The three stages
What actually happens, stage by stage.
Most engagements start with an assessment and stop there, or carry on into a plan. Only some go all the way through execution. That is deliberate. You should get something useful from the first stage without committing to the next one.
Assess
2 to 4 weeks · Fixed fee
What happens
We start with what you want the business to do for you, because everything after that is measured against it. Then we look at the business five ways: how it is run, what matters in your sector, where value leaks, what drives the numbers, and how you win customers. Alongside that, the market, your competitors, your customers and your ledger. You and your leaders answer one short diagnostic. The rest is our work.
What you get
A clear read of where performance comes from, the opportunities and risks that matter, a recommended sequence, and the likely financial impact of each one. Including where our view and yours disagree, which is often the most useful part.
Plan
3 to 6 weeks · Fixed fee
What happens
We take the priorities worth acting on and turn them into a plan. Each one gets a named owner, a timeline, a cost, and an expected financial result. The ones not worth doing get written down as such, with the reason.
What you get
A plan the leadership team has agreed to, in enough detail that progress can be measured against it.
Execute
Typically 6 to 18 months
What happens
We stay involved. We help the person who owns each initiative keep it moving, and we track what it delivers against what was expected. Where the result does not appear, we work out why, then change the approach or stop.
What you get
A monthly view of what has been done, what it produced, and where it differs from plan.
What you see each month
One place where the work and the numbers sit together.
We run the tracking in the APG Platform, our own proprietary software, rather than a spreadsheet one person maintains. It means the picture is the same for everyone, and nothing depends on who remembers what was agreed.
Every initiative, and who owns it
What stage it is at, what is holding it up, and who is accountable for moving it.
Expected against delivered
What each initiative was expected to produce, what it has produced, and the gap between the two.
The effect on earnings
The cumulative effect of the work on earnings, reconciled back to your accounts.
What has changed since last month
New findings, revised estimates, and anything we now believe is wrong that we previously believed was right.
The test
If it does not show up in your accounts, we do not count it.
Every initiative is given an expected financial result before it starts. Each month we compare that estimate against what your accounts show. Where the two agree, the work is doing what we said it would. Where they do not, we say so and explain why, rather than quietly revising the estimate.
Some of it will be wrong. Estimates made before the work starts usually are, in both directions. The point is not that we predict perfectly. It is that you can see the difference between what was expected and what happened, every month, without having to ask for it.
How it adds up
From where earnings are now to where they could be.
Each initiative is a step. You can see what each one is expected to contribute, what they add up to together, and how far short of the target that still leaves you.
What the work is expected to add, and what is still uncovered.
Illustrative only, and not drawn from a client. Committed uplift of $2.2m at a 5x maintainable multiple is roughly $11m of enterprise value.
The gap on the right is the honest part. It is the distance between what the committed work covers and what you said you wanted. Most plans quietly close that gap with an assumption. We would rather leave it open and keep looking for the work that fills it.
How we charge and how we work
The commercial terms.
Fixed fee for the assessment and the plan
Scope and price agreed before we start. You know what it costs before you commit to it.
Monthly fee through execution
With a portion tied to measured results where that is appropriate for the work.
No equity
We do not take a stake in your business, and we are not positioning to buy it.
No taking over
Your team runs the business. Every initiative is owned by someone inside it, not by us.
What we will tell you
Where our judgement stops.
Some questions the data cannot answer. Some causes we can identify but not yet prove. Some estimates rest on assumptions that have not been tested in your business.
We write those down rather than filling the gap with a confident number. It is less satisfying to read, and it is the difference between a plan you can rely on and one that looks better than it is.
We will also tell you when we are not the right people for the problem, and when the work we have found is not worth what it would cost to do.
Clearer priorities. Stronger execution. Better performance.
Start with a Commercial Assessment. Two to four weeks for a fixed fee, and it stands on its own.
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