Consulting Services

Banking is not what it used to be, and the days of your friendly local banker are rapidly disappearing, if not already gone. 

Knowing how to work with banks to get the best support from them in the most cost effective way is a skill and one that takes time and knowledge to master.

You need to know what they want, and how to give it to them, you need to know when to look elsewhere (and who to look to), you need to know how they as businesses (providers of finance) operate.  We have this experience, having both lent and  borrowed hundreds of millions of pounds.

Too often business is fast and furious and one thing leads to another in an ongoing charge, so that  planning and preparation are left behind. 

Businesses of all sizes frequently don't plan, and so lose out on the ability to make the most of the opportunities they have.   Lack of financial control kills businesses, as many sleepwalk into cashflow issues.

This lack of planning can significantly impact both business strategy and who will support you, be that banks or investors.  Planning is also essential to overcome issues in times of change like recessions.

​

Operations and how we deal with our customers is at the heart of good business,.  All too frequently processes in growing or well established businesses have evolved without review, continuous improvement or proper rigorous challenge.

The benefits and efficiency savings that can come from  reviewing, improving and simplifying operational and customer focussed interactions can significantly positively impact both cash flow and profitability.

The introduction of improved working practices, automation or just simplifying the approach will and can produce disproportional results.

HR is definitely an area for HR professionals in specific areas, and their advice needs to be sought at an oversight level.  However considerable value can be added from using the experiences of management professionals who have led businesses through both expansion and downsizing, recruitment and redundancy and who have built global teams structures and worked in a range of sized businesses.

We can offer this real world view and help structure and enact agreed people strategies and plans.  We also have knowledge around overseas office establishment.

Compliance and regulation play a more  central part in business today than ever before, impacting all sizes and types of business with serious consequences for non-compliance.   

Our experience dealing with UK and global compliance and regulation ensures we have the ability to help you reach the required standard and implement sensible and balanced processes and procedures.

Our credit and risk experience is vast, enabling us to help all businesses from deciding on client financial risk to assessing and mitigating operational and other risks.

Products and services have to be constantly evaluated, improved tweaked and in some cases reimagined or completely replaced to ensure businesses  remain   competitive in a global market.  This is often a difficult task especially if you don't have the bandwidth to address it, are very closely involved in the business or indeed invented the product / service in the first place.

The same can be said for business processes which often evolve in a needs must manner and don't get the reviews or refresh they need. 

We have considerable knowledge and exposure to this.

Sales sits at the heart of every business and planning sales and how to go to market (GTM) is key to business success.

We have  experience of different methods and types of sales, building sales teams (global and domestic) and entering new markets  (countries and products).

We are also experienced in setting up overseas sales offices and working with partners to develop sales territories, be these sales agencies, or broker and introducer networks.

We love selling, product development and GTM ideas.

Growing a business is tough, it requires balance, significant understanding, planning, costing and resilience. 

The opportunities for growth are however both very exciting and rewarding and it is proven that exporting businesses are  more profitable and more productive.

Growing domestically  also requires serious focus and thought to produce a deliverable plan and roll out. 

We have experience of growing businesses domestically and internationally whilst controlling costs.  We have established operations in EU, South Asia, US and China. 

Raising equity is not easy, especially in the current climate.  We have raised equity for fintech businesses we have worked in and have had offers of c$20m in a number of different rounds and companies.

We are happy to explore the overall strategy, what the best route forward is, what your pitch would look like and what the options are for how you should move forward.   We will even question how or if an equity raise is the best solution.

Dependant on discussions we may also recommend a panel of specific experts for your needs.

Having a proper functioning board is something that develops over time as businesses grow and needs mature. Many businesses don't need a very large board and owner managed businesses are generally controlled and directed by the owner, with any other board members normally being supportive and following the lead of the owner manager. 

Where outside investors are involved or there are issues around power in the board it is really important for all concerned that these don't disrupt the business or turn into a power grab.  We offer impartial advice to help.

When shareholders fight it often damages the business through: distraction, loss of key personnel, clients leaving or becoming unhappy, market competitiveness dropping and all stakeholders feeling unhappy and dissatisfied.

Having someone impartial who can come in, listen to all sides and help provide a hopefully quick win-win solution, where everyone feels that it's fair or indeed equally unfair can help reduce the massive potential damage to the business and let the parties all move on as quickly as possible.