Let’s consider why you came here.

We hear a lot of stories. Some of the more usual ones are below. You may recognize your own situation in one or more of them, or you may have come here for an entirely different reason.

Regaining My Time to Do More of What I Want to Do

One restaurant owner had grown to two units and was about to open a third. But instead of preparing for the opening, he was still filling in whenever someone failed to show up at the first two. We refined and documented the procedures, including backup procedures, so the third unit, and the ones that followed, would not depend on him the same way. Side benefits included more control, lower costs, better customer experience, and higher sales.

Growing My Business Without Losing Control and Hurting the Brand

A business can be successful in one location and start running into problems as it grows. What worked when the owner could personally watch everything may not work across multiple locations. We refine what works, correct what does not, and build the structure and procedures needed to grow without losing control or weakening what made the business successful in the first place. When growth is done correctly, brand value actually increases.

Getting My Business Ready for Succession, Sale, or Raising Money

A business that works well for its current owner may not be ready for someone else to own, manage, or invest in. Preparing for succession, a sale, or outside capital often exposes weaknesses that were easy to live with before. When we institute a culture and procedures that make the business less owner dependent and especially when we show a clear strategy and structure for growth, we create value beyond its current ownership.

Getting My Business Back on Track.

A large convenience store chain needed to improve performance. We analyzed the contribution margin per square foot of different product categories and found opportunities that had been overlooked. Cut flowers, in particular, came out smelling like roses, but the company was not taking advantage of them. This was no different than doing a restaurant menu analysis. Sometimes getting a business back on track starts with looking at what you already have differently. This may mean procedures that are not being implemented correctly, or are not being implemented at all. At other times, the owner needs to envisage a completely new reality, and we help develop the path for reaching it.

Partners Going In Different Directions.

Two partners in a jewelry store business wanted to expand but disagreed on several important issues. One was flamboyant and enjoyed bargaining with customers over the store’s main product line; the other wanted standards and the most profitable product mix. Their differences extended to the staff. They came to us intending to franchise. We recommended prototype refinements, better financial visibility and controls, and structured growth. Eventually, they parted as friends. The second owner started over using much of what we had developed, but discovered that three stores, rather than a franchise system, gave him the business he wanted.

The Business You Have And the One You Want

Whatever brought you here, we need to understand the business you have before deciding what should change. But that only gives us half the picture. We also need a sufficiently clear picture of the business you want, including what you want from it.

We call these your Current Reality and your New Reality. Neither is a single condition or objective. Each is made up of many circumstances and the elements that create them. The work is to determine which elements need to change, which should remain, and how those changes affect the rest of the business.

To understand either reality well enough to act on it, we need to look beyond what is happening. We need to understand when and where it happens, who is involved, why it happens, how it happens, and what makes it possible.

Looking at each circumstance this way helps expose what might otherwise be missed. A change that appears simple may depend on who has authority, when information becomes available, where responsibility sits, why people act as they do, or whether the means to carry it out actually exist. It also helps us see when solving one problem could create another.

It is also important to note it has been understood and tested for millennia that any circumstance can be fully exposed by using these seven elements, What, When, Where, Who, Why, In What Way, and By What Means. Going beyond that simply does not help to clarify the situation.

At Turngrow, we refer to these seven elements of circumstances as the 7CS. Not every circumstance needs a complete 7CS analysis to become clear. We stop when we have reached sufficient clarity.

Do not underestimate the work involved in establishing both the Current Reality and the New Reality. It requires much more than a memory dump and a wish list. You need to observe what you have like you have never observed it before; take your time, look both within and without your business, and record what you learn.

Establishing the New Reality firmly in your mind is even more important. We will guide you, but you cannot abdicate the work. In a very real sense, you have to turn over every detail of what you want in your mind until a sufficiently complete picture emerges. Then you have to challenge it until you are convinced you can reach it.

The Difference Between the Two Tells Us What Must Change

Once the two realities are sufficiently clear, the differences between them tell us what needs to change. Some things may need to be added, removed, improved, or simply done differently. And because the parts of a business affect one another, we can test proposed changes against the New Reality before deciding what to do.

This work may require taking a step back to fix a foundational issue before moving ahead with your new strategy and structure. The process we use when moving ahead is highly iterative: we test as we go and go back and adjust as needed. Early in the process, we subject the proposed outcome to detailed feasibility testing, drawing on hundreds of previous scenarios, and refine the model as we progress through the project.

What This May Mean for Your Business

What needs to change depends on the business you have and the one you want. Sometimes the immediate need is to fix what is not working. Sometimes it is to build on what is working and grow. Sometimes the business itself needs to be restructured. Often, work in one area leads naturally into another.

Turnaround

Here we are talking about operational turnaround. We treat financial and structural turnaround separately under Restructuring, as described below.

Sometimes the main need is a culture change, systems refinement, fuller implementation of existing systems, better documentation, or a combination of these and other improvements. At other times, what first appears to be an operating problem exposes a problem with the structure, economics, or relationships supporting the larger enterprise.

Turnaround does not necessarily mean rescuing a failing business. A business may be profitable and successful and still need turnaround work before it is ready for what comes next.

Growth

Growth can mean making the business you already have more productive and valuable, expanding it, adding new products or services, reaching new customers or markets, or developing additional channels of distribution. It can also mean franchising, licensing, acquisitions, or other ways of using what the business has already created.

Growth also changes the business. More locations, people, customers, products, and relationships create new demands on management and systems. We therefore look not only at how to grow, but at what must change so the larger business remains under control and becomes less, rather than more, dependent on you.

Most importantly, growth is not a one time event. It is a business state in and of itself, and must be recognized as such and made part of the identity of the business, its owners, management, and staff.

Restructuring

Restructuring may become necessary when the relationships and arrangements that once constituted the business structure no longer support what the business needs to do. Control may have become inadequate, compensation arrangements may prevent needed services from being added, owner objectives may conflict with unit-level profitability, or disagreements within a channel may have grown into open conflict.

These problems cannot always be solved by improving operations or rewriting an agreement. We look at the underlying structure, including who does what, who controls what, how each participant is compensated, and whether the interests of the parties can be brought into sufficient alignment for the relationship to work.

Sometimes the existing structure can be adjusted. At other times, substantial parts of it need to be redesigned. The objective is not to preserve the existing structure simply because it exists, nor to change more than necessary. It is to develop a structure capable of supporting the business and the relationships it depends on.

If financial restructuring is also required, the structural work must come first and culminate in projections that make re-financing possible.