Print and Label

A privately owned Print and Labelling business

We were referred by the company’s bankers to this business which was suffering from a decline in sales. The owners were unable to resolve the problem.

We broadened the assignment to include a review of the structure and processes within the business as well as the area of sales. We worked with the Sales Manager in customer meetings to determine the level of competency and also monitored production processes and internal staff performance. We recommended:

• A change in the internal factory floor structure to offer the business more flexibility in sub contracting
• A change in sales and marketing strategy to focus on the business USP and target the market more effectively
• A change in Sales Manager given that we felt that they were ineffective and not trainable to the required level
• The promotion of a member of staff to the position of General Manager allowing the owners to reach their desired state of ‘hands off’

We involved two consultants here, one for General Management & Strategy and Sales/Marketing and one in HR for the restructuring/redundancy/recruitment process.

We led from the front on Sales and presented the USP to new customers and new potential markets – after two months of presenting this we had secured five new customers who on an annualised basis would add 20% to the sales revenues at gross margins some 15% above ‘commodity’ print work. The new General Manager adapted well and the reduced fixed cost on the factory floor allowed flexibility in sub contracting in certain jobs with a slight dilution in gross margin more than compensated by the better mix of sales in margin terms. We advised on recruitment and at the end of our assignment the owners had appointed a new Sales Manager.