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Director Executive Inside Secrets Of A Manager Director

By Dr Mark Yates

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 20Oct2009 Word count: 1271 Viewed: 141 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

As a director executive I am frequently tasked with supporting businesses as an interim director or manager director. I am often required to appoint an international project manager into the business to help them overcome the financial tipping point.

I am providing this interim consulting business service more to small business owners who are happy to pay for this type of executive interim to gain inside secrets to help them grow their business.

Profile: Director Executive Inside Secrets Of A Manager Director

Business Case Study Title: A Special Forces Approach to Fast & Exponential Business Growth

The Assignment: A 16 week interim consulting, interim director business development director position to implement a proactive business growth and expansion plan to increase annual turnover by 50% and increase profits.

This assignment to be conducted at the beginning of the 2008 financial downturn labelled The Credit Crunch by the media.

Interim Consulting, Interim Director Business Background Synopsis:

5 year old British small business. Two directors, each retaining a 50% shareholding in the company.

This small business company had grown organically during the previous 5 years but the annual turnover had remained the same. This company had reached the financial tipping point and plateaued.

It was not experiencing any business growth. Both shareholders work in the business. Number of full time employees at commencement of my interim consulting, interim director contract was 3 plus 1 part timer.

The Interim Consulting, Interim Director Problem:

Typical two person partnership run small business managed by two very product knowledgeable hard working men who had no formal business academic skills. Although the small business had grown organically year on year, it had reached a plateau and hit the 'Financial Tipping Point' and was not making any real profit.

Each director executive was particularly focussed ensuring their business maintained its current level of activity.

They both maintained non-extravagant lifestyles and were extremely frugal. They allocated themselves a weekly wage not far above minimum wage. Neither director executive had ever received any shareholders dividends or bonuses.

The company had no business plan in place. Business development skills were non-existent other than the company had an excellent customer service relationship with their clients.

This in turn led to repeat & word of mouth business which fuelled the growth. The manager director and his partner recognised their business academic skill limitations & were concerned & astute enough to seek outsourced interim consulting and interim director help.

This identified the requirement of a skilled interim director to focus on business development. It is worth noting that the manager director and his partner had witnessed my business growth expertise and international project manager first hand in another local small business which they provided in-house IT consultancy to.

They were obviously keen to learn the inside secrets of my executive interim appointment to help a small business overcome the financial tipping point.

The Interim Consulting, Interim Director Challenges. - Limited resources.

- Lack of business qualified support staff.

- Coping with the small business 'Just in Time Mind-Set.

- Overcoming the manager director psyche of comparing the salaries of top management to the salaries paid to site employees.

- Being frequently distracted and/or delayed by having to action menial tasks because support staff were unqualified.

Assisting any small family run businesses is notoriously difficult. This was an especially tough assignment as it was a roll up your sleeves and get down in the trenches type of operation.

The manager director and his fellow director executive had no business academic qualifications and limited I.T. skills. The administrators had limited I.T., and virtually no business skills.

Facilitating change was sometimes problematic as the family directors occasionally closed ranks behind the scenes.

The Interim Consulting, Interim Director Project: An Extremely Clear Mandate To Grow The Business. Despite never having made a decent profit, the Company was in reasonable shape and debt free.

It had an enviable reputation for delivering a top quality service within the North West UK construction industry. I recognised the early potential for controlled growth & expansion.

In a very short time scale, an in-depth analysis was undertaken of the organisation, finance, structure and sales & marketing. The intention was to prepare a strategic growth & expansion business plan. The critical areas to e addressed were quickly identified by conducting an almost forensic investigation into the company's Modus Operandi.

As a former trainer of global Special Forces personnel it was clear to me that I would have to de-train, and then re-train the manager director and his fellow director executive to become Corporate Special Forces in order to grow the small business.

As an interim director delivering interim consulting to help a business overcome the financial tipping point one has no choice but to divulge inside secrets.

My Appointment Brief As Interim Director M.D.

1. Increase the turnover.

2. Increase profitability.

3. Prepare the company for investment.

4. Formulate 'Mission Specific' strategic business alliances.

5. Free up the owners time in order for him to focus on other business activities.

My Director Executive Inside Secrets Action Plan:

1. Complete & immediate immersion in every aspect of the business to identify 'The Way Forward Strategy.'

2. Conduct a forensic investigation into monthly expenditure & implement immediate substantial cost savings.

3. Completely re-structure the company from a small business to a medium size enterprise.

4. Prepare the company for change and manage every step of the change very carefully to ensure success.

5. Fire all inherited underperforming and/or unqualified consultants, i.e. marketing, PR & business to business, etc.

6. Outsource immediate business consultancy to identify additional revenue generation schemes.

7. Hire the right kind of management personnel who brought added value to the company. i.e. Former bank manager as full time finance manager. Former Area Director of a PLC construction company. Senior Estimator from a large UK construction company.

8. Address non existent quality assurance issues.

9. Obtain various business development financial grant subsidies.

10. Prepare the business for investment. Director Executive Inside Secrets 2nd Phase of plan. After 12 weeks as Interim Director M.D. the shareholders recognised the value in the interim consulting small business service I had brought to the company.

The former director executive realised his company were on track for growing beyond the financial tipping point.

I was asked to join the company as their Business Development manager director to continue managing the growth & expansion of the company. I anticipated a 12 month contract.

Director Executive Inside Secrets - The First Year Results.

1. Increased core business turnover from £1.6 to £2.4M.

2. Formulated a new secondary revenue generating E-commerce business, which blasted every month's financial target out of the water. Business was quickly developed from a conceptual idea to generate extremely high turnover of £2.5M per annum.

3. Positioned the company to win major PLC contracts. Signed a 3 'year preferred partnership deal with a PLC which guaranteed a minimum of £2.5M over a 3 year period commencing May 2008. This created long term income stability.

4. Increased work force from 20 to 55 in 12 months.

5. Positioned company for a £5M annual turnover in 2009.

6. Awarded best plumbing & heating company 2007.

7. Awarded Investors in People & ISO9001.

8. Achieved all 5 elements of my business brief.

Director Executive Inside Secrets - The Key Lessons.

1. Industry standardised structures, i.e. pyramid, matrix, divisional etc are not always suitable for every company.

2. Opening up a clear & concise communication chain bridge between directors, managers, office & site personnel keeps everyone motivated & committed.

3. Delegate and monitor/control as much as possible to make staff responsible & involved, (motivated.) Feedback is essential.

4. Create shared objectives for senior managers & not individual objectives which could conflict with other manager's objectives.

5. Conduct full and in-depth due diligence prior to hiring every outsourced consultant.

6. Don't allow senior management's ignorance of new technologies to inhibit growth from other revenue generation streams like E-commerce web based sales.

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