From £0 to £100k in 90 Days
I was introduced to David through my colleague and co-founder of our corporate event management company WithInnovation, David Mold. Our initial contact established because we were talking about trying to put a tender in for a government owned outward bound campsite in rural Herefordshire, and this relationship then evolved into David becoming involved in the birth of our brand-new business, WithInnovation.
David helped us to develop clarity surrounding our business model, strategy and positioning. A highly systematic and clinic structure was used to ensure no stone was left unturned and that all aspects of the new business were considered and dealt with. Because of our regular meetings and planning, everyone involved knew what they were doing and what the key actions were.
• It started with our value proposition – just what were we all about and how were we going to differentiate ourselves in a highly competitive space? Not an easy session but nailing that down felt like the beginning of the business ethos.
• We got absolute clarity on not only who we are, but also what our perfect prospect looks like. David showed us how to reach and engage with them using the power of our own network, referral, testimonial and targeted outreach. Of equal importance was the realisation that we needed to stay away from a certain type of customer. Not only will this save us a huge amount of time, but it means all our energy can be focused on developing the right client base.
• David opened his black book and within the space of a couple of weeks we can now count Bentley Motor Company, HR Owen and the UK’s 2nd biggest Care Home operator as clients as a direct result of introductions. The margin for these clients has paid David’s costs many times over already.
• Then we got into the nitty gritty of detailed business planning. Each month was broken down and targets set for lead generation, sales conversion and value. We applied our current pipeline to reveal where the gaps were. Working with David and his team we now have a plan in place to fill those gaps.
• The weekly online sales meeting has led to some heated conversations! As owner operators it is easy to forgive yourselves of missing a deadline or not making the business development calls you committed to. These accountability calls just make sure that does not happen. We now come prepared, focused and unsurprisingly our sales have gone up as a result.
• Within 3 months of working with David, our forward bookings have quadrupled to well in excess of £100k, we have a flow of high quality leads and a sales focused culture to ensure they are nurtured and converted. We have already hit our base target for the year and are now re-setting sales expectations for our first 12 months to those we thought would be achievable in year 3 of our business plan.
• We now have accurate analysis of all our costs and the gross margin contribution from any proposed or existing client activity. Using this as a basis we have improved our margin by over 20%. A massive impact on profitability and cashflow.
• Introductions were made with several key suppliers David works with to ensure certain details were catered for, such as the mechanics of our website and social media presence. While I have many contacts from my background in the music business, it was great to get involved with David’s suppliers because it formed a ‘clan’ of trusted team-members and enabled the best possible outcomes.
What David’s involvement has shown me is that anybody can start a business badly, but there are steps that can be taken from day one to ensure this doesn’t happen. Owing to our meticulous planning, strong sales focus and direct introductions we landed several highly valuable clients within the first month of our launch, giving us a fantastic start to what I’m sure will continue to be a unique, driven and profitable business. Oh, and did I mention we are having a lot of FUN along the way!