Typical reasons for these business reviews and business plans include:

• an independent overview of the business in order to provide advice on how the business can be improved.
  
• a marketing plan in order to develop into a new area or improve the methods for developing existing areas.
  
• succession planning. The owner wants to retire and needs a business plan on how to change the business so that it is suitable to be sold or handed over to their children.
  
• advise on mergers, or developing new products or services.
  
• to raise finance, either from a bank or from a mixture of long term loans, overdraft facilities and grants.

A business review normally takes 2 days and a business plan for a small business between three and five days. We spend the first day with the owners / managers in your premises reviewing the business and how it works. We then write the business review or the business plan, and discuss it with you in detail on a return visit. The areas we normally cover include:

• Background and Profile of the Business - we need to understand where you have come from.
  
• Mission, Objectives and Strategy - we help you to define where you want to go and how you want to get there.
  
• Management and Organisation - we review with you the people that are required to achieve the objectives.
  
• Services and Products - we review the past, present and future services and products.
  
• Production or Delivery of the Service - we review how the services or products are produced and delivered.
  
• Marketing - we review the existing marketing methods and make recommendations as appropriate.
  
• Customer Care - we review customer care because this is fundamental to the success of a business.
  
• Systems and Procedures - we review how you carry out your operations and can advise on quality systems etc.
  
• Training - we help you to define what training and development is required for yourselves and your staff.
  
• Financial - we review the financial control methods, and as appropriate prepare budgets and cashflow forecasts.
  
• Business Plan - we address the specific requirements of the business plan, eg. any finance required.