Summary:

I was engaged to work with this firm to push into a new market. The firm had already branched out from their traditional background of residential extensions and refurbishments within the north of the country but were hungry for more growth. One idea had been to expand into commercial projects in the south east. The main challenge was a lack of foothold in terms of contacts and awareness, so an outbound business development strategy was formulated and executed. In the short term one major new client was delivered and a framework for sourcing further business was created for the firm to work from.

Client:

The client is a firm with around twenty staff across two north eastern offices and a 30 year history, mainly within residential refurbishment and extensions. Recently there had been some internal restructuring and a growth in residential care work which had always been part of the practice’s portfolio but not necessarily something which was concentrated on. Along with this some refit work had been picked up for industrial logistics which had proved to be both profitable and successful.

Challenge:

The directors had ambitious growth targets for the business, were open to new ways of thinking and recognised that a different strategic approach would be needed to what the firm had traditionally used. The main issue was that though they had completed some projects in the south, they weren’t well known in the area and didn’t have a large network of contacts.

Approach:

The directors were keen to capitalise on diversified streams of work and after completing a strategy workshop the key growth areas were decided to be residential care and industrial logistics. After some discussion it was decided that a subtle rebrand and reworking of the website would be necessary so that there was clear differentiation in the offering and so that the messaging could be tailored to the relevant client bases. 

A business development plan was created beginning with some industry analysis, detailed prospect lists and a game plan for each segment. Outbound email templates were created along with an automated flow; this was run alongside outbound phone calls to generate meetings with the directors.

Results:

Within a month the targeted approach had led to securing a key client in the form of one of the UK’s leading developers of commercial property. A tranche of warm leads were moving down the pipeline and the framework was handed over to the firm to continue developing in house. Additional ad hoc support was agreed to be supplied at 2 days every quarter to oversee the success of the process and amend the approach if necessary.

Conclusion:

The workshop gave shape and form to the firm’s strategic direction and valuable validation of the directors’ initial thoughts on diversification. The process not only provided immediate results in the form of a new key client but also equipped the firm with a robust framework for ongoing business development.

If you’re looking to explore new markets or refine your business strategy, similar workshops and tailored planning can help create a routemap for sustainable and resilient growth. Drop me a line at nathan@nbstrategy.co.uk for a free initial consultation.