Business Consulting

Implementing robust systems and processes should result in more of your top line revenue flowing through to your bottom line, and ultimately your back pocket. Systems and processes reduce your ‘personal goodwill’ or the business value that is attributable to you, the owner. As a result, a potential new owner will have greater confidence the business will continue to function without your involvement and therefore be more likely to pay a premium for it.

Richard will help you identify the key processes that contribute to the performance of your business, then map best practice. Creating the right checklists at the right stages of each process can also play a huge part in ensuring your business runs smoothly and without chaos.

Throughout his career Richard has gained extensive experience and been recognised for his proficiency in developing systems that add value.

In today’s fast changing world, planning is essential to stay ahead of the pack. Robust planning also ensures you maximise all possible opportunities and minimise risks and other factors that could adversely impact on your businesses performance. Lenders and other capital providers will also take comfort and are likely to have a greater appetite to support your business when a well thought through business plan exists.

Richards business planning process will generate a valuable working document and ensure you are leaving nothing to chance.

Every business model is subject to risks, but if they are identified, then strategies to reduce or eliminate business risk can be implemented. A business with higher risks typically experiences more volatile returns which makes it more difficult to raise debt or equity capital and adversely impacts on the businesses value.

Richard will run your business through a risk identification process and work with you to identify strategies to reduce or remove these risks thereby making your business more bankable and valuable. In time, you should also benefit from an improved credit score and more reliable and sustainable returns.

Even if you have no immediate intention of selling, as no one knows what’s around the corner, it is prudent to ensure your business is sale ready at all times. After all, you can only sell your business once and after what is often years of hard work, stress and challenges you deserve the best return possible.

When looking at a business, buyers are assessing the transferability and sustainability of future cashflows. Therefore, the more certainty you can provide around this, the more likely you are to achieve a premium price for your business. Some of the ways I can help you get your business sale ready and ensure you maximise your sale on exit are:

• establishing systems and processes that give the buyer confidence the business can continue to function without the owner
• reduce business risks thereby creating more stable and sustainable returns
• identify ways to reduce your working capital investment as capital intensive business are often discounted
• introducing strong financial controls giving prospective buyers confidence in your results
• identify ways to reduce the level of costs in the business allowing more gross profit to flow to your bottom line

Top performing sales organisations have a documented sales process that allows the replication of best practices, speeds up your sales cycle and improves sales performance.

Richard will document a best practice sales process for your business and will help you with the following best practice strategic selling techniques:

• Achieve more sales success by educating your customers how to buy from you.
• Reduce the focus on price by moving away from features and benefits to insight led selling
• Ask the right questions to uncover the buyer’s emotional drivers, the basis upon which buying decisions are made.
• Ensure your sales team are spending time on the right opportunities through effectively qualifying buyers.
• Improve your conversion rate and sales cycle through effective pipeline management.
• Understand who makes the buying decision and the criteria used
• Ensure your proposition is sufficiently differentiated and compelling
• Implement strategies to win the deal by understanding your competition