Description of Projects completed in 2008/09/10

1. Port Folio
Sales & Marketing Consultancy
Siobhán ní Chofaigh
nichofaigh@gmail.com
087 2390096
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2. Owner/Director
NoNi Lifestyle Ltd (T/A Sunkiss)
Ennis
Co. Clare
www.sunkiss.ie
In March 2009 we opened our first beauty retail premises in Ennis. My responsibilities
include
1) Weekly break even analysis
2) Ongoing customer and market analysis. This includes interviewing customers and
competitive feedback. We use this feedback to develop new products, services for
our customers and to tweak those services that are not fulfilling the customer needs.
3) Pricing the services based on the ‘Value in Use’ model. This model studies the
market and all (direct/indirect) competition. A measurement is made of the value of
the service to the customer and a price is set based on this. An example of this would
be where we started our PowerPlate exercise packages at a package price and had
limited uptake. I began a competitive analysis and calculated that the value in use
was lower than our price. Once I readjusted the price our sales have increased
significantly and increased profitability.
4) Preparation of an operations manual for the shop. This manual includes sales
processes, cross selling, customer service, purchasing system, equipment care etc.
The manual strengthens the repeatability of processes and will be the foundation of
the shop and consequent shops operations.
5) Contact with the press, press releases and advertising campaigns
6) Team management including developing sales campaigns,developing compensation
and bonus schemes
After 15 months in operation we have over 2,000 clients on our data base. We have
calculated our repeat clients at 40%. I am currently conducting a campaign to increase the
repeats to 50% in 2010 and ongoing to over 60%. There are 3 employees and we are on track
to being profitable by the end of 2010.
The average spend per customer is €52 the introduction of better cross selling opportunities
should increase this spend to €65.
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3. Our 2nd
facility will open in Limerick in summer 2010. The concept is to ‘systemise’ our
business that it can be ‘cut and pasted’ into other locations.
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4. Business Consultant with
M & M Nurseries
Mick Sheahan (owner)
Bunrevan
Birr, Co. Offaly
Phone: 057 9123833; email: info@mandmbirr.ie;
http://www.mandmbirr.ie/
In June 2009 I began working with Mick Sheahan of M&M Nurseries. We began doing a
cost/profit analysis on the products and services being offered. The next task was to segment
the business and using the cost profit analysis to understand the business model
It was apparent from the analysis that
a) Some services were not covering the costs associated with them
b) Services while profitable had very little market due to the economic downturn
c) 3 segments were identified to target for the short and medium term
The breakeven analysis for the identified segments was calculated and a template prepared to
monitor it.
A campaign was initiated to benefit from this segmentation. M&M honed in on the short
term targets. We developed a process to increase the value per sale across the board. For the
medium term targets the pitch maintenance segment was chosen for the spring/summer 2010
season.
To enable M&M to accurately target the segment a further analysis was needed
1) Profile the target customers
2) What are their needs as they seem them? Please note this is often misstaken for what
are their needs as the supplier sees them
3) Is the service provided by M&M really addressing these needs? What could we
change?
4) What is the value of this solution to the customer?
5) What is the potential profitability of the project?
The project ended with a list of target customers, a price analysis and a clear, consistent
credible message for the targets based on their needs.
Testimonial from Mick Sheahan owner M&M Nurseries
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5. Siobhán has helped me understand the business better and the importance of daily/weekly
cash and activity reviews. I have started to visualise my business as a number of different
businesses all servicing different customers with different needs. My objective now is to be
more customer centric and satisfy their needs to achieve my own goals.
Sales & Marketing Consultant
Beta Layout Ireland Ltd
Elizabeth Nolan (Managing Director)
Shannon Free Zone; Co. Clare
Phone 061 701170; http://www.beta-layout.com/btuk/index.html
From Jan to April 2008 I worked with Beta Layout Ireland as a consultant. During the final
quarter of 2007 the MD was aware of a slight dip in UK sales. I was asked to look at this dip,
ascertain its cause and put steps in place to stem it and to return to growth.
The 150 of the 300 UK based customers were chosen. A full analysis was conducted into
their 3 year sales pattern, the performance of their marketplace and their position in it. The
top 50 were then chosen based on their history with Beta, the growth potential of the market
and the actual company. A questionnaire was developed and I interviewed the 50 companies
either in person or by telephone. Some of the questions asked were
1) Who is the decision maker in the purchasing process?
1) Do you have another supplier for these products?
2) What percentage of your business does Beta have?
3) How could Beta grow that percentage?
This enabled us to gain an understanding of the customer’s purchasing model. The average
purchase order in Beta is low ~€100 and the interviews revealed that it was the engineer
himself who placed this order no further approval was needed. In a team of 6 engineers there
could be 6 suppliers of the same products with price, availability and relationship being the
key decision points. We initiated a campaign to introduce Beta Layout to the department
managers and to prepare solutions to demonstrate the increased buying power by
concentrating on less suppliers.
A niche market was discovered which was not being uniquely serviced by any manufacturer.
A proposal was prepared for the CEO of the overall company with some direction on how to
penetrate the market and capitalise.
Testomonial from Elizabeth Nolan Managing Director
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6. Siobhán worked with my UK sales team to understand our sales process and the customers
from our point of view. She then spoke at length with our key and potential customers to
recognise the customer’s practises and needs. The insights we gleaned from this process was
very useful in helping us reposition ourselves in the UK market. Also during this time she
carried out some sales functions such as quote management and participation in a trade
show.
Chairperson with
Choiste Comharchumann Ráth Cairn
Pádraic Mac Craith (Bainisteoir)
Ráth Cairn, Co. Meath
Phone 046 9432068; http://www.rathcairn.net
I was elected to the chair of the board of Comharchumann Ráth Cairn, a community
development group in the Ráth Cairn Gaeltacht in Meath. The economic situation has
reduced the income of the the CCR in terms of state grants, bar takings and a reduction in
courses teaching Irish while costs have remained the same. My aim as Chairperson is to rein
in the costs and increase the revenue of the bar and courses.
I am developing the following tools to help improve the understanding difficulties and to
exploit the capabilities of the CCR and area.
1) Monthly cash flow statements and revenue/cost monthly projections. The CCR has
two forms of income that it can control. By having a clearer picture of the incoming
and outgoings of the organisation we can start to plug holes and make some reduction
on costs. The overall objective is that the CCR team and the board will have instant
access to the operations finances.
2) Prepare the job profile of the team. This in conjunction with an operations checklist
for the community centre will help ensure that the tasks being understaken are real
and necessary. It will also reveal the activities that are not being carried out. It is
planned to improve the efficiencies of the team.
3) Business plan for 2010 and 2011 to be completed. The plans will include estimates
for the years and the development plan.
4) Implement a purchase order system
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7. With planning and weekly reporting the efficiency of the administration can be increased and
new projects can be planned.
Testimonial from Padraic Mac Craith Manager.
I am very grateful that Siobhán has been elected to the chair. More than any other time in
our history the Comharchumann needs a business outlook to help drive the CCR. Our
objectives are to reduce costs, increase income in the short/medium term. However, the
needs and vision of the local Irish speaking community must be also be addressed and
respected and Siobhán being from the community understands those needs well. Siobhán
works closely with me to build the team to face the challenges that we face.
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8. Marketing Consultant with
Ruth Toomey Executive Coaching
Dublin
087 2408609
Ruth completed a post graduate qualification in Executive Coaching with the IMI in 2009. She has
spent many years working in senior management in the Pharmaceutical industry and chose to target
them specifically. While the Pharma industry has always been very open to people development it
like all other industries has cut back on this form of training.
The challenge was to determine what senior management challenges the CEO of a company could
face and position Ruth’s service to help alleviate it.
From the outset I introduced the Value In Use model to price the service, including analysing all
available forms of coaching. A competitive analysis was completed including a SWOT of all
‘coaching’ services including external courses, in-house training and university courses.
A number of target segments were chosen and their difficulties such as finance, staff reductions,
pressure from Headquarters. A major threat was identified in that the organisations are very
influenced by their senior management. Using value in use it was calculated that a bad decision in
promoting or hiring a senior manager can cost 3 times the salary in year 1. Ruth would position her
service to assist her clients in making better promotion/hire decisions.
A cohesive and credible message was prepared to target this niche.
Testimonial from Ruth Toomey
I believe in Executive Coaching and I am confident of it’s importance in the modern
company. However, the Chief Executive of today is consumed by economic and survival
issues and cannot always see the need to spend money and time on coaching. Siobhán was
instrumental in getting me to understand this and to mould my business proposal to help
alleviate some of their ‘real’ issues. The insight into the cost of poor promotions or bad
hires is an important facet of my proposals to the Chief Executives. It is a message that they
can relate to. Our pricing exercise also helped me better position myself against the many
competitive offerings in the field.
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9. Business Consultant to
Cauldron Studios
Dublin
Ciarán Byrne- Director
01 8603633
www.cauldronstudios.com
Cauldron Studios need to expand to grow. Their current capacity can manage 80% of the
business needs with 20% of clients being referred to other studios. There are also other
recording opportunities in Dublin that could be exploited with the right space and the right
equipment.
An investment is required and to discuss this with the bank, a business plan was needed. The
plan we prepared included sections on customers, competition, operations, finance etc. There
was a clear and consistent path outlined from initial estimates to business development.
Testimonial from Ciarán Byrne
By working with Siobhán I started to see my business as others might. It was crucial to have
an outsider ask hard questions of my assumptions and projections. In particular I learned
about my competition and how they are never far behind and have to be managed. The
financial exercise was also good to judge this moment in time vs my future plans. During the
process we also unearthed some other opportunities that had not been considered in our
initial plans. We now have a comprehensive business plan and a step by step guide to our
future.
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10. Business Consultant
ActionCoach
Howth
Co. Dublin
Paul Fagan- Director
http://www.actioncoachireland.com/
In 2008 ActionCoach Ireland was looking for opportunities to grow their business. I
completed a analysis of the market and segmented it. Interviews conducted included
Managing Directors of the County Enterprise Boards of Dublin and Offaly, CEO of VIVAS
to better understand the needs of small to medium enterprises in Ireland.
Founder member of
Fascadh
http://fascadh.blogspot.com/2010/05/next-meeting.html
As many people, specifically women leave the corporate world to start their own home based
businesses we noticed that a phenomenon we describe as ‘business lonely’ existed. We
started a group to help people share their skills and their challenges. We have recently started
a blog and the membership of the group is 15.
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