Client Stories
Client Stories
Every business owner has their own objectives and motivations for why they do what they do.
Get inspired
with results that demonstrate what partnerships can achieve…
We’ve worked with hundreds of businesses over 18 years. Rather than having a page of comments from clients, (our team are always humbled to receive testimonials), it may be easier to read a few case-studies from different industries:
Trade Services Client
After our initial analysis, we established our client was having time blow outs...
This wasn’t a new problem for the client, but they didn’t realise the extent of how it was damaging their profitability. We did a back-costing on small, medium and large sized jobs. The time blow-outs on a third of the jobs were due to un-foreseen drainage issues (business was an earthmoving contractor). We added a clause in the quote for unforeseen variations where “pre-existing conditions that cannot be identified at the time of quote may require additional contractors and/or work to rectify”. We also played to their focus on quality by having the smoothest re-instate (installing a blade on all diggers), used hard fill when backfilling trenches and double-sowed the topsoil with grass. Their clients were blown away and we added $180K in annual profits from actively managing variations, job quality and blow-outs.
Retail/Wholesale Client
The change to inventory control resulted in an additional $80K of free cash flow where we used part of it to invest in a refurbishment and larger premises.
Our analysis showed up our client’s inventory had blown out whereby they were carrying 7 months of stock. Once we knew how over-stocked they were, we changed the purchasing policy away from bulk buys because their profit was all tied up in the last 50% of the stock that wasn’t selling through. We then started tracking average spend per customer and found the departments that made the most money. We then stocked that department with higher margin items with more premium lines and ended up adding $300K to the bottom line.
Professional Services Client
What was surprising to the client was the mid-sized accounts were highly profitable and the large accounts were all at break-even...
We listed out all their accounts and divided the number of hours into the total revenue for the account. This produced an “hourly rate”. What was surprising to the client was the mid-sized accounts were highly profitable and the large accounts were all at break-even (due to write-downs, misquotes and unfavourable trading terms). We re-quoted the large-size account at pricing review, lost three accounts and retained the rest. This alone doubled their annual profit. We also tracked work in progress and its effect on cash flow that led to a changing in trading terms. The advertising budget was non-existent but thanks to more cash in the bank from WIP, we were able to invest in targeting more of the mid-sized accounts that were most profitable.
Manufacturing Client
From analysis using our software we established they were having an issue with wastage as well as with urgent jobs...
That was causing time blow-outs on their routine jobs (they were an Industrial Painter with a large workshop). We recorded labour and materials for one month on every job. We then ranked each job with highest profit contribution at the top of the list right down to lowest. We added a column on the spreadsheet for “cumulative frequency” meaning we could say “15 jobs (out of 50) gave us 80% of our profit and used 50% of our labour”. This told us what type of jobs we wanted more of and which ones were burning labour and materials relative to their profit contribution. We re-priced the urgent jobs and lost many as a result (a good thing). We then significantly upgraded the customer’s delivery experience of their steelwork (even using bubble wrap in some situations!) to ensure no scratches or paint chips. Their clients loved the care-factor whereby we started winning quotes by not being the cheapest.We grew profits up 80% in just 6 months and the business went from strength to strength.
Founders Statement
Founders Statement
Founded by Will Fulton, Trusted Advisor Network (TAN) is a professional network of over 50 Business Advisors across NZ and Australia.
Our Resources
TAN Members use market-leading Consulting and Coaching Programs for Clients in the SME Sector.
Resources include all the software, educational models, program formats, presentations, templates, workbooks and resources that our members need to be professional Business Advisors.
Our past 18 years in the advisory space has been the catalyst for developing our break-through approach.
Our programs are only offered to clients on an ROI basis after businesses have been analysed to determine the upside available to the business owner. Businesses must demonstrate a 500% ROI to be eligible for a program. This approach has been developed after years of in-field experience of being consultants, coaches, trainers and presenters.
Over the past decade (longer!) we have assisted well over 200 ex-corporate execs, coaches and consultants to build and grow their skill-sets to the benefit of our clients.
Our Network
By joining our network, our team combines their own business backgrounds along with our founders’ experience that includes being Franchisees, running a Franchise Group, running a Group Coaching Program with 120+ members, managing national marketing campaigns, off-line and on-line media campaigns and running our own internal call centres.
Most importantly, over the last 12 years TAN has developed a deep understanding of working with business owners from every industry imaginable.
It has allowed us to continually develop leading methodologies, systems and intellectual property that makes up our program material. The synergy of working in partnership with our team along with such diverse clients has given us a collaborative culture that has become the most valuable part of the way we operate as a network.
Wholesalers
Wholesalers
Examples:
Importers, Distributors, Agencies, Business to Business Merchants etc
INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
Wholesaling, importing or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services. In general, it is the sale of goods to anyone other than a standard consumer. With the advent of Amazon, Alibaba and many other online sites, supply chain opportunities have expanded significantly in giving more and more people access to imported goods. In addition, many manufacturers are utilising online sales platforms and many retailers can “go-direct” meaning the critical part of operating a successful wholesale business is finding, securing and maintaining (or in some cases, defending) supply agreements.
Source a product, add a margin to cover overheads for sales personnel, warehousing, logistics and profit, then sell it fast enough to manage the gap between when you pay for the goods and when you get paid for the goods.
A typical life cycle of a wholesale business often starts when an owner attends an overseas trade show or has a long-standing relationship with a supplier and secures the “rights” to an area or product and gains some form of supply agreement. Obviously, wholesale businesses are often purchased as going concerns or split away from other businesses who wish to focus their working capital elsewhere.
The expansion of a wholesaling business often means adding warehousing and/or showroom facilities, logistics, sampling and/or demonstration functions, service and/or maintenance teams, parts supply, sales teams and customer support services etc. Because this is all in addition to simply providing the product, overheads need to be carefully managed in line with the volume of sales being made at sufficient margins as well as the terms being extended to customers. The expansion of a wholesaling business therefore relies heavily on managing cashflow especially the timing of when goods are paid for relative to when sales are being banked. Therefore terms of trade, financing facilities and inventory volumes including assortment selections are all critical.
Wholesale businesses get into trouble when outgoings grow faster than the cashflow being generated from sales. They also become stretched when additional outgoings are added without sufficient management e.g. sales teams being recruited but not trained or debtors ledgers blowing out with unmanaged terms of trade etc.
When to get help
Owners of wholesale businesses will tend to need help from a Business Advisor for any combination of the above circumstances. A key indication of needing help is when they are struggling to manage cashflow or when they need an expansion strategy to take advantage of market development opportunities. Typically we assist Wholesale businesses with an initial assessment of the current cashflow position together with their sales and marketing systems. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise their current operation model before engaging in strategies to drive sales.
Brokers
Brokers
Examples:
Property, Insurance, Finance, Mortgage, Share Traders, Travel etc
INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
Brokers operate as a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal.
Ongoing trail and/or one-off transactional income often in exchange for expertise offered pre sale. Often have premises as an overhead as well as admin costs. Relies on referrals and repeat business for stability of income.
A common life cycle for a Broker or Agency business often begins as an individual or partnership that break away from a larger organisation by going out on their own primarily to take control of their commission rates earned from sales. Books of clients can be bought and sold in many brokerage industries such as Financial Planners etc. How far the business expands will depend on the interest and intentions of the owners to add sales and administrative support staff.
If the business can add sufficiently productive sales personnel or books of clients, they will begin the process of scaling up. To achieve this, sales personnel can be recruited with better commissions or books of business can be added in the case of identifying acquisition targets. Often this process can be hit and miss whereby books of clients can sometimes be of varying quality as can additional sales personnel. Additional reception and admin support can also provide significant improvements to sales productivity.
Brokerage businesses are essentially sales intensive meaning the development of reliable sales and marketing systems is the critical success factor. Often value is added by way of educational material and reports to assist buyers and sellers to see opportunities to transact. If there is poor sales training or sales system due to poor prospecting and pitching disciplines, then the business will stall as the owner ends up generating the substantial majority of the sales revenue. Many brokers stall at the 1-3 staff level when this is the case.
Brokerage business can get into trouble when the sales team becomes dominated by a few (sometimes only one) highly productive individual(s) who make the substantial majority of sales. In these situations, there’s a concern they’ll leave and take a significant portion of the revenue with them. In addition, when target markets are not well defined, the sales team can expend too much time chasing too smaller commissions. This is a strong indication that the business owner needs to refine their overall direction and upgrade their training regimes.
Performance management therefore becomes the focus of the business owner who needs to work on creating a performance environment while also balancing with a culture that challenges what the team are capable of. When this occurs the owners can put more work into their sales and marketing systems as their business starts to generate sales growth. If mergers and acquisition strategies are followed, then the business will seek out further targets to either buy their book or add partners to the partnership.
When to get help
Brokerage businesses tend to need help from a Business Advisor to assist with developing sales and marketing systems in line with performance management principles and/or to provide direction on how to scale and grow the business. Typically we assist Brokerage businesses with an initial assessment of their current performance. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise the current revenue model before engaging in sales and marketing activities to drive profitability.
Retailers
Retailers
Examples:
Hospitality, Clothing, On-line, Appliances, Food, Pharmacy, Specialty Stores, Chains etc
INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
Retail has often been seen as an extremely challenging sector with the advent of online sales, high rentals based on inflated commercial property values and most recently, consumer behaviour trends attributable to COVID-19. Couple this with the ease of price comparison against competitors and the availability of online rating sites and its no wonder many retailers are struggling to perform. That said, there are significant opportunities for retailers to create strong customer bases and build highly profitable businesses.
Location and/or web-based stores that sell products with a reliable customer experience to ensure they come back. Products are presented in-line with their pricing strategy and associated overhead. Profitability comes from actively managing inventory, advertising, in-store sales training and customer nurturing programs.
A common life cycle of a retailer is for the owner to buy or start a business in a chosen field. Invest as much capital as required or afforded for fit-out and/or website, an initial level of stock and well targeted marketing campaigns for launch. Then comes recruitment of staff for customer servicing and fulfilment.
The balancing act of the retailer is to establish sufficient demand to achieve the required turnover in an acceptable time period to cover the debt servicing of set-up, on-going overheads, purchasing and assortment of stock as well as wages. A clear understanding of break-even and how to control margins is essential for all retail operators to get through every stage of the cycle. Profitability issues arise when sales training is insufficient and planning inventory turnover in conjunction with a marketing calendar is under-managed. Any combination of these issues will stall business growth.
Retailers expand by investing profits into higher inventory levels and more effective marketing. Marketing can often switch from solely focused around new customer acquisition to marketing for nurturing, repeat purchase and retention. Sales strategies that focus on conversion rates, strike rates and average transaction values are essential at every stage for a retailer. Utilising metrics such as “stock-turn” and “days-of-supply” are also requirements for managing the cash flow in retail businesses. This is the single biggest part of a retail business to manage… how to manage cash flow with balancing the supply of goods for the prices being charged, along with the marketing and sales training functions need to generate sufficient demand from customers.
When to get help
Owners of Retail businesses will tend to need help from a Business Advisor when they are struggling to manage cashflow or when they need a strategy to expand once a successful retail model has been established. Typically we assist Retail businesses with an initial assessment of the current cashflow position. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise the current retail model before engaging in sales and marketing activities to drive profitability.
Professions
Professions
Examples:
Lawyers, Accountants, Designers, Specialist Consultants, Engineers etc
INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
The Professional Services sector provides various professional, scientific and technical services to a range of markets. Performance is largely linked to how aggressively an expansion strategy is implemented.
Charge an hourly rate or contract rate that covers expertise, administration staff, office overheads. Charge out rates should also cover client acquisition expenses and unchargeable hours associated with pitching for work.
A common life cycle for a Professional Services business often begins as an individual or partnership that break away from a larger organisation by transferring or establishing themselves with a loyal client base. Alternatively they are started from scratch. How far the business expands will depend on the interest and intentions of the owners to add support staff.
If workflow is an issue due to poor prospecting and pitching disciplines, then the business will stall as the owner falls into the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work”. Other issues come from too much work coming from large key accounts. Then with client servicing on larger accounts, it stalls the amount of work required to acquire a stable client base. The objective of the business must be to bring on sufficient work to require them to add staff. Many professions stay at the 1-3 staff level when this is the case.
Practise management then becomes the focus that is done either by a Practise Manager or a Managing Partner. This person not only needs to manage such KPIs as billable hours etc, but also needs to monitor client attraction and acquisition systems in order to utilise the capacity of the Firm. As such, Professional Services businesses get into trouble when these things are not managed.
If the business gets sufficient workflow, they will begin the process of scaling up. This usually starts with reception and admin support before moving to executive assistants. This will progress with portions of the service packages being able to be done by other support or technical staff. Directors often end up with core clients and grow primarily by word-of-mouth or by attracting other professionals to join them and bring their clients with them. If mergers and acquisition strategies are followed, then the business will seek out other professional services companies to either “buy their book” or add a partner to the partnership.
When to get help
Professional Services businesses tend to need help from a Business Advisor to do the work of a Practise Manager and/or to provide direction on how to break the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work”. Typically we assist Professional Services businesses with an initial assessment of the capacity currently being utilised. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise the current workflow before engaging in sales and marketing activities to drive profitability.
Trade Services
Trade Services
Examples:
Mechanics, Electricians, Plumbers, Drain Layers, Machinery Operators, IT Services etc
INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION
The Trade Services sector is very broad and covers various sectors such as all the building and construction trades as well as automotive services etc. Its core business model is to hire experts/technicians, charge them out for more than what you pay them to cover overheads and profits. Then add products onto your services that you on-sell for a margin. Operators can have either a business-to-business service or a business-to-customer focus and many operators have both. Business success and scope for growth is largely linked to how the owner views their role. They’ll either identify themselves as someone who is on-the-tools or, as a manager/director who’s job is to provide sufficient work to their team and then make sure it’s done to an acceptable standard with a profitable outcome.
A typical life cycle for a Trade Services business is often beginning as an individual that breaks away from a larger organisation by taking a few key clients with them. Alternatively they are started from scratch or purchased from a retiring business owner. How far the business expands will depend on the interest and intentions of the owner to add a team. Often this will depend on what size of job or type of customer has been secured. When larger jobs or customers are added, this will often trigger the need for more staff. Trade Services businesses get into trouble when they “gear-up” for larger jobs and/or customers, but find difficultly in maintaining workflow when larger jobs finish or when key customers switch to buying from a competitor.
When this happens the additional staff and associated equipment becomes an overhead that doesn’t have the revenue to support itself. Many Trade Services business owners experience this issue where they don’t want to let go of staff and equipment (because finding good staff is difficult, training takes time and equipment has often been purchased on credit) but they can’t find sufficient work to utilise the capacity they’ve created. Many businesses can last for a while like this by adjusting their pricing on quotes to “feed the business”, but eventually realise they were making better money when the business was smaller. Hence some operators end up going back to the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work” and being on the tools. Many trade services businesses stay at the 1-3 staff level when this is the case.
If the business gets sufficient workflow by niching or successful prospecting, they will begin the process of scaling up. This usually starts with splitting their workers into more teams and allocating a team leader or foreman. Admin support can also assist for invoicing, scheduling and maintaining “jobbing” systems. Many business owners hesitate to expand their businesses when they experience staff recruitment and retention issues or suffer from debtor management issues.
Trade Services businesses struggle when they have insufficient work whereby they need to work on marketing and sales systems for the right type of work or customers. Alternatively they’ll have too much work whereby their marketing needs to focus on attracting people to work for them (as opposed to marketing for customers, they’re effectively marketing for staff).
When to get help
Owners of Trade Services businesses will tend to need help from a Business Advisor when they are either too busy and therefore need help to coordinate and improve the productivity of their team, or too quiet where they’ll need direction on how to break the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work”. Typically we assist Trade Services businesses with an initial assessment of the capacity currently being utilised. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise the current workflow before engaging in sales and marketing activities to drive profitability.
