a method that provides organizations tools to improve the capability of their business processes. This increase in performance and decrease in process variation helps lead to defect reduction and improvement in profits, employee morale, and quality of products or services.

Whatever procedure you use, a focus on better communicating your business methodologies will always secure dividends.

Top tips for improving communication

Good communication is essential across ALL employee, contractor and partner interactions. Don’t’ just assume it’s all about your internal people.
You may wish to consider who has most client contact in your organisation. Perhaps you first response may be sales or customer service, but you may be surprised to learn that it is your accounts receivable clerk in the accounts department who regularly calls your clients to chase payment and sustain the all-important cash flow. It is very important that they understand the service level agreement with clients (SLAs) and feedback immediately if a payment is delayed due to client perception of a shortcoming.
Acronyms and jargon are all very fine, giving perpetrators a feeling of grandeur, but common sense will always prevail via clear and simple communication.
Make sure that all your employees are kept up to date with key business objectives and progress. Strategy may start in executive suite, but it cannot be delivered effectively if not clearly communicated to all concerned.

Honing your internal business communications is one of the areas we cover in our TwentyTwenty Insight business review process, where we provide a snapshot of the health of your business with suggestions on what you might do next to grow your business.

If this is of interest, why not speak to Mike Pill on 01276 684 007 or email him at mike.pill@hcbusinessadvisors.co.uk

About the Author

Mike Pill is an Executive Search and Selection specialist with in depth experience placing worldclass executives, managers and staff into Engineering, Finance, Sales & Marketing and Technology roles.

Financial information you need to run your business effectively

October 7, 2019 By Richard Wickes

In order to manage your business effectively you need to be sure that it has enough cash to keep trading and that it is running profitably. To ensure this happens, I recommend you review your financial status at the start of each and every business week.

You will have financial records, probably in one of the most popular accounting software packages such as Sage, QuickBooks or Xero. Either your own staff or your accountants will use these to prepare VAT returns and the other legal requirements such as the annual accounts required by Companies House. These accounting systems can also produce many of the essential figures you need to review on a weekly basis.

Additionally, you need to forecast which clients are likely to pay their invoices this week. This is often not the same as those who should pay this week. Accurately forecasting your weekly cashflow is a skill every business needs to master.

Not all of the figures in the list below will apply to all businesses. You need to establish which are relevant to you. For example if your business works by fulfilling orders within 24 hours you will not need a figure for unbilled orders. However if there is a lengthy period between you receiving an order, fulfilling it and then invoicing the client, then you also need to track that information.

Monday Morning Figures

Here are the figures I recommend you track on a weekly basis as part of your Monday review.

Cash Position

Cash at bank
Cash available taking into account overdraft limits and other immediate sources of cash
Likely cash receipts this week. This will not be an exact figure, but your best estimate
Total of payments you expect to make this week

You need these figures to make sure that you have the financial resources to see you through the week.

Trading Position

Invoices issued last week, month to date and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date
Cost of goods sold last week, month to date and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date
Gross profit last week, month to date and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date
Orders received last week, month to date and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date
Value of unbilled orders or work in progress this week, month to date and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date

Use these figures to check that you are trading profitably

Month-end Figures

In addition to the above on the first Monday after the month end you should expect to see:

Total debtors
Total creditors
Total value of stock and work in progress

Total overhead costs (all costs apart from cost of goods sold) this month and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date
Net profit this month and year-to-date, together with last year’s year-to-date value and this year’s budget year-to-date

You need to monitor these figures regularly to make sure you are trading profitably. Ultimately, you do not want to learn from your annual accounts that you were trading at a loss all of the previous year.

Financial management is one of the areas we cover in our TwentyTwenty Insight business review process, where we provide a snapshot of the health of your business with suggestions on what you might do next to grow your business.

If this is of interest, why not speak to Richard Wickes on 020 7371 7001 or email him at Richard.wickes@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

How to continuously sharpen your company’s competitive edge

October 7, 2019 By Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok

The use of the word ‘continuously’ is purposefully placed in the title of this blog article. Why? Because I fully believe that if a company does not continuously sharpen its competitive edge, it won’t be long before they do not have one in today’s ever-increasing pace.

I’m sure we can all think of examples of companies who have been market leaders and no longer exist or have had to sell assets and/or shrink in size to survive. Eastman Kodak is a prime example. Kodak began to struggle financially in the 1990s when digital camera technology hit the retail market. Only recently they have emerged from bankruptcy, after selling many of its patents to current giants including Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft.

Woolworths is another case in point. It used to be one of my favourite stores for spending my pocket-money. A few pence went a long way in Woolworths – a child’s paradise. Several months before they closed their retail outlets in the UK, I recall walking in and out of Woolworths, without having made a purchase. It was very clear that they were in trouble. Wilkingson’s and others had replaced them. I wondered then how they were going to stay in business; I’ve had the same thoughts over other retail brands who shall remain nameless.

I do find it interesting to see who’s winning and who’s losing market share in the retail industry which, of all industries, is quite brutal. Within that industry, I’m going to include hospitality. Even celebrity brands have suffered, namely Jamie Oliver. So what does it take to stay on top of your game? Here are my thoughts:

1) Moving forward

Never rest on the laurels of your current success. If you stay in the same place and keep doing the same things, along the lines of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, it could and most likely would cause the company to suffer greatly in the future. If you don’t, you could end up playing ‘catch-up’ like Sage once Xero arrived, or worse, you could be out of business.

2) Embrace change

It’s tough when you want to instigate change in your company and inevitably, someone will pipe up ‘but we’ve always done it this way’. Many people, including people in your team or elsewhere in the company, do not like change. Indeed, they are threatened by it. Unions thrive off people who might lose their job because of it. Look at all the social media pressure not to use self-checkout systems as it will cause a loss of jobs in supermarkets. Recognise that change requires enrolling people into the change, explaining the benefits, and reducing their fears by conducting open and safe discussions.

3) Train your sales team and/or account managers

Train your sales team. Create an incentivisation plan for building long term relationships beyond the initial sale process. Market intel is crucial for understanding new trends in the marketplace and your client’s are best placed to know what is going on. Ask them what they are happy with, what features they use, what they don’t use, what they would like to have instead, etc.

4) Market research

Market research comprises visiting trade shows, reading trade magazines, scanning social media platforms, subscribing to newsletters to discover new technology and to track your competition. Set up alerts in Google…

Never forget that disrupters could be working under the radar. If you are a technology led company, implementing patent and literature searches are imperative.

5) Investments in the sector

Linked to item 4) above, keep an eye on what angel investors are investing in, via angel forums, crowdfunding newsletters/platforms and networking events where companies pitch for investment. That’s at the seed level. But what about at the corporate level – who’s acquiring what and why? Where is the sector going?

6) Thought Leaders

Who are the thought leaders in the sector? Who is giving talks at conferences? What are they writing about? Do you subscribe to their blogs? Are you following them on twitter? Linkedin?

7) Focus on your clients

Xero’s strategy was to focus their innovation on the user-experience. Any company that focuses on their end-user market, listening and taking on board their likes and dislikes, has a good chance of carving their niche, even in a so-called ‘sewn-up’ market. Xero’s downfall will be if they lose sight of where the market is going, and/or stop listening, and become complacent.

8) Reinvention

Who would have thought several years ago that accountants’ roles would be under threat? With accounting software becoming more user-friendly, and smart, integrating machine-learning, artificial intelligence programmes, as well as the UK’s HMRC making tax digital, accountants won’t be as useful as they may have been. They will have to add a lot more value to their clients in order to hold and potentially grow their market-share, and sooner, rather than later.

9) Automation

Automation, AI, chatbots, etc. might be perceived as a threat (rather like the industrial revolution) or, could be perceived as an opportunity. Take ‘Tier 1’ service levels, for example: –

If you’re a bit of a technology geek which I believe I am, Tier 1 frustrates me no end. The level is typically that of following directions in a flowsheet. ‘Have you tried switching it off and on?’, ‘Did you try to reset your device?’, etc., etc. If the client answers ‘yes’ or ‘no’ the service provider moves on to the next question. Boring!

Do we really need humans to deliver tier 1 service? The answer is ‘no’ – it could be completely scripted. Even I could create a chatbot to do this and I wouldn’t even need to know any coding to do so. Automated chatbot technology has been available for years – but how many of us have experienced humans delivering tier 1 service over the phone or other platforms recently? I’m sure that too many of us.

But what if companies woke up to using the new technology that is readily available to them to save not only costs, but user-frustration. Tier 1 providers could be retrained to do other, more upskilled work. It would be better for their personal development, job satisfaction, and for the added-value that could be delivered to end-user clients.

In short

I’m sure this article has left out other important points that I haven’t thought of – do feel free to add your comments to this article. I trust it has given you some ‘food for thought’ or inspired you to investigate how you can become more competitive, and how to stay competitive.

Honing your competitive edge is one of the areas we cover in our TwentyTwenty Insight business review process, where we provide a snapshot of the health of your business with suggestions on what you might do next to grow your business.

If this is of interest to your business, why not speak to Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok on 020 8868 3163 or email her at Lesley.rubenstein@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

About the Author

Lesley is a highly experienced international business developer, executive coach, mentor, advisor, consultant and business transformation specialist with over 30 years’ experience working with a whole cross section of corporates, SMEs, scale-ups to start-ups.

Why you need to focus on values and behaviours for business growth

September 8, 2019 By Stephen Cowburn

In my experience of working with MDs of their own companies over the last 14 years it doesn’t take very long before they start talking about why they set up their business, what is important to them in running the business and keeping it solvent/profitable, the differences that exist between them and other Directors and shareholders or conversations that start about a manager who just doesn’t get it.

There are many insightful stories and anecdotes. Passions and frustrations run high in equal measure.

So in a very conversational way, the values of the MD become very clear i.e. what really matters to them. With a bit of gentle probing, it doesn’t take a lot to get an MD to define the behaviours that enable success in their business. ‘If only people did this, we would be even more productive.’

When the MD set up the business, working with a small team, direction, focus, consistent behaviour was all a lot easier because everyone could see what was happening, everyone was involved in decisions and incompatibility was pretty self-evident to the MD such that things could be sorted out quickly following the unwritten rules of the game.

As a company grows, perhaps there are more Directors/shareholders, or managers hired to do more specific roles and lead teams. Different pressures, perspectives and personalities can play havoc with individuals pulling together. ‘So long as l do my job and make money my boss/the boss should be happy.’

It is particularly at this stage that clear values and behaviours can help the MD align people around what the key success factors are for the business, and how people need to behave in order to deliver success.

Cynics say that values are typically motherhood and apple pie statements. Out of context they might be. They can however be grounded by clarifying the behaviours required to deliver success.

Clarification is only the start point. Behaviours then need to be operationalised into recruitment, performance management, promotion and reward processes and training decisions. 1-1 conversations and meetings need to reflect these behaviours. People need to be able to call out breaches in desired behaviours without fear of recrimination.

So to values-led MD owners, if you want a conversation on how to align people around the company’s values and how clearly defined behaviours can boost growth in your business, then contact stephen.cowburn@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

This is one of the areas we cover in our TwentyTwenty Insight business review process, where we provide a snapshot of the health of your business with suggestions on what you might do next in terms of growing your business. If this is of interest then again please contact stephen.cowburn@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

4 top tips to successfully secure business growth funding

September 8, 2019 By Linda Eziquiel

Very few businesses are lucky enough to be able to bootstrap their way to success, most rely on securing business growth funding. Getting funding at the right time is critical to surviving yet alone thriving and growing. Without funding it is much harder and slower to grow and expand into new territories or markets. Here are my top four tips for successfully securing business growth funding.

Know where to look and what type of funding is the best match

There are numerous sources of funding from Bank Loans to Crowdfunding and Equity investment to Trade Finance, Grants and R&D Incentives for innovative companies. Often a growing business will need to draw on a mix of sources. Depending on the stage of growth and type of business some will be more suitable than others. Each type comes with its own positive and negative aspects for example if you’re seeking a bank loan, you will probably have to give a personal guarantee and of course pay back the loan with interest. If it’s equity investment you’re seeking you need to be prepared to give away a share of the company and most likely some of the control you have over the company as well. Crowdfunding does not work for all types of business, it’s best for consumer based projects and while it often requires a low financial investment it can also require a huge investment of time to market your campaign.

Make sure the numbers stack up and you have a robust growth business plan

No-one is going to fund your business unless they can see what will be achieved with the funding, so having a good business plan is fundamental to being successful in securing funding, especially Equity Investment or a Bank Loan. If it’s growth funding you are after, you need to include realistic financial projections to show what the growth trajectory is expected to be and how you will achieve it – Is it new products or expansion of existing products into new territories or something else? Sales projections and the cost of expanding should be clearly set out. Details of your management term and organisational structure are also essential elements of a growth business plan.

Build and maintain your top team and talent pool

It’s widely accepted that most businesses sink or swim on the strength of their C suite talent pool – i.e. the people they bring in and nurture to manage the company. The importance of having a skilled and experienced management team cannot be overemphasised. Equity investors in particular will look for a strong and united team. So if you are on a mission to successfully secure business growth funding in the near or intermediate future, it’s even more important (it’s always important) to put effort into continually building and maintaining a cohesive team with the right mind-sets and leadership capabilities.

Get your pitch right and that includes keeping it succinct

Whether you’re pitching to investors, seeking to impress a bank manager or aiming to excite people to support your Crowdfunding campaign, you need to get under the skin of the funders and see things their way not your way. A big mistake that people often make when pitching their business is to put too much emphasis on their ‘super-duper product or service’ when funders are more interested in how the financial plan stacks up, that’s especially true for an equity investor – What’s in it for them! So spend 80% of your air-time on the financials and how you will achieve profitable growth, plus why your team is capable of delivering the plan (track record) and 20% of your time on explaining your products and services. Plus keep it short – people don’t want to read or hear War and Peace so set a target of no more than 20 slides. Keep your pitch punchy and start with your 15 second ‘elevator pitch’ – vision and mission. Plus clearly communicate the problem you are solving for your customers – What is the problem you are solving? Why is it important to solve? Who most needs that problem solved?

Linda Eziquiel is a specialist in helping innovative companies fund new product developments using research and development tax credit.

Funding is one of the areas we cover in our TwentyTwenty Insight business review process, where we provide a snapshot of the health of your business with suggestions on what you might do next in terms of growing your business. If this is of interest then please contact Linda.Eziquiel@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

Why you need to improve your listening skills!

July 25, 2019 By Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok

It’s not often that I write an article for business people telling them to do something. Typically, if someone tells me to do something, my urge is to do the opposite! Due to that fact, I avoid telling others to do something unless I feel very strongly about it. I feel very strongly about the importance of possessing excellent listening skills and have yet to meet someone who couldn’t improve theirs, however good they are (or think they are).

Why?

Because they are essential! Listening is the key to understanding, whether in conversation with a business partner, an opponent, a sales call, trying to close a deal, figure out why a staff person is unhappy or demotivated, or what’s really going on at your child’s school. It is all through your listening skills.

What isn’t being said?

It’s not just about what the person says, but what the person isn’t saying. There are clues in their word choices. Are they being evasive or direct? Are they hesitant? Having you used language that allows them to speak freely? What about the atmosphere?

Body language

If they are in front of you, what is their body language giving away? Is their verbal language saying one thing and their facial expression and/or stance saying another? Are their hands clenched or relaxed? Even over the phone we can detect a change in tone or energy – what does that say to you?

How does one improve listening skills?

Tip 1 – Awareness

Being aware that you want to improve your skills is the first step, because as you enter a conversation you will ‘switch on’ your powers of listening. As your mind wanders, you will need to bring your attention back to the speaker. The more you do this, the less your mind will wander during conversations, when the ‘switch’ is on.

Tip 2 – Practise

Like everything in life, practise makes perfect (or close to). I’m currently learning how to play the djembe (African drum) and am very aware of how I’m improving in sound and speed by practising most days (my husband might not agree with this statement!). It’s the same with listening skills! You will have plenty of opportunities to improve your skills in the various spheres of your life. The more you practise, the better you will become at listening.

Practise everywhere and with everyone – it will soon become a habit.

Tip 3 – External noise

Noise distracts from your powers of listening – it will either make you focus more intensely to hear your conversational partner, or it will overwhelm you and make you focus on the external noise. If you cannot hear your partner due to external noise, move to a better environment. Your partner will be flattered that you want to hear what s/he has to say. If this is an important meeting, choose the venue carefully to avoid this mishap.

Tip 4 – Internal noise

But what about internal ‘noise’? What happens when you daydream, possibly because the conversation isn’t attention grabbing or because you suddenly recalled something you forgot to do. Bring your focus back if you missed an important sentence and apologise, if necessary. The more you practise listening to your conversational partner, the more often the internal noise will disappear.

You’ll know you’re listening when you mind is empty of internal ‘noise’ and your total focus is on the person with whom you are conversing

Tip 5 – Leadership skills

Going back to the ‘Why’ improving your listening skills are important – can you think of a single, democratic leader whom you admire who didn’t have excellent listening skills? How did you feel when you are conversing with someone important to you who was fully focused on what you were saying? You felt respected? Appreciated? Interesting? What if you made others feel that way? I would argue that keen listening skills are essential if you want to become a leader in any area of your life.

Tip 6 – Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ)

Improve your EI/EQ by following tips and exercises. See this article, for example, for more information on How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence.

In summary

By raising your self-awareness of how you are being in your life and in every facet of it, improving your EQ/EI and empathy, and above all, your listening skills, you will become more effective and powerful in making a difference in every aspect of your life and the lives of those dear to you.

If you would like a mentoring session on this topic or others, contact lesley.rubenstein@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk or call her directly on 020 8868 3163.

Is your brand positioning clear enough?

July 25, 2019 By Susanne Currid

Do you truly know how your customers perceive your brand? When running a business, it can be all too easy to get caught up in day-to-day operations and to lose sight of what your customer is thinking. Unfortunately, if you’re not actively working to shape and communicate your brand position, the customer will simply make his or her own decision as to what you stand for.

If your brand positioning is not clear, your business will suffer from some or all of the following issues.

You try to sell to everyone, and end up attracting no one in particular
Customers don’t understand the problem you’re solving or the want you are meeting
Unique features of your product or service will not be realised or understood
Benefits you offer in comparison to other competitors will not stand out
Reasons to believe in your brand are not crystal clear

As an example, a crack garden landscaping team may do a great job on the ground, but their website and marketing material undersells their particular brand strengths. A beautifully crafted gin maker has created a product of high provenance, but they still struggle to make their brand stand out in a sea of craft drinks competitors.

More established businesses can also slowly slide into brand confusion as elements keep being added to the mix and clarity is lost over time.

Whatever stage your business is at, it’s essential that you create and then review your Brand Positioning Statement on at least an annual basis.

A Brand Positioning Statement helps a business to recognise who the target market is. It makes you think about how you want your brand to be perceived in the market place. For brand clarity, it’s essential that this statement is in place before any further marketing activity is started.

In a nutshell, a Brand Positioning Statement will include the following:

Target customer description – you can have multiple groups or segments
Customer problem (needs or wants that will be addressed by your product/service)
Solution – how your product or service answers the customer need/want
Unique Selling Proposition – why your consumer chooses you over your competitors
Competition – what are your competitors doing to solve the same want/need
Reasons to believe – what aspects of your product or service prove that you can deliver

With a Brand Positioning Statement in place, you have significantly increased your chances of getting a good return on investment from your marketing budget.

For support with developing an improved Brand Positioning Statement for your business, contact our Brand Marketing expert Susanne Currid at Susanne.currid@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

Is your business stuck at a crossroads? Time for a strategic review.

June 30, 2019 By Gordon Carmichael

Many businesses reach a stage when they are at a crossroads about the direction to take next or are “stuck” without a clear strategy. It may be a crisis point or it could be an opportunity to take a different path. Directors may no longer be aligned with the planned company direction, and this can cause friction.

Rather than putting off hard decisions, it makes sense to face up to the challenges and opportunities, have a strategy review and then put an implementation plan in place.

Reasons for a strategic crossroads could include:

Change in market dynamics that impact growth or profit potential.
Increased competition forcing new approaches.
Loss of important customers or contracts.
New product or service opportunities possibly requiring research and development.
Recognition that the business is too reliant on a small number of key customers.
Macroeconomic/political changes such as Brexit.
Divergence of what Directors want from the business.
Planning for exit / opportunities to acquire.
Changes in key staff or skills that no longer reflect the needs of the business.
Falling behind in taking advantage of the operational efficiencies of new technology.
Lacking the funds to develop the business.
Measurement and reporting that does not give the right management information.

If there is a need for change or at least a need to review your current strategy, how should you go about it? A few businesses make reviewing strategy almost a continuous process. Others wait until there is a “big bump” to traverse or an unforeseen opportunity.

Smart organisations often involve outside help in the strategic review and implementation planning process. This helps keep focus on what is needed and ensures that an independent non-biased view is taken to maximise the opportunities. Our group of advisors have helped many companies achieve strategic success.

The following four step process works for most companies:

1. Big Picture – Step back and look at the big picture. Don’t get stuck in the day to day operational challenges. Take high level views about the elements of your business and the markets that you service or would like to serve. This phase is the time to re-examine your mission, vision and values – are they still right for your business. Try to define the big picture direction the business could or should take. Depending on the size of the organisation, there may be delegation of some tasks. There may also be research to validate potential options.

2. Implementation Plan – Once the direction of travel has been determined or options identified that need to be refined further, then it is time to get into more detail.

The company objectives need to be set or reset in order to reflect the chosen strategic direction. Real data and knowledgeable input should be used to define appropriate options.

Objectives should have supporting targets and measures defined. The chosen targets should be realistic and ideally include some quick wins. Measures should support what you are trying to achieve and become the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are used to track and reward progress. A small number of well chosen KPIs makes sense as too many KPIs dilutes focus. Often it is beneficial to involve key staff that will be responsible for implementation in this phase. This phase should also make sure that the right reporting information is or will be available and that it is clear how progress will be monitored and reviewed. It is critical to have a clear picture of who is responsible for what and the timelines are understood and agreed.

Review and select long term initiatives that will support the objectives. Initiatives will need staff buy in and may have resource and budgetary requirements. Any resources and funding should be agreed along with the selected initiatives. A small number of big impact initiatives is usually best. Often it works well to have champions for specific initiatives as they can make sure focus is not lost. Initiatives should have well defined progress reporting.

3. Communication – This step is critical particularly for more complex organisations. Every member of staff should understand the big picture and more specifically be clear what their contribution will be to the objectives and initiatives. It may be appropriate to have a launch event(s). If incentives are linked to achievements, then the collective/individual measures should be very clear.

Regular ongoing communications regarding progress and any corrective actions is also very important.

4. Review and Adjust – What happens after the launch of a new strategy is where it can go off the rails. The planned review process should be rigorously carried out and actions implemented on time. Any corrective actions should be clearly communicated. Few strategic plans remain static and it is good practice to monitor what is working and what is not. Too many changes can cause confusion and loss of effectiveness. On the other hand, stubbornly sticking to a path that is not working does not make sense.

It is also important to recognised when most of the gains have been realised. It might be time to start the complete process again.

Unfortunately, strategic reviews and the resulting implementation plans do not always deliver the anticipated outcomes. Reasons for failure can include:

Unresolved internal differences of opinion or conflict.
Not truly stepping back and looking beyond the day to day business as usual issues.
Not setting aside quality time to focus on the process.
Poor communication to staff and lack of buy in to business transformation.
Initiatives that are not supported by appropriate funding.
Initiative fatigue.
Incentive schemes that are not aligned with the defined objectives.

We have the experience required to transform the performance of your business by helping you find successful paths to take while avoiding the pitfalls.

Contact Gordon Carmichael on 01276 818125 or gordon.carmichael@hcbusinessadvisors.co.uk to discuss how a strategic review can benefit your business.

Gordon Carmichael is an experienced business advisor and strategy consultant who works with business owners and directors that are serious about achieving more with their business. He has managed successful businesses from small to £250m in a number of different industries and brings independent thinking with no baggage or vested interests. He is financially literate and understands modern marketing, people dynamics, the benefits of technology, effective business planning and business operations.

How to pick the best candidate for your Technology business C-Suite

June 30, 2019 By Mike Pill

With the current skills shortage in the technology sector and ever-increasing demand it is simply not enough to broadcast a role when you are recruiting for your leadership team. Placing an advertisement or hoping a quality candidate will alight upon your website will rarely succeed. You deserve and require the very best of candidates. Invariably, finding great people requires a more proactive approach.

The best candidates are not looking for your role

The best of candidates, or targets, are probably fully committed to working for a competitor, supplier, customer or possibly currently working overseas and not actively looking for another role. Alternatively, they may be restricted via a compromise agreement, garden leave or clause in their current contract – all of which can be the subject of further negotiation and equitable determination.

A discreet approach

A thorough, comprehensive, discreet and confidential first approach to the targets is required for a number of reasons.

You may not wish to disclose your plans to competitors, customers, suppliers or other key employees in the first instance only to suffer rejection.

Without disclosing your identity and plans, the target is open to considering an alternative offer and challenge. An opportunity can be taken to discuss what they are looking for. The target can assess the outline description of your opportunity and challenge. They can consider its appeal and see if it builds on relevant past achievements.

The missing link – Executive Search

In order to achieve this, the assistance of an Executive Search consultant (AKA head-hunter) is recommended. In the UK we have probably the best professional football league in the world which has been enabled to a large extent by professional search consultants. The profession has also assisted many of the most successful large companies and is available to the SME market. The cost is not prohibitive and can be negotiated to an acceptable level. It is worth developing relationships with these individuals so that they can become more familiar with your business and be available to contribute when required. The dividend from this investment can be considerable.

For a confidential chat on finding a new member for your C-Suite IT team contact our recruitment specialist advisor Mike Pill by email at mike.pill@hcbusinessadvisors.co.uk or call him on 01276 684007

Case Study – Part-time Financial Director helps growing business to meet the audit threshold with confidence

May 28, 2019 By Chris Chapman

Background

Following a period of rapid growth, the business had outgrown its finance systems, processes and controls. The business was approaching the audit threshold and quarterly corporation tax payments, so cash control and forecasting needed to be reviewed much more frequently.

The MD required more experienced commercial and financial support to help drive growth and assess future options while ensuring that customer focus remained at the heart of the business.

Searching for a solution

Following an introduction from a strategy consultant who had already been working with the company, we met with the MD so that they could outline their need and discuss how a senior Finance Director would restore confidence, professionalise the finance function and contribute to commercial issues and challenges with regard to growth.

Fundamentally, the Finance Director needed to introduce:

insightful management reporting and analysis of performance to enable the MD to make strategic and commercial decisions based on meaningful information
stronger financial controls
more efficient financial processes

In addition, the role would involve:

professionalising the finance function in line with the rapid growth of the business, and ensure it was ready for an audit.
restoring confidence and recruiting additional resources where appropriate.
introducing robust cash forecasts, both short and longer term.
contributing to commercial issues and challenges with regard to growth, new tenders, pricing and strategy.
maximising the long-term value of the business.

The solution

Within a week of the meeting, we introduced a senior FD who was an excellent match for the client’s needs and culture due to:

possessing strong fundamental accounting skills to ensure smooth running of the day to day activities, that all compliance and regulations were met, and the accounts were true and fair.
being comfortable getting their ‘sleeves rolled up’ and understanding the detail as well as the big picture.
having a demonstrable track record of helping businesses achieve profitable growth.
being experienced in maximising shareholder wealth.

The Finance Director was engaged on a part time basis to enable the client to benefit from the seniority of the FD’s experience at a fraction of the cost of a full time hire.

Benefits

Within the first six months, our Finance Director had delivered against the initial requirements of the strategic high-level brief. They provided added value in terms of identifying additional areas for improvement and implementing positive solutions, such as:

delivering a significant improvement in the procurement process and financial controls.
introducing a more efficient operating system to reduce cost to the business.
proposing and assisting with the selection of an improved project management system and its integration with the financial management system to provide information on project profitability that wasn’t previously available.
proposing and systemising additional resources in the finance team.
working with strategic advisors and NEDs as well as the senior management team to help prepare the business for growth.

The changes were implemented so as to ensure that customer focus remained a key aspect of the business and was enhanced rather than disrupted.

The key benefit to working with a one of our part-time Finance Director is that their experience and expertise means they can very quickly fit into the management team, identify the known and unknown priorities and deliver commercial outputs within a matter of days.

For a confidential chat about placing an experienced part-time Financial Director into your business contact our associate Chris Chapman on chris.chapman@lgbusinessadvisors.co.uk

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