Storyline Consulting

The question – expectations of traditional private clients are changing and the business needs to adapt to remain competitive in the new market

The work – working with clients we understood what they really want from their lawyer, then together we created a new client proposition that really is “client friendly” and does deliver “effective service”.  To deliver the new service the business also altered its internal expectations and operating model.

The outcome – increasing both market share and profitability of the private client business

The question – my client ran a successful business, bought another business and wanted an independent review of what they had, its profitability, client proposition and operating model

The work – I worked for 4 weeks with the business speaking with key members of staff, analysing all the financials and reviewing the communication with clients. This resulted in a series of recommendations for actions that could be implemented immediately, some that would take a few months and a few that were longer term and more strategic. I continued to work with this business as a consultant to help them implement these changes, and adapt their business to the changing environment, including completely overhauling the client communications and redesigning their website

The outcome – Over 5 years the business turnover almost doubled, profit more than doubled and levels of client satisfaction are unprecedented in the industry

The question – how can the charity help the greatest number of young people experience the best they can from a residential experience and the associated sessions before and after with mentors; and what needs to be in place to make sure the charity is financially sustainable

The work – In order to create a capacity review for the Chief Executive and the Board of Trustees I worked with the team to understand their views of what the very best would look like, what allowed that to happen and what made achieving it harder. In addition, reviewing the funding and operating models, decision making and communication between all parties allowed me to create a full picture of what was working really well, what could be improved and how

The outcome –the charity is doing fabulous work for people who really need it. I created a recommendations report with a dozen or so suggestions agreed with the Chief Executive to put them on a really strong footing to continue well in to the future.

The question – how can a small independent college in Glasgow to continue training youth and community workers to support the work of the church in Scotland, what other streams of delivery might sit alongside the academically accredited training to extend options for generating income and building a sustainable college

The work – establishing a set of guiding principles and client needs under which I explored lots of options with the existing staff, graduates of the college and others who have had previous experience of their work and content. I built a simple business model for each of the potential streams – who the students might be, how many students were likely/possible, income, costs – and then created an overall financial model and set of assumptions

The outcome – I delivered my conclusions based on a detailed plan to the Board who decided to continue operating.