Consultancy services

Our consultancy services are focused on business growth and include business planning, business strategy, bid writing, bid writing training and bid management, business development and eBusiness, change management and project management. We have provided a lot of detail on these below, although please do not hesitate to call on 0845 533 9419 (local rate number) for further information if required.

All of our services are competitively priced and we aim to build long term relationships - many of our clients have been with us since we started trading in 2005.

Business planning

Many business plans are written solely to secure external funding. A good business plan will, however, do much more and should provide a strong platform for your business – often (and we recommend) without being a massively detailed document.

Why should I have a business plan?

A good business plan will:

Provide a clear view of your business purpose and enable this to be communicated to partners and staff
Predict future impacts and contain actions to ensure they do not threaten your business
Set clear targets and objectives so that business performance can be monitored
Set out where you want to be in the future and how you will get there.

Carrley® Business consultants support you to put strong plans in place, achieve financial goals and address critical resource requirements in the planning process.

We work with clients to help them plan and in most cases write the plan up following delivery of Business Development Workshops (BDWs) held with senior members of your team.

What will our business plan look like?

Typically, business plans will cover:

The market your business operates or plans to operate within
Target client base
An analysis of competitors
Marketing strategy
Marketing plan
Business risks
Sales targets and objectives
Operational requirements
Financial requirements and forecasts

Business plans are written in practical, usable language and designed for easy, regular review to ensure that performance stays on track. In many cases, they will incorporate key deliverables, milestones and targets aligned to operating budgets.

Plans are written both for internal use and to secure finance.

Here’s some feedback from clients on our business plan writing service:

"Carrley Business Consulting has really helped our organisation move forward in what has been an incredibly difficult market. Their consultant was extremely professional and personable and his hands on style was greatly appreciated by our whole team. It has been just three months since our Business Planning Workshop and we are already beginning to see significant positive changes taking place in our business." Eyefortravel Ltd

“I am writing to express my deepest gratitude to you and your Associates for the excellent Business Plan Carrley Business wrote for us. It really did assist in getting us up and running; in fact, our Landlords – Prudential Property Investment Managers Ltd even commented on how exceptionally professional it was! – Our Senior Manager at the Bank said it was the best business plan he had seen. I have since recommended you to a number of clients, who I believe you are now in contact with. Thank you again for a superb presentation.” Rowntrees Manchester

"Even a charity helping the over 50's start their business has to plan its future. Working with Carrley Business was great. Their consultant really helped us to identify and focus on the issues we were facing." PRIME - registered Charity founded and chaired by HRH The Prince of Wales

Business strategy

Our Business Accelerator Programme prompts clients to consider new strategies for the development of their business.

Strategy must be understood, planned and then implemented. It must identify what your business has to do now and in the future to be successful and qualify what success means. Whilst driven at senior management level, strategy must be owned by decision makers throughout your business to be successful.

However, we are also firm believers that development of strategy should be fun and have considerable expertise in achieving this balance, through use of strategic tools which significantly differentiate your business from others.

Benefits

You will benefit from our business strategy services by:

Knowing where resource – time, people and money, should be focused in the future
Definition of where a different focus is necessary to be successful
Understanding why particular products or initiatives have been successful
Understanding where your business has skills deficits and what needs to be done about them
An analysis of where your business makes the most cash and why
Knowledge of the market you operate in and why clients purchase from your business and its competitors
Better knowledge of premium customers and how to gain their commitment for the long term
Identification of areas of the business which have limited shelf life and should be discontinued or sold in the future

We will also help you to position your business in the industry it operates within.

A healthy sector to be in might have the following characteristics:

Stable or increasing average return on capital
High market growth potential
Supply at or below the level of market demand
High returns on capital for those with biggest market share

Why should I invest in business strategy services?

The answer is simple –

To differentiate your business from others and make it increasingly different and better than those of competitors
To retain and better serve your most profitable customers
To make sure that your business achieves its maximum potential.

Delivered through a series of ˝ day Workshops, we harness a range of strategic tools to produce a written strategy, impact of which is measurable and aligned to specific business targets.

We could write forever about SWOT, PEST, force field analysis, gap analysis, Porter’s five competitive forces, performance driver analysis … the list goes on, and have many years experience in the use of these and other strategic tools including helicopter thinking.

Whether your strategic consideration is growing existing business, acquiring a new one through merger/acquisition, downsizing or tackling new markets, we are able to help and draw on a wealth of experience.

Business development and eBusiness

Carrley® business development services are geared to take your business to the next level, often tackling difficult markets whilst bringing Return on Investment (ROI) at an early stage.

Our professional bid writing, bid writing training and bid management services are based on many years experience of winning business for clients running into millions of Ł's. They will help you to grow revenue in the public sector and to win corporate business when involved in a competitive tendering round. We also provide high quality proposal writing and proposal management services. These are geared, again, to winning business in highly competitive markets.

We provide marketing services which contribute to increased revenue and profitability - from preparation of comprehensive marketing strategies to corporate brochures and marketing literature, scripting of websites and preparing targeted prospect letters and follow-up processes.

Our sales consultancy, mentoring and training focuses on systems (including sales pipeline), processes, people and their alignment to achieving results - with people factors covering areas such as sales personalities, building rapport, values and building credibility. We also help clients and their sales staff with goal setting. In the words of Abraham Lincoln "Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success."

Our HR services are focused around performance, ensuring that the correct strategies, organisational structure and processes are in place to allow staff to perform to the best of their capabilities. They build individual and team performance, stimulating ownership of deliverables and targets and willingness to contribute to corporate objectives. We have had considerable success with these services, which have enabled clients to re-focus resources where necessary to achieve growth.

Carrley® Business also offer Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services - supporting clients to win business in the UK and internationally through key internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing and rank highly on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Our SEM services are based on, initial, dedicated internet market and competitor research, providing a proven platform for both organic optimisation and Pay Per Click (PPC). You will benefit from increased traffic to your website, increased customers and increased sales as a result of these services.

Additionally, we provide supply chain management and procurement systems. These optimise business efficiency, build supply chain performance and capacity whilst ensuring that value for money is achieved contributing to bottom line business profitability.

Change management

Designing for the future is a better bet than designing for now

Invariably, new strategies involve a process of change which must be handled at the right pace and carefully considered. The best performing businesses must be aligned and adaptable to changing circumstances and market forces.

We work with our clients to achieve the benefits of change – whether driven through extraordinary growth opportunities, market alignment, investor, merger, acquisition or downsizing.

Carrley® Business takes the future seriously. We support our clients to design new organisations and have a wealth of experience in redesigning existing. Assessing all the elements of an organisation and its operating environment and acting to bring them into alignment has given our clients outstanding results, allowing them to continuously perform well.

We do not offer off-the-shelf solutions to drive change. Our approach is collaborative and driven by often constantly evolving challenges which face dynamic, high-performing organisations.

Carrley® Business is an expert in performance driven change, human capital management, organisational design, communication and project plans. We have seen excellent results from these programmes and will be happy to discuss case studies with you upon request.

Our view is that there are clear linkages between strategy, organisational behaviour and the management of change – leadership has to be effective and Carrley® Business will help you to achieve this. During transition, our consultants are on hand to assess, manage and advise on the infrastructure and systems required for successful business transformation.

Project management

What is a well run project?

Projects should fit with business strategy, be clearly defined and bring specific benefits to your business.

A well run project, achieved through strong project management involves planning, communications, handling budgets and keeping a balance between the key parameters of time, cost and quality.

What are the key benefits of using a Carrley® Business project manager?

The project manager is often viewed as a balancing mechanism, being responsible for time, cost and quality.

Carrley® Business project managers will:

Comprehensively plan all elements of the project
Control costs, quality and efficiency effectively
Control the project thoroughly, gaining the trust and support of colleagues
Engage the project team in decision making – boosting both productivity and trust
Structure tasks in logical and correct order
Solve problems and contingency plan
Stay focused on results.

We are able to provide highly capable project managers, available to handle part or full project lifecycle. We have experience of successful delivery of large, complex multi-stakeholder projects, although we will project manage any business development, change or IT project whatever the size, particularly where this is the result of consultancy services provided by Carrley® Business.

Formal project management methodologies such as PRINCE2 are available providing robust, dependable frameworks which minimise risk and exposure on bigger projects.

For further information on services, don’t hesitate to call us on: