Water Filtration Solutions

Our client had grown steadily for many years and was starting to win larger projects in the public sector. However, there approach was predominantly reactive where they relied on a limited network to stimulate business. A diverse range of products and customer types created a level of complexity for the business, which resulted in a lack of focus for a business of this size. Marketing was basic, their sales process was stagnant and revenue growth had stalled. Furthermore, whilst dealing with medium sized projects the business was margin constrained.

Our client required Specialist support to develop a strategy to scale their business and maximise profitability. The opportunity for us was to take a deep-dive into their business and identify the sweet spot in the market where they could focus their efforts - which would require rigorous analysis of ‘where to play’ and the investment required to ‘win’.

A Strategy Specialist was engaged to lead the Discovery Roadmap, a strategic planning process to deliver a strategy and plan for implementation. The Roadmap defined the commercial strategy for their primary revenue sectors and the investment required, with the aim to double business revenue in three years.

After this process was complete and with our assistance, the strategy and plan were communicated to all levels of the organisation until everyone was unified around the vision. Implementation did not start until we had the “buy in” of the whole organisation.

Implementation of the Roadmap strategy occurred over a three year period, with subsequent strategies still ongoing. As part of the implementation, a Marketing Specialist was utilised to reposition the brand and website.

As the brand started to establish themselves as a leader in this industry, a CFO Specialist was placed into the business to renegotiate all financial arrangements, improve cashflow and receivables and vastly improve reporting.

While this was ongoing, the business continued to grow and win larger projects, increasing the strain on the management team. Seeing this challenge, Strategic Specialists placed a part-time Chief Executive Officer in the business to effectively run the business at a P&L level, keep the management team focused on implementing the Roadmap strategy and deliver a more sustainable income.

• Increased net profit by 350%
• Increased revenue by 210% from FY18 to FY21, which achieved the target to double revenue in three years
• FY22 is on track to be their most profitable year by far, despite the slowdown of major infrastructure projects during Covid-19.

Outcomes from the Marketing Specialist:

• Increased brand awareness and helped the business to forge a reputation as the leader in complex water filtration systems.
• Attracting the right projects across several industries, and now have a win ration of >75% in the Healthcare sector.
• The business is now consulted on the majority of Hospital system upgrades.
• An improved lead flow of higher value customers, improving top line sales and net profit.

Outcomes from the CFO Specialist:

• Reduced reporting times to within enterprise limits of 10 days out from month end (as opposed to 6 weeks) which in turn enabled faster reaction to profitable and unprofitable performance
• Board level reporting, and rigour of regular management and board meetings
• Improved rhythms around finance, general reporting and processes across the business that have created shorter lead times around insights that can be addressed quickly
• Preparation towards an exit strategy that will release equity back to founding shareholders, and transition to a new management and executive team

Outcomes from the part-time Chief Executive Officer:

• Establishing scaleable processes and systems that enables them to manage their continual growth
• Accountability and measurements, which in turn has led to a change in staff but also a more focused, committed team.
• An improved culture and energy about the business, that has instilled self-belief that they can grow to a substantial business of value
• Board confidence that shareholder value can be realised and a new understanding that the founders are not the best equipped to advance the business
• A vastly improved bottom line and balance sheet

Four years after the initial Discovery Roadmap, Strategic Specialists Group continues to be engaged by this client to build sustainable growth.