A Customer Story

Chapter 1: Alf And The Budget

Once upon a time there was a Managing Director called Alf. He was a pleasant chap, liked and respected by his team. Alf had a nice car and a nice house and a family that loved him. He could have been fitter and he could have eaten more healthily.

This year, like every year, Alf worked with his team to develop his company’s business plan and budget for the year ahead. Alf liked his team and was proud of the way that everyone worked together on the plan. 

The marketing director described the marketing and product plans for the year. She set out her plans for new products and how much she needed to spend on campaigns and on lead generation. Alf and his FD reviewed the plans and after a tweak here and a tweak there, the marketing plan was set.

The sales director was gloomy but she always is at target setting time. She likes to talk down how much she will sell, so her targets will be set low and she can over-achieve. Alf and his FD went through the numbers and the pipeline and after a tweak here and a tweak there the sales targets for the year were set.

The operations director said he needed more money than last year - for new products and to improve the company’s IT. But Alf knew the operations director always asked for more than he really needed. Alf and his finance director reviewed the plans and with a tweak here and a tweak there, the operations budget was set for the year.

Alf and his finance director went through each department’s plans the same way and with a tweak here and a tweak there the plans were all set.

Alf had a plan that he liked and that added up to the “right” numbers. He shared the plan with his stakeholders – the banks and the company’s owners and everyone was happy that the plan was a good one. The banks were happy that their loan was safe and that their interest would be paid and the company’s owners were happy with the planned dividend. It was going to be a good year.

Alf was happy and calm until the year started and it all started to go wrong. But that’s for chapter 2. For now, let us leave Alf happy and calm and content with his life. Maybe he would join a gym and go on a diet he thought to himself.

Alf Presents The Budget to His Stakeholders

Chapter 2 : It Is All Going Wrong.

It’s the end of quarter 1 and Alf is talking to the company’s owners:

Trading has been tough. Sales are down. Revenues are below where we need them to be. Costs are over running. The teams are making mistakes and not doing what they are meant to be doing. The directors fight each other constantly. They say the budgets are not the ones they asked for and its not their fault things are awry. But don’t worry. It is nothing I cannot handle and things will improve and we will be ok. But it is not as straightforward as I hoped it would be.

The owners ask Alf if the company will still deliver its targets for the year. Its only three months in and it is too early for Alf to say they will miss. So he talks about tough trading and downside risk.

With sales and revenue down, Alf confronts the sales director. The sales director has a list of reasons for missing the targets:

·      It’s the marketing director’s fault. Our prices are too high. The market has moved on and we are not competitive.

·      We aren’t getting enough leads and the ones we do get are poor quality.

·      The new products are the wrong ones, that nobody wants to buy. Nobody asked me, she says, what products our customers needed.

·      It’s the operations director’s fault. Operations don’t deliver on time and customers are frustrated. The sales team spend their time putting out service fires instead of selling.

·      The pipeline is unreliable and you shouldn’t have used it in setting targets.

Armed with the sales director’s feedback, Alf confronts the marketing director. The marketing director doesn’t agree that sales are down because of her team’s work. Her feedback went like this:

·      The sales team is lazy. They don’t understand the new products and don’t turn up for product training.

·      All sales want to do is discount. They sell on price, not on value. Anyone can sell gold for the price of silver.

·      The way we generate leads is the same as last year. In fact we have generated more leads this year than we did at this stage last year.

·      The things I asked for in my budget submission haven’t made it to the final plan. The finance director has cut things out we needed and now my wings have been clipped.

With costs over-running and service issues effecting how quickly revenue comes in, Alf confronts the operations director. The operation director’s feedback wasn’t all that helpful:

·      The new IT is being delivered so at least that is going well.

·      But the finance team cut my budget submissions and now they wonder why costs are above budget. Actually costs are in line with what I originally said they would be.

·      Sales keep selling non-standard products which can’t be delivered easily. They make commitments to customers that cost more to meet.

·      The only thing sales care about is their commission. 

Alf approaches his finance director who gives Alf a commentary on what is happening that agrees with all his directors and at the same time disagrees with them too:

·      Sales are lazy and aren’t selling enough. The marketing director is right.

·      The operations director’s spending is out of control. All their work is late and everything is over engineered.

·      The marketing team spend money on campaigns that don’t work. The market is moving and they are slow to react.

The finance director reports revenue is below budget and costs are above. He tells Alf which products aren’t selling as much as planned and which departments are spending more than they should.

Alf updates the banks but they don’t seem interested. They just want to know if their loans to the company are safe and whether he would like to borrow more at a cost. The owners say they are on Alf’s side but they want Alf to promise that the dividend planned for the year is safe. They say they support Alf 100% but Alf suspects they are searching for a new Managing Director behind Alf’s back.

Alf thinks to himself – no more Mister Nice Guy. My directors are like children squabbling in a playground. I am going to knock heads together. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This is why they pay me the big bucks.

But underneath the bravado and beneath the tough talk – Alf isn’t sure what to do or how he can improve the company’s performance.

Alf doesn’t find time to go to the gym. He is working long hours and his plans for a healthy diet have gone out of the window.

Alf's Directors Start Blaming Each Other

Chapter 3 Panic Sets In

The year is going to be disaster.

Alf knows if things go on as they have so far, the company will miss all its targets. If he goes back to the banks and to the owners to tell them the news, he fears he will be fired. The pressure is well and truly on.

Alf cannot sleep at night. He tosses and turns, trying to find a way to relax but his mind is full of dark thoughts – he will sack the other directors, he will replace his sales team, he will cancel all the IT investment. He will find new banks. He will sell the company’s assets and even its HQ. He will get his cv ready and reach out to his friends in recruitment. But he knows they only talk to him when they think he might hire someone not when he needs their help. Maybe he can re-mortgage his house, or convince his wife to downsize and they can live a simpler life. In short, poor Alf is all over the place. Panic has set in.

They say it is lonely at the top and at times like this, it most definitely is.

Then Alf remembers a conversation he had a few months ago. He had met an ex-CFO at a local networking event. He remembers the ex-CFO because the chap, a partner in a company called Mitesco, described himself as a business trouble shooter. Alf gets out of bed and looks for the ex-CFO’s business card - ah yes there it is! Yes things might not be so bad after all. At the very least Alf has found someone he can talk to and share his worries with. Alf resolves to contact Mitesco the next day and finally he is able to sleep.

The next day, Alf checks out the website mitesco.co.uk and requests a meeting.

Mitesco is a group of expert, experienced business executives. Each has decades of experience in improving businesses. They are business trouble shooters. There isn’t a business problem they haven’t solved or a business challenge they haven’t met.

A day later, a Mitesco business partner arrived at Alf’s office. He was a friendly chap and credible, he had been a commercial director and a CFO for much of his career. He was authoritative and an expert in improving business performance. Alfred shared his problems and was immediately reassured and less stressed. The Mitesco business partner knew what he was talking about. Now, when Alf looks back at the story of his year, he remembers this as the point his year got better. It was from this point that he was no longer alone.

Two days after their meeting Alf received a proposal from Mitesco with a program of work and a price. The Mitesco business partner would do the work himself but with his colleagues in Mitesco supporting him in the background so Alf would benefit from the accumulated expertise of the Mitesco team. Alf could see exactly what he would get and how much it would cost him. The proposals were operational and practical and designed to help him in the here and now. He decided to hire the consultant – at least there was now someone on his side.

Alf Begins to Panic

Chapter 4 Mitesco Health Checks

Mitesco is a financial management consultancy offering fixed price, fixed term business health checks and tailored consultancy solutions.

At Mitesco we believe there are value creating opportunities in companies which are often missed because of resource constraints or because they cross traditional team boundaries. Short, focussed health checks from Mitesco consultants unlock this value for businesses.

Our consultants are all established business leaders and senior executives with long track records of improving businesses. We use tried and tested methods. We know what we are doing and we know what we do works. This is because our consultants have improved businesses over and over and over again, across different industries and different markets.

Mitesco health checks are not strategic or long term. They are based on operational interventions that will deliver tangible, measurable results now.

A Mitesco sales health check will audit your pipeline and ensure your marketing, sales and service teams are aligned. With agreed qualification rules and detailed win/loss analysis, sales effectiveness will improve and revenues will grow. Your confidence in your pipeline will grow and you will be able to prioritise your resources behind your company’s must win deals.

The purpose of a Mitesco profit health check is to give you a plan that will get your profits back on track to hit your target in the short term. It will provide you a baselined profit forecast and measures your profit gap. Over 60 areas are tested to assess where profits can be improved. Each profit improvement area will have a suggested operational owner, a timeline for delivery and an estimated value. The health check also promotes a way you can manage the suggested activities through to completion.

A Mitesco project health check tests how a major project or program is running. It works out if what you are doing is going to deliver the benefits you expect in the timeframe you want and in line with the costs you set aside. And if your project is off target, the health check produces a get well plan to get you back on track. Mitesco consultants have been delivering projects and programs on time and in line with budget and with measurable clear and relevant benefits for decades.

A Mitesco team health check works with your team and with your team members individually and helps them agree a common set of objectives aligned with your own. It improves team cohesion and alignment by helping teams co-create their objectives. The health check also helps identify personal development plans for each team member and works with you to introduce a structure of communications and co-working designed to improve overall team performance.

The earlier in your financial year we carry out the health checks the better the prognosis for the year.

A Mitesco Consultant Helps Alf

Chapter 5 Recovery

Alf read through the Mitesco proposal and decided he would take a profit health check.

A few days later the Mitesco business partner arrived on site to start the work. He met with the directors as a group and individually.

The finance director nominated a member of his team to work with the consultant and within a few days a first draft profit improvement plan was ready for review with the directors. Some of the activities were unpalatable and some were amended but for the first time since the start of the year Alf could see a path to delivering the profit number for the year even if sales didn’t materialise during the rest of the year.

The Mitesco business partner suggested Alf and the finance director name an owner for the profit plan and that the owner review the plan each month with the directors as a group. Alf and his directors accepted the proposals and began managing the plan through to delivery.

In two weeks the profit health check was completed and the Mitesco business partner said he would visit again in a month’s time to hold a post health check review to ensure the plan was on track.

Alf felt confident that he had a plan that would help him deliver his profit target. At least the banks and owners would be happy and the dividend was safe. The chairman could stop looking for a new Managing Director.

Alf went back to the Mitesco proposal and decided he would try a couple of the other health checks too. Next he opted for the sales health check and then the team health check too.

Alf decided that next year he would call in Mitesco at the start of the year rather than when things were going wrong. He liked the confidence the health checks gave him that he would deliver his targets. Even more, he liked that his team of directors were working together to deliver plans they all believed in as individuals and as a team.

Alf was a pleasant chap, liked and respected by his team. His team worked together as a group with a common cause. He could have been fitter of course and he could have eaten more healthily but he wasn’t stressed and overall things were going better than ok.

All Is Well Again For Alf

The End

You can contact Mitesco via mitesco.co.uk

Alternatively email at sales@mitesco.co.uk

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All artwork by the incredibly talented Daniel Teran. You can see more of Daniel’s work at www.danielteran.com