Our Business Planning Service

(The following content is extracted from the text of the E-Course presently being written).

The BDBD Business Planning Service is directed toward the provision of assistance to a Client in the development of a full business review culminating in a business plan to raise the appropriate level and mix of capital funding, both equity and debt, to make the business a success.

Our review takes in the totality of the business and is provided under a programme of timetabled activities agreed at the outset with the Client.

 
Advantages of Our Service

Our own objective is to associate with quality clients.

In simple terms, we consider such a client to be one who:

 Seeks to give a high quality product or service

And

Gives the fullest attention to his or her business

And

     Ensures he or she has the most efficient workforce

                             with good employee relations                          

And

Uses the most appropriate equipment and assets

And

                 Is fully aware of his or her marketplace, competition and pricing options                   

And

Seeks an adequate level of financing

 
Such a Client has a better chance of success and is worthy of the best of assistance.  Our role, in short, is to help the Client evaluate and determine his or her "best" options and to assist in the achievement of these.
 
The Business Planning Service is a comprehensive approach which includes not only analysis and advice, but also involves "grooming" the client for the due diligence of a prospective investor, and which culminates in introducing the client to appropriate investors and assisting with negotiations.
 

THE BDBD BUSINESS PLANNING SERVICE

 
Before moving on to present how it works, I should address how it matches up to the criticisms as described in the Chapter dealing with “The Other Services Available”. 

1        It is not a free service

2      However, neither is it nearly as expensive as that of the Accounting Firm.

3        A "front-end" budget is agreed with the client - and payments are spread over the planning period.

4        The planning period is generally up to 5 months - but can be spread over a longer period to suit the client - or the service can be broken down into modules

5        Because of the full research which is carried out, if the results at any stage indicate that the client should cease the operation, payments stop at the level reached.

6        Our Service, unlike so many others, is a complete advisory and supervisory one, including the overseeing of your management audit process; grooming for the Investor’s Due Diligence and the preparation of detailed Financial Models tailored to this market.

 PLEASE NOTE 

I HAVE PROBABLY ADVISED AS MANY CLIENTS "NOT TO PROCEED" AS THOSE I HAVE ASSISTED TO GO FORWARD.  THIS WOULD NORMALLY RELATE TO POOR MARKET PROSPECTS.

7        We are not engaged in other activities such as auditing, tax etc.  This is our main activity and we know how this marketplace works.

          WE DO NOT TAKE ON MANY CLIENTS ANNUALLY

Confidentiality Of Our Engagements

​

We are occasionally asked to provide the names of clients we have worked with in the past, but, as with other professionals such as solicitors and accountants, we simply do not do this.  It is also the case that all of our engagements are strictly confidential and this is an integral part of the preliminaries to our contract of engagement.  We always sign confidentiality agreements with each potential client at the commencement of discussions leading to negotiations, to permit all such discussions to be conducted in a complete and thorough manner and to permit the client to divulge commercially critical information with confidence.
     

The reasons for this approach are simple .   Our origins were within the field of company doctoring.  We found that such a reputation may not be immediately helpful to clients who might wish to keep the state of their business known only to themselves.   

Then, our involvement might have been of interest to a client’s creditors.   

Nowadays, our involvement might be of interest to a client’s competitors.    

We are, of course, very careful not to become involved in any potential conflict of interest.

   In other words, we cannot ourselves be the judge of when such disclosure would be harmful to any client, therefore, we never disclose our involvement with any client, past or present, excepting to third parties, such as potential investors or lenders, at the request of the client.

     We can say, however, that some years ago, we were, we understand, one of only seventy companies within the United Kingdom, which were consulted by the Innovations Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry for the provision of information regarding a Government White Paper commissioned  to review the methods of funding new high-tech development companies.  

We were advised later that such advices as we then tendered assisted in the decision to promote the development of bio-medical organisations in the Cambridge area.

To sum up, therefore, as it stands, clients can, if they wish, talk about us - but we can never talk about the clients, unless they ask us to,  however, we have found that, in practice, our past Clients have themselves applied the same binding strictures to themselves in full accord with our mutual agreements.

Our Business Planning Service

So, after you have read the next section outlining how the Service is provided, if you have any situation in which we could possibly give assistance, please just use the Contact Form provided within the Contact Details Page, and we'll respond rapidly to your enquiry. 

Go ahead, what have you got to lose?

No Simple Panacea - But Universally Applicable For Good Reason.

Most people entering business on their own behalf will soon learn that Banks do not lend money for the benefits of your business; they only lend to benefit their own.  So it is, that a common problem can arise if you have worked hard to build up your enterprise and, having achieved a good reputation and being offered larger and more frequent orders, suddenly, you may encounter the inevitable rebuff at your Bank when you next request an uplift in your overdraft facility.  "Sorry, but you're now overtrading" could well be the answer you receive.  Why, you may ask, should this happen?  The answer to that is simply because the precious security of available free equity in the family home and cash-in values of insurance policies will no longer be enough to satisfy the Bank, regardless of how responsible a customer you have been.  Loyalty from Banks these days is a pretty rare commodity indeed.   So, now, with a possibly healthy order, and provided there is some evidence of growth within your chosen market sector, this would be the "Classic Time" to seek Institutional Venture Capital, and, therefore, the time where our services can be most potent for you.  If this description is familiar to you, read below, then give us a call.  We would be delighted to help you prove your Banker wrong.

The Classic Situation When Our Service Is Required.

Business, Corporate, & Strategic Plans to raise Private Equity Finance via Venture Capital & Bank Loans with Profit Improvements studies and full Management Audit, providing Financial Ratios for Control to achieve Corporate Turnarounds.

As you will observe, my Business Planning Service offers no simple panacea.  Instead, it incorporates a complete analysis starting from valid, recommended market research reports, right through to a thorough examination of the operational aspects of the business and culminating in the completion of in-depth financial models most suited to the type of business under review.  You would not expect it to be less if you are seeking substantial funds in excess of £1 million from any investor.  

However, in terms of the degree of investment and commitment to any enterprise, in my opinion, the greatest overall risk and investment is actually made by the entrepreneur himself or herself. 

In this respect, therefore, there is no reason why the type of service I offer should be limited to the mere raising of finance from any party.  Instead, when one comes to think about it, should it not be the case that all small business enterprises should be encouraged at least once, in their start-up period, to undertake such a systematic approach to developing their business for the longer term? 

Certainly, when you consider the "First Deadly Statistic" I mentioned earlier, you will probably not be surprised to be told that it is my opinion, based upon my many years of experience as a company doctor, that the single most prominent reason for such a catastrophic level of Business Enterprise failures, is that of bad to non-existent business planning from the outset.  Yet equally, there is no reason why any or all of the methodologies I present within my ECourse should not be applied, as appropriately tailored, to each and every new-start Enterprise and also to those already in existence where a fulsome review could be of enormous benefit to their survival as well as to their future enhanced development prospects .