Our services - Growth stage businesses
Managers2Hire can help with most areas of operating a small to medium size business, from ad-hoc help with something small like applying for a business award to complete support on a full blown change strategy project or a new system implementation. Whatever the job large or small we are happy to help when we can. See below for a brief showcase of the most popular areas of our work, if you cannot find the service you need just drop us a line. Read more about how we work and our fees here. Click here if your business is a Start-up or if experiencing difficulties see Turnaround.
Mentoring & General Management
Generalist support and guidance to help you cope with the demands of every day running of your business efficiently. Typically, initially covering most of the specialist areas below and bringing in specialists if required. Assistance could be with anything from applying for a business award, government tender or grant, understanding the company finances, raising money, improving systems and so on to bigger things like creating business plans, business strategy and co-ordinating suppliers to implement a project. A big bonus for many is having someone at hand who understands your business, to bounce ideas off and also having physical management cover should you be away from your business. You can choose how long you want to see your mentor from 1 hour / mth upwards. If you are going to be absent for a while or have an unexpected event meaning a key member of staff is unable to do their duties we can help with providing interim management solutions while alternative permanent arrangements are being made.
Sales & Marketing
The general objective being to improve revenue, market share and brand awareness if appropriate, this could be through looking at and improving current advertising, your product range or services, product pricing & profit margins, looking at competitors, expanding into new markets, new products, new branding or packaging etc. Also looking at, understanding and improving performance from staff and revenue from customers and so on. We can also help if you have plans to trade internationally, or franchise, market research etc. We can of course help to implement any other change you may have already identified.
Websites & eCommerce
The objective being to maximise returns for your business through use of technology and the internet. This is not about buying the latest technology, but to implement and use the technology which compliments your business and the people working in it in the most cost effective and efficient way. Our service is unique because we are experienced entrepreneurs who have successfully run internet businesses and understand the whole business from the technology and suppliers to how to profit from the internet. Our approach is completely different to anyone else, it is very holistic which takes account of the whole big picture of your business not just the website and technology.
Whether a new project or you already have a website, we will help you to assess what kind of website strategy is best suited for your business, advise you of the things you need to consider about your products, services and pricing and identify suitable eBusiness models which you can work on. We will inform you of the downsides, difficulties and side affects of doing business online and how they will affect your offline business, all in all we will make sure you know you need to know before you decide to go online. We can then assist you with the procurement, design and implementation of your website strategy and the ongoing eMarketing and maintenance needs of your website, or you can do this yourself (NB. We do not sell websites, we purely provide independent and unbiased professional advice). As a result you can make fully informed decisions which means you will minimise mistakes and costs and maximise profit. This cost of this service will repay itself many times over on most commercial websites, the savings are substantial specially if you are new to websites.
Money
Managing business finance is critical to the survival and success of every business and being aware of your financial position, threats and some minimal planning is not a choice but a must! Our services are not an alternative to your accountant, but the additional duties an experienced in-house finance director would do in a large company.
We can help you to raise money, or manage other aspects of managing finance or we can take the entire problem of running the business finance off your hands i.e. manage the cash flow, do the invoicing, collect payments, deal with bad debt, manage bookkeeping, payroll, VAT returns, the day to day accounting and transactional processing, get the best finance deals, raise loans and look at available government grants, pay for things in the most advantageous way, like capital eqipment and vehicles. We can then prepare management accounts, plas and forecasts and report back to you on what’s working and what’s not on a regular basis. This means you have no financial headaches and you are in complete control of your business, you are free to run the core aspects of the business and maximise profit and be prepared for what is coming around the corner. If your business is growing and employs 5 or more people, you would benefit from having a chat with us.
We have specialists in raising funds this can be from traditional sources like banks, or in difficult times or if more appropriate from alternative sources like government grants, business angels or venture capital.
Operations
The objective being to maximise efficiency and minimise the cost of running your business. This could involve having a look at the way you do things and see if we can come up with any suggestions for improvements. We would typically look at the systems and processes in use, your supply chain, business partners and relationships, communications, procurements, customer service etc. it could include possibilities for outsourcing activities if appropriate. Sometimes a small or simple change can have big positive results. Other areas we can assist with are in compliance matters, health & safety, fire risk assessments, data protection act, intellectual property, patents, copyrights, trademarks, privacy policies etc. and also with research and surveys. We can also help to implement a change you have already identified.
People
An business is only as good as its people! We can help in most areas of mangaing people, from providing ad-hoc management support and training to managing recruitment and providing interim management staff. We can help with training management, sales and operational staff to improve business performance and we can report on how people in an organisation feel about the organisation. Sometimes making small changes can bring about very real benefits for both the business and the people in it. We can also assist with employment contracts, benefits etc.
Buying, Selling or Partnering
There are various ways to grow a business, the most common way is of course organic growth where you grow your own business, seconds to that is through acquisition where you buy a business to compliment yours and combine forces. The third option is to form a strategic alliance where you partner up with another business to compliment yours and grow together.
In every case of working with another business it is essential to do the homework and get it right, or as right as possible. A bad decision to buy the wrong company or at the wrong time or wrong price can bring down the principal business and cause failure. Similarly, good advice can help when selling a business by maximising the sale price and reducing tax liabilities and making the process easier. We can help with evaluating the feasibility of the project, creating a strategic plan, looking at the relative strengths and weaknesses of the businesses involved and formulating a plan for the integration and joint workings, highlighting the pros and cons of the project etc so that you can make an informed decision and negotiate the best deal.
Finance - Marketing - Operations - People - eCommerce