Background
Glo are a full-service IT company, with more than 12 years’ experience of providing outstanding services and solutions to customers in Bridgend, throughout Wales, and the UK.
Glo appointed Mustard Advisers as their trusted business advisers to help them to achieve stable, sustainable growth, and to enable the business owner, Chris Connor, to spend more time with his family.
Challenges
In common with many owner-managed businesses, Glo had gone through periods of growth followed by contraction, and the business was too heavily dependent on the business owner; this limited the ultimate size of the business, and Chris was working harder than ever.
Whilst Glo has always scored extremely highly on Net Promotor Score customer service ratings, the team did not always feel appreciated by their customers, and found that the time they spent with challenging customers was not always reflected in the fees they were paid, or the satisfaction they were getting from working with them.
How we helped
Working closely with Chris, we applied the Mustard Diagnostic tool to understand where the business was creating value, and identify opportunities to create more value. We took time to understand Chris’s values – his “Why” – and what he is passionate about, and found that the business’s pricing structure was discouraging customers from doing the things that gave Chris the most enjoyment. With our support, Chris and the team put together a new pricing model which was easier for customers to understand, and encouraged customers to get the maximum value from the services and skills that Glo wanted to provide.
We helped Chris to identify the characteristics of an “A” class customer – the ones he and the team really enjoyed dealing with, and “D” class customers – the ones people dreaded talking to; and how to encourage “C” and “D” class customers to work in the way that gets the best out of Glo.
We challenged Chris on the future strategic direction of the business, to ensure that future growth is sustainable, and that the strategic direction is consistent with the things that give Chris and the team the most satisfaction.
Outcomes
The business has grown by 20% in the first six months of working with Mustard, and already on course to exceed a challenging growth budget for 2019. New appointments will enable Chris to spend less time managing the day-to-day, and more time doing the things he really enjoys.
Chris has been able to help the larger “D” class customers to work in a different way – they are getting much more value from the services that Glo provide, and the team are getting much more satisfaction from working with them.
The team at Glo are highly engaged and motivated, and exceeding performance expectations.
