A few years ago, we suggested a significant change to the way one of our clients priced their products.
From our perspective, their pricing strategy was holding back both growth and profitability.
The client wasn’t convinced.
“That will be really complicated to implement. All our customers will be confused,” they told us. “Surely there are other ways we can improve our bottom line…”
In one sense, they were right. Changing a pricing structure can be complicated. It takes planning, communication and careful execution.
But complexity doesn’t make something the wrong thing to do.
What they were really expressing wasn’t concern about pricing. It was concern about change.
It’s a challenge we come across from time to time.
Businesses engage us because they want better financial management. They want stronger profitability, better visibility, improved cash flow and a clearer path to growth.
But at the same time, many have become attached to the systems, processes and ways of working that got them to where they are today.
That’s understandable.
The problem is that the systems, processes and habits that helped you build a £1 million business are often the very things that prevent you building a £5 million one.
Growth involves change.
If you want to increase revenue and profitability, you probably can’t keep doing exactly what you’re doing today.
You may need to change your financial systems. You may need to change the way you manage cash. You may need to rethink which products or services deserve the greatest focus. You may need to target different markets, adopt new technology or even revisit your pricing structure.
When you work with Insight Associates, that’s part of what you’re signing up for.
We’re not simply here to report the numbers. We’re here to help improve them.
That requires us to understand your business in depth – how it works, what drives performance, where the bottlenecks are and where the opportunities lie. It requires partnership, trust and a willingness to challenge assumptions on both sides. And it requires an openness to change.
It’s very different to a traditional accountancy practice.
Traditional accounting tells you what happened financially in your business last month or last year.
We start by asking a different question:
“What needs to happen next to make those numbers better next year?”
Incidentally, the client did make the change.
It wasn’t effortless or simple. But it worked, and their profitability improved significantly.
That’s often how change works in business. The difficult part isn’t implementing it. The difficult part is deciding to do it in the first place.
If you know your business is capable of more, but you’re not entirely sure what needs to change to get there, we’d love to talk.
Simply email garry@insightassociates.co.uk or call us on 01279 647 447 for a no-obligation conversation.
Warmly,
Garry
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