Together we can build your business...

Here's how we do it

The Business Strategy Review process has three key phases…

1. Business Performance Diagnostics

2. Evaluation and Development of Improvement Programmes

3. Ongoing Performance Management, Governance and Coaching.

We offer an end-to-end review of your business, research and determine the best future strategies, test plans for robustness, and even guide you through ongoing performance measurement and governance.

The first thing we will do is listen. And we keep listening. To your thoughts, ideas, worries, and ambitions for the future.

In return, we will give clear cut advice, based on a researched view of your customers and markets, and on an assessed view of your capabilities to compete and win.

If you feel you need advice focused on a clear stream of your work, then that’s ok. We will follow your lead.

How it works?

Initially, we will come to you for a no-obligation discussion about your business. 

We will listen to your thoughts, ideas, worries, and ambitions for the future.

The first element of a coherent strategy is a clear set of long-term goals toward which strategy is directed.

We will also ask a few practical questions about your business.

Then we will outline how the “M” approach could be utilised by you and your team…to build your business success.

Once engaged, we will work together to deliver conclusions that we are both confident will drive sustainable business profitability for your organisation. It will be a team effort. Regular visits will be interceded with necessary bursts of data gathering…ensuring our recommendations are based on good facts and data.

Business Performance Diagnostics

At whatever level of disclosure you are comfortable with, we will look to examine what you do, how you do it, and who you do it for!

The key here is to identify the optimal matching of your capabilities with the customer groups that value them most.

Also, to unearth the activities that consume your resources while offering the least incremental gain.

The Diagnostics phase includes researching your own organisations information and (if appropriate) the views of your customers, and decision-makers. We can reach out to them for you if you wish.

In each area of examination, we will guide you through proven approaches to help crystalize a view of your business like you may never have seen before.

We will present back to you in easy-to-understand visual form…constantly checking for alignment with you and your team.

Evaluation and Development of Improvement Programmes

Working now from the clear view of the business achieved in the first stage, we move into idea gathering (a combination of those held by your own team, emanating from your existing and/or potential customers, and those emerging from the Diagnostics stage).

We will use sensible evaluation tools to ‘sift’ the long-list of improvement approaches down to those that will afford maximum gain, and that you can execute now, soon, or at a future stage in your business’ journey.

During this phase, we will also begin the idea of “hypothesis testing”…are these ideas stand up to scrutiny? Are they ‘better’ (faster, cheaper, or more effective) than other tactics toward the same end? Do they need further evaluation by potential target customers? 

Development of the ideas into executable programmes of work comes next. Here, we will work through the realities of capability, timing, limited resources, conflicting priorities, change management.

This is where we need to decide not on what we “could” do, but what we “will” do! Again we will guide you through a framework approach that ensures you choose well.

Targets will be set to accompany every improvement initiative. These will not be dictated, but emerge from an aligned view of potential, and reasonable progress toward it.

Ongoing Performance Management, Governance and Coaching

The last thing our business needs is more time in a meeting room looking at scorecards…but identifying and tracking key Performance Indicators is proven to be an essential aspect of any business improvement effort.

Choosing the indicators that will help you see areas of great performance, or difficulty, fast is key. 

This is a race to the Future State.

Seeing a potential outcome before it happens gives you the best possible chance to capitalise on a success area, or avoid a problem.

We’ll spend a little time looking at options for, and agreeing upon, the right governance approach – part of your existing Management Review processes (for efficiency), or dedicated Control sessions (for focus on discretionary delivery).

We will be able to table a number of different scenarios that we have seen work well, and together we will find the ‘right’ approach for you.

We truly want you to be successful with whatever the chosen development pathways are. One of the biggest risks with improvement programmes though is ongoing execution. It’s all to easy “after the Consultants have gone” to get absorbed the great work that you always did… and lose focus and dedication to the development pathways that caused you to bring in the help to begin with. Trust me, this happens a lot. In great companies too.

So, we offer an ongoing Mentor service as an additional activity beyond the Consulting Period. We can be on hand to come back and review your progress…at your request (once, twice, regularly) as you wish…we will be there for you.

Outcomes?

Every company is unique, but often the challenges we face are similar in nature…and can certainly be faced using proven approaches and an experienced guide.

The Business Strategy Review process will mould to the best identified development directions for your business.

Typically though, we will be looking to determine actions across one, or more (or maybe even all) of these areas:-

- Increased revenue growth rates in clearly identified customer categories

- Customer  / Account Management

- Improved operational and/or administrative efficiency

- Brand positioning and Marketing efforts

- Organisational design & talent development

Each of the recommended pathways will be documented in a charter form…with clarity on expected outcomes, timeframes, and dependencies.

You’ll have a clear set of action plans that will maximise your sustainable success.

You’ll have strategies that you and your team have co-created, and believe in.

You’ll have a measurement and review framework to help you keep on track.

You’ll have the option of our ongoing support with our “Mentoring” service.

We are here to help you every step of the way.