Our client is a leading provider of building products to the construction industry. The large, privately owned business had recently experienced significant growth and was looking at the opportunity to scale the business.
Summary
A Chief Financial Officer led a financial Discovery Roadmap over four weeks from February 2019. They then worked in the business on a part-time basis over five months to implement the financial plan. Next, a strategic Discovery Roadmap was delivered by a Chief Strategy Officer over four weeks from June 2019. The client leadership team were actively involved in the planning process, which required collaboration across Finance, Marketing, Sales, and People & Culture.
Delivery of the Roadmap led to engagement of two additional specialists — a Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief Sales Officer — to lead implementation of the plan, which required both strategic and functional capability. The CFO, CMO, and CSO completed service within 15 months of the initial engagement.
Specialist engagement continues with leadership development through a Strategic Human Resource Management specialist and the return of the CMO to mentor recruited talent. In addition, the Chief Strategy Officer led a mini Discovery Roadmap to check alignment of strategy and delivery for achievement of sustainable growth, for a total period of engagement of 18 months.
All Outcomes
Business results include double-digit revenue growth in year one and achievement of objectives for margin and NPS. Detailed results include development and delivery of a new business strategy and implementation of strategic plans for Finance, Marketing, Sales, and People & Culture.
Achievements include alignment of finance, marketing, sales, people, culture, resources, operations, systems, processes, and procedures with strategy to ensure sustainable growth. Over an 18-month period, five specialists were engaged across all aspects of the business to deliver two Discovery Roadmaps, one mini Discovery Roadmap, and twenty Building Blocks across Finance, Marketing, Sales, and People & Culture. As a result, the small-to-medium business is in its strongest organisational and competitive position, with robust financial health in 30 years.
The Process
The process involved delivery of two Discovery Roadmaps, one mini Discovery Roadmap, and twenty Building Blocks across Finance, Marketing, Sales, and People & Culture to deliver sustainable growth.
The Opportunity
Our client required assessment of their finance and operational processes and whether finance practices supported the recent significant business growth.
Our Solution
Phase 1: Financial Discovery Roadmap
A CFO was deployed for two weeks on site to undertake a financial Discovery Roadmap, reviewing and analysing accounting processes, financial reporting, internal capabilities, and risk management.
The Discovery Roadmap identified sound practices as well as corrections required to deliver profit normalisation and a clean set of accounts. Key priorities were defined for improvements to accounting practices and operational processes to increase reliability of financial reporting. It also identified misalignment between revenue forecasts and cost budgets and highlighted opportunities to improve warehouse operations and stock management to enhance profitability.
Phase 2: Implementation of the Financial Roadmap
The CFO was engaged for five months to implement recommendations. The objective was to ensure optimal cashflow, risk management, governance, and financial operations to support the business growth trajectory.
Financial processes were developed to drive KPIs, benchmarking, and support systems to enable successful strategy execution. A CFO report was implemented to outline key business levers, and a monthly Board pack introduced to provide timely, accurate performance information. Management accounts were corrected for two financial years and new budgeting benchmarks established.
Phase 3: Strategic Discovery Roadmap
The CFO was re-engaged for a further four months with an expanded remit, and a Chief Strategy Officer was appointed to lead a strategic Discovery Roadmap.
A complete business review was undertaken with key stakeholders to define a new strategic plan. The process involved research and analysis of revenue, margin, sales, marketing, organisational capabilities, resources, systems, operations, supply chain, and technology. Data-driven insights were used to develop a business strategy, vision, and tactical plan to ensure sustainable growth.
The Discovery Roadmap defined a simple three-step approach and implementation plan to double business revenue within four years.
Phase 4: Engagement of CMO and CSO to Implement the Roadmap
Two specialists worked within the business to strengthen organisational capability and drive implementation. Their leadership and functional expertise enabled delivery of sales and marketing strategies for existing and new customer segments, products, and business channels. Alignment of resources, operations, and tactics with business strategy ensured achievement of revenue, margin, and NPS objectives, supporting the target to double revenue in four years.
Seven months after delivery of the Discovery Roadmap, the business was on track to achieve double-digit revenue growth and meet year-one margin and NPS goals. This success led to a fifth phase of engagement.
Phase 5: Strategic HR, Mentoring, and Mini Discovery Roadmap
A specialist was engaged to define a strategy and implement plans for leadership development and alignment of people and culture with business strategy. The CMO continued to mentor newly recruited talent, while the Chief Strategy Officer led a mini Discovery Roadmap to check strategic alignment and progress toward sustainable growth. The total period of engagement was 18 months.
The business is now achieving sustainable growth and is in its strongest organisational, competitive, and financial position in 30 years.