We like to keep things simple - we don't engage in make work exercises or recommend that clients do. We look for focused solutions to organizational challenges and have often found that its differing perceptions of issues in organizations that can lead to lack of focus and sluggishness. It's that perspective that we bring to our assignments - getting focused on results, defining practical solutions and helping people to "get moving".

Although we provide planning services, we are experienced business people ourselves and inclined to action.
 

Strategic Planning

Business Mentoring

Strategic Planning

Most of our work requires consultation with a number of audiences - customer groups, industry key informants, associations and industry groups and other stakeholders, often across broad communities.

We are specialists in facilitation and have facilitated literally 100s of business based and community based planning initiatives. We take time to help clients define all interested parties and their links to business results. We pay particular attention to providing practical implementation advice.

Senior personnel are involved in all projects. Careful time is taken to consider the actual challenge as we propose a professional to direct a project and the team that will be assigned to it.

We are specialists - we only undertake assignments that precisely match our backgrounds, knowledge and skills. We have strong relationships with partner firms in related disciplines and frequently assemble project teams with them for specific assignments.
 

Sectors of focus

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Business Mentoring

Street smart marketing advice

We use practical marketing experience from many sectors, drawn from 30 years of personal experience. In our approach, academic examples are used for background where appropriate, but we use real world examples to guide most of the recommendations and systems we set up. We know that most of our clients do the marketing work in the evening or on weekends when they have limited energy - systems have to be simple, practical and based on known methods that work for small business, often with limited understanding of marketing systems or practice.

We listen

We listen a great deal in the initial steps of the assignment. Our interview checklist helps us get early involvement and commitment from the client.

We facilitate

We have facilitated literally hundreds of senior management, employee and task team groups as they have planned for all manner of marketing and organizational tasks. We have years of experience in group dynamics and can assess personality styles and organizational road blocks. We put special focus on defining the tasks needed for success and finding the right people to do them.

We seek to understand personal and company goals

They are key to effective plans and implementation. Sometimes business people assume they should be employing a given popular marketing strategy that may not work for them. The more clearly we understand the company and personal goals the better we can help the client clarify the right business goals for their company.

We focus on results

Once goals are clear we help create a plan and management process that will drive to deliver them. SME's have no money for marketing activity that is off strategy or merely fun to do.

Plans are always customized, never a copy

We help tailor the plan to the actual people who will implement it - practical rather than standardized text book solutions. This means that some people will need less structure, others may need more. The emphasis will be on a plan that is concise, easy to use and has a disciplined schedule for review - we often suggest that a 10 minute meeting once a week, can keep the process on track.

Systems that they will continue to use

We help them create the habits that will support the discipline needed for success.

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