Client Pain
Despite many early successes, Charlie Bigham of Bigham’s felt that the future of the business was unclear. There was no clarity about the future strategy, just lots of questions. Exactly how was his highly innovative (and disruptive) approach to food production going to compete and win?
He was David competing with Goliath, selling into the likes of Waitrose.
What We Did
First we looked at the current business strategy and just how good it really was. Honestly.
Stepping back from the business, and armed with industry, competitor and customer research as well as some novel approaches to get-to-market, our business consultants were able to clarify and articulate a business strategy for the unique sweet spot and how it could establish them as a dominant player, in specific shelf space, in key supermarkets in the UK. The issue was about creating a highly ambitious yet realistic, believable plan and being able to roll it out. Business growth year on year.
Starting with a senior team Awayday, all the options, possibilities, opportunities and routes to market were explored. The “cunning plan” was developed; part art, part science. The ‘wallpaper plan’ was created, checked and rechecked to ensure that all parts of the business were integrated and aware of their contribution to the whole picture.
This was the start of a long-term relationship establishing a board meeting strategy, including a scorecard/dashboard to monitor progress on a month-by-month basis – an all-inclusive boardroom process framework that enabled heads of department to understand what was required of them, their departments and those of their colleagues. Accountability and delivering on the plan were at the centre of the business.
Results
“Six years ago we were a small business with a £4m turnover who made plans on a month by month basis. Working with Robert and my senior team we drew up a structured 5 year business development plan to grow, with clear milestones and objectives. Today we have a turnover of around £30m and profits are running at around £2.2m.”
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I first started working with Directors’ Centre nearly 15 years ago and have worked with them regularly ever since. Robert has worked with me on both Bigham’s Ltd and also a smaller business, Bite Catering Ltd.
Robert Craven has worked with us across a number of areas including coaching, strategic planning, boardroom process, marketing plan’s and introducing the Balanced Business Scorecard. Overall, the emphasis of our work together has been on helping the senior team formulate a vision, strategy, plan and resulting KPIs to enable the business to grow over the medium term.
There is no doubt that many of the seeds that enabled us to grow to the extent we have (and to stay on track along the way) were sown by the work that Robert has done for us over the years.”
Charlie Bigham, Bigham’s