This was already an ambitious and capable business. The issue was not a lack of sales opportunity. It was whether the commercial and operational structure could develop quickly enough to support the growth being created.
Figures are approximate and reflect the position during the advisory period. The company is anonymised and the wider growth was delivered by its founders, management team and employees—not attributed to one adviser or one initiative.
Growth was creating opportunities—and exposing the gaps behind them
When I joined, the business generated approximately £500,000 in annual revenue and employed around six people. It sold equipment and associated services, but much of the commercial model remained focused on the initial transaction.
Three issues stood out. Support and maintenance were being provided without a properly structured recurring proposition. Consumables were being managed from the company’s own warehouse without the systems or capacity needed to scale. Stock, deployed assets and the balance-sheet position did not align clearly enough for management to rely on the information.
None of those issues stopped the business selling. But each one would become more expensive and harder to resolve as customer numbers and revenue increased.
My role
An outside commercial view, working alongside the management team.
I joined as a contracted Non-Executive Commercial Director. My contribution was to diagnose the commercial problems, challenge the existing model and help shape practical propositions, pricing and operating changes. The internal team then carried much of the day-to-day implementation as the business grew.
The aim was not simply to sell more. It was to improve what each customer could become worth.
Recurring revenue
Turn support from an informal promise into a contracted service
Customers had technical equipment in operation and knew where to go when they needed help, but there was no consistent commercial agreement supporting that relationship. The business was carrying the responsibility without capturing the full value.
I helped diagnose the opportunity and shape a maintenance and leasing proposition, including the pricing model and the financial structure needed to understand its contribution properly.
increase in annualised recurring revenue, reaching a run rate above £500,000 with an approximate gross margin of 43%.
Fulfilment
Remove the warehouse constraint before it limited the opportunity
The company was picking, packing and dispatching consumables from its own premises. There was limited system support for inventory, replenishment or expiry management, and growing the range would have required more space and more internal resource.
I reviewed and negotiated the third-party fulfilment arrangement, tested the market against alternative providers and helped move the model towards outsourced stock management and delivery. A customer ordering portal was then introduced to make repeat purchasing easier.
consumables revenue growth over approximately three years, with later order cut-offs, improved service levels and no need to build a larger internal picking operation.
Commercial control
Make the asset information useful to sales, operations and finance
Around £100,000 of stock and equipment sat across the warehouse and customer sites, while the asset registers and balance sheet did not provide a dependable view of what was held, where it was or what condition it was in.
I helped management establish clearer classification and location tracking: saleable stock, equipment needing repair and redundant assets requiring disposal. The ongoing position was then brought into month-end reporting and linked more closely to the contract and stock-management process.
Sales had better information for leasing and redeployment decisions, while management gained a more accurate commercial and financial view of the assets.
The commercial model became more capable of supporting the company being built
By the end of the advisory relationship, the business was approaching £8 million in annual revenue with around 40 employees. That wider achievement belonged to the founders, management team and staff who won customers, delivered the work and implemented change through a demanding period of growth.
My contribution was narrower and specific: help identify where value was being left behind, shape a recurring-revenue proposition, remove a non-core fulfilment constraint and improve the information used to manage stock and deployed assets.
Support and maintenance became a contracted commercial proposition.
Consumables growth no longer depended on internal warehouse capacity.
Asset information became more useful across sales, operations and finance.
The important commercial work is often sitting behind the original sale
Do not provide ongoing value informally
If customers continue to rely on the business after installation or sale, there may be a support, maintenance or managed-service proposition that has never been properly structured.
Do not scale a constraint just because it is familiar
Warehousing and fulfilment were not sources of competitive advantage here. Outsourcing created more capacity without turning the company into a larger logistics operation.
Growth makes weak information more expensive
Stock and asset inaccuracies that are manageable in a six-person business can quickly affect pricing, leasing, cash and customer decisions at a much larger scale.
Recognise the pattern?
This is relevant when a technically capable business is growing faster than the model behind it.
- Customers receive ongoing support that is not consistently contracted.
- Non-core operational work is starting to restrict growth.
- Revenue is rising but margin and customer value are not clear enough.
- Management information requires too much manual work to be dependable.