a) Business Turnaround & Growth Strategy Consulting

The past few years have been tumultuous for the business and financial markets. The “Great Recession” brought with it considerable contraction and upheaval for many companies. An improving economy has posed its own challenges as efforts to shed excess capacity and deliver have left many business owners unable to meet rising demand. So, question arise:

What exactly is involved in a business turnaround?

Is there a proven turnaround strategy relied on?

We’re passionate about helping you maximize and solve your financial opportunities and challenges. We are dedicated to working with owners to develop a specific turnaround plan to get you back on the right track.

The Business Turnaround Process

A guide to accomplishing this is the Turnaround Roadmap. Our experiences are based on our decades of experience managing business workouts through tough times and helping owners revitalize their companies.

The Business Turnaround Roadmap is particularly effective for business owners who have the following characteristics:

• A strong work ethic and the will to succeed;
• Maturity to know their company needs something other than more money to heal itself and stay healthy; and
• Manage a business with increased annual revenue

Business Turnaround & Crisis Management Services:

• Assessments of problems and development of corrective workout plans
• Business turnaround and planning
• Business model validation
• Revenue and margin optimization
• Financial modeling and projections
• Cost reductions and downsizing/rightsizing
• Negotiations with lenders, creditors and customers
• Refinancing and capital acquisition

Performance Improvement

• Operational assessments
• Industry positioning
• Marketing plans and margin improvement
• Integration and streamlining
• Productivity improvements
• Product line rationalization
• Cost accounting margin validation
• Business model refinement

How Does the Business Turnaround Process Work?

We will develop a custom turnaround plan for your business and help you implement it:

First, we will stabilize your cash flow so we can calm things down with your lenders and creditors.

Second, we will conduct a series of tests to diagnose your business problems. Based on the results, we’ll recommend solutions, prepare a cash forecast, and develop a documented turnaround plan for your business.

Third, we will prepare a series of action items and help you implement them as you guide the turnaround to a successful conclusion.

b) Strategic & Tactical Planning

The strategic planning process is an extremely important management function. The most enduring companies plan on 3-5 year, one year, and 90-day horizons. Drive is put into developing key objectives every quarter, and achievements are managed weekly. A documented strategic plan is the one document that can be used to achieve the following:

• Align the efforts of the entire work force
• Reinforce the culture of the organization
• Share management’s view of where the company is and their vision of where the company is going
• Define long term and short term goals
• Set clear measurable milestones that mark progress towards important goals
• Define metrics that can be used daily/weekly to measure short term progress and afford accountability
• Define clear accountability for goals and objectives
• Guide decisions and actions throughout the year

c) Financial Forecast Preparation

Your financial projection is your business plan in numbers. Many entrepreneurs find that preparing a financial forecast is the most intimidating aspect of developing a business plan. Even MBAs who have studied finance and accounting can have trouble figuring out just where to start. We can help.

Whether you are starting a brick-and-mortar small business or a high-growth tech venture, we can help you prepare a financial model appropriate for your specific situation.

Our financial modeling process will distill the essence of your business into a manageable number of core assumptions and cause-and-effect relationships so that you can distinguish between what’s important and what isn’t.

We create a new financial model from scratch depending on the circumstances. The process is as much art as science and we have the experience to help you get it right.

When customizing the model for your needs, we strive to follow several guiding principles:

• We develop simplifying assumptions to reduce the number of “moving parts” in your business. This allows you and your audience to focus on a more manageable number of assumptions.
• We establish cause-and-effect relationships so that when one variable changes, everything that depends on that variable will also change.

Some of the other key features of our standard model are:

• Income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
• Monthly details with quarterly and annual summaries.
• Assumptions are color coded, documented, and organized by category.
• Extensive error checking to help spot mistakes quickly.
• Create a PDF of the entire model in just one click.
• Operating expenses grouped by department.
• Key ratios such as revenue per employee so you can benchmark against industry standards.

d) Business Plan Preparation

The business plan is the foundation of your investor package. However, most entrepreneurs are too busy with other priorities – such as developing products, finding customers, and recruiting a team – to prepare a compelling business plan.

We have hands-on experience starting and growing their own businesses.

Let us help you.

e) Pitch Deck (Investor Presentation) Design

A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote etc, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan.

You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders. Sometimes you will use your deck to present your business in front of a larger audience, perhaps at a pitch competition or angel group meeting. Other times, a potential investor may ask you to email them your pitch deck, so it needs to make sense without being accompanied by your verbal delivery. Different situations will require different styles of pitch decks.