They Did It,
So Can You

How often do you hear the following complaints from a business owner?

Current frustration:

• We’re constantly fire-fighting
• If only we could get onto the bigger contracts we could expand
• If only we had more sales in the pipeline
• There’s always an admin backlog waiting to be dealt with
• We really don’t know what steps to take to break out of this

This is a common problem for businesses, particularly in the construction sector. Often they’ve been established for some years but have hit a ceiling.

You know how it goes. A couple of guys get together and launch into business. They’re really good at ground works, laying bricks or fitting out. Maybe they started by working for another contractor and decided to go it alone. However they never seem to be able to get the bigger contracts. How can they move up the ladder?

What’s missing?

Sure, you’ve hired more people to do the actual work but there comes a point where everyone is working flat out and you hit the buffers.

Everyone in construction is working to a design (architect’s plan or engineering drawings). Why? Because they know they have to put the right things in the right place and in the right order for the end result to work. What is done in first fix has to be completed before second fix and so on. Yet they try and build their business without the same degree of rigour over the plans, phasing and sequences.

A case in point

Consider the two lads in Manchester who ran a groundworks operation. Their business was turning over a couple of £million annually. They had 15 staff and a great reputation for digging foundations, drainage and diamond drilling. That’s cool expertise to have but they simply couldn’t grow the business.

What they didn’t have was their own yard, a dedicated office or an admin team. So when the directors were supposed to be working ON the business (NOT in the business) the phone was always ringing with problems from on-site. Like the day when one of their team called to say they’d broken off the ignition key in the van while it was still in the ignition. As a consequence the van was out of action in the middle of the working day. The net result meant one of the directors spent the next three hours just sorting that little problem out.

Then there were the days where equipment wasn’t in the right place and time was wasted having to go to a farm to pick it up because they didn’t have a central yard.

It’s the kind of stuff that happens and then work is delayed or worse. It also means lead contractors are less likely to feed work down the line. So how did that get solved?

Getting on the ladder with bigger clients

The directors realised they had to do something different and called us in to help them sort things out.

They knew some of the things they were missing but to be honest they hadn’t a clue about some of the others. What was needed was a solid approach to make sure they could deliver for their clients and have resilience against the sorts of problems that were confronting them every day.

What the results showed

• What the immediate staffing requirements were
• How they could fund and buy or rent a yard in the right location
• What Health & Safety and HR functions were missing
• How to be able to pitch for the bigger contracts
• How to execute the expansion in a controlled fashion and keep a close eye on the finances

From there they were able to get a prime client – the University of Manchester – who would act as a reference site for other works in the north-west region.

If you see parallels with you own business, then get a solution like they did!

The choice is simple – work your way through all the research and make all the mistakes before you find your feet or have us help you manage your way through the process. Expert coaching on how to carry out the analysis, solution design and execution planning. It means you can put your trust in people who know how to avoid the pitfalls and can help you navigate around them.

Chris is from mainland China and had been studying for a Masters in International Business in Newcastle.

These are the results he achieved since coming on to the programme:

• Launched a new trading business with a focus on recycling
• Sourced customers in China for recycled plastics to be used in textile fibre production
• Launched a separate business trading online in small electronics items and cameras and expanded that to handbags and watches with his own label

Chris has an amazing can-do approach to trading but needed a base from which to launch business in the UK

Chris is from Fuyang and before coming to the UK had worked for a number of years in the Far East (China & Hong Kong). Besides speaking Mandarin and English he also speaks some Japanese and Italian, having been personal assistant to the CEO of a footwear manufacturer in HK that was supplying the Italian market. However retail is a notoriously difficult market to enter – there are so many suppliers and channels already in existence.

Trading went from zero to over $100k in a matter of months

To make things happen, Chris signed up for the Business Transformation Accelerator.

The module ‘Do the Right Thing for the Right Reason’ made huge sense of getting the problem broken down into its component parts. This allowed Chris to work with a number of people in a series of creativity workshops to design the solution. Lots of ideas were floated and tested and the decision was made to build a business around recycling.

Applying the Business Transformation Accelerator
really did what its name implies

From an online business in a shared student apartment to an independent operation with its own unique product lines is quite a journey.

The end goal was always to have permanent residence in the UK and to provide a substantial income for himself and his family. Along the way Chris never lost sight of that aim and continued to be creative in the ways in which he developed lines of business. He achieved that goal and in doing so now owns a beautiful house (fully paid for) in an exclusive area outside the city and has a partner and two small children. In addition a good number of people ended up being employed in a business that otherwise would never have existed.

If you are planning a complex new venture then get a solution like Chris did!

Business Transformation Accelerator will help you map out and take a journey that is aimed solely at delivering what you want. Sure you have to put in the effort but the guidance and support offered are like no other programme.

The choice is simple – work your way through all the research and make all the mistakes before you find your feet or have us help you manage your way through the process. Expert coaching on how to carry out the analysis, solution design and execution planning. So you can put your trust in people who know how to avoid the pitfalls and can help you navigate around them.

Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1979 with its first store in Croydon south of London. For many years its corporate HQ was nearby in Wallington.

The results of taking the Board of Directors through the programme included:

• The Wrong Problem – based on assessment of who were the ‘key’ staff – was identified and corrected.
• Critical dependencies and business functions were identified early.
• Risk mitigations were put in place based on thorough understanding. These included details of the recruitment challenge.

Homebase was a leading UK DIY retailer that wanted to merge core operations with another group company to achieve cost reductions and synergies.

The complexity of moving their corporate HQ had been seriously underestimated in the first instance by the Board of Directors. So the first step was to engage in a challenge process to define what the underlying problems really were. The view from the boardroom was adamant that the Category Managers (who are very senior in the buying function for any large retailer) were the most important people to retain in the move. However the company only had 10 of these roles and in fact two posts were actually vacant.

Homebase unravelled the complex problems surrounding a move of its corporate HQ to transition to a centre of excellence

Paul Loft, the Managing Director, knew us from a change programme at a different retailer and was therefore comfortable with the sorts of questioning, challenge and governance to be expected in planning and executing this complex transition.  He also knew this was going to be a struggle to get it right with only one possible shot at the target.  So he relied on us to mentor and coach his executive team and some outside consultants through the planning.

Applying the Accelerator process led to massive benefits for both employees and the company

Results:

• Over 600 staff were eventually moved or replaced with fresh recruits.
• The most profitable areas of trading were identified and given maximum protection from disruption.
• Those who had to be made redundant got better packages than would otherwise have been afforded.

If you are planning for complex business change – then follow the lead set by Homebase!

Business Transformation Accelerator offers you access to knowledge and techniques like no other programme.  It’s not just planning, it’s all-encompassing in the approach to making this kind of change work first time, on time.