Consultancy Services

Most of us wouldn’t dream of getting on a flight if we didn’t believe the pilot hadn’t prepared a flight plan: destination, the time of arrival worked out, the speed, altitude and direction of travel planned and, of course, the amount of fuel needed carefully calculated.

So why do so many business owners ‘fly’ their business with little other than a few idea’s in their head about where they want to get to and how they will get there?

I work with owners and directors to take the ideas from their heads and turn them into the real plans and actions that help them turn their dreams into reality.

The work need not take long, it need not be expensive but the benefits are incalculable.

Benjamin Franklin said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” So, rather than be one of those who are ‘planning to fail’, let me help you turn your dreams and ideas into real results.

Mergers and acquisitions are strategies that businesses can use to provide growth. But they are not without risk: research shows that over 70% of mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver the benefits expected by the buyers or merger partners.

My experience has been gained through working on over 35 transactions in the UK insurance market.

I help businesses understand the process, identify targets, open doors, advise on negotiations and valuations, manage the due diligence process and complete the commercial due diligence (often a crucial factor in completing a successful acquisition), and ensure the acquirer has an integration plan ready for implementation on completion of a successful purchase or merger.

I work with acquirers and merger partners to help avoid the bear traps along the way and to complete an acquisition or merger that delivers the expected benefits.

Most business owners will only sell their business once: they have worked hard to build the business and eventually arrive at a point where they need to consider how they will extract the value they have created.

Often the decision is taken to sell the business (of course, there are other options to consider – for example, management buy-out) and in these circumstances the owner may be negotiating with purchasers who have extensive acquisition experience.

I use my extensive transaction experience (35+) with my clients to match their objectives (financial and cultural) with best-fit acquirers, whilst maximising the value they obtain from the sale.

I manage the sale process, the delivery of information to interested purchasers and enable the vendor to maintain focus on running their business whilst keeping the sale negotiations confidential.

All businesses recognise they need to produce growth and new business, even if this is simply to replace business they lose through client retirement, business sale, insolvency …. or even competition!

I work with businesses to review their growth objectives and the strategies required to achieve their goals. I focus on the activities needed to improve growth and new business sales.

I engage with the client to produce a growth plan that has clear success measures, describes the actions required and ensure there is clear ownership of each action with an agreed timescale for its completion.

The effort required to create new opportunities can be dissipated if the activities and opportunities are not managed and coordinated on a day to day basis. I work with clients to help them understand and implement important sales management activities to improve growth and new business sales.

Too many business owners/directors spend too little time working ‘on’ the business and too much time working in the business: they are kicking the ball around on the park with the team rather than acting as a director of football or even simply being the player/manager.

As a business owner or director it is important that you have access to the information needed to ensure the business is meeting its obligations to a variety of stakeholders including owners, clients, staff and regulatory bodies.

I work with clients to improve the quality of information available to the business to enhance understanding of current and future performance.

Working with my clients, I design a process to ensure there is a disciplined approach to providing and reviewing information, that strategy is reviewed at regular intervals, that records are kept of meetings and actions agreed and that all actions are followed through to conclusion. Most importantly this will provide discipline that encourages continuous performance improvement.

Experience shows that all businesses, whether large or small, benefit from the regular review of performance and an external voice that questions/clarifies/keeps focus.

A business is set of activities working together as a part of a mechanism or an interconnecting network that is complex in the way they work.

I provide a Business Health Check that encompasses a review of financial performance, client service and staff management.

It signposts opportunities to improve business performance (financial and non-financial) or suggests aspects of the business that would benefit from a more in-depth exploration.

I have designed and completed research commissions on electronic trading in the commercial insurance market and on commercial schemes insurance.

This work benefited from my knowledge of the insurance market, my relationships in that market and the personal interview skills applied to the research work.

I am delighted to work with other organisations to design a research program that will meet their needs and their budget.