In2Focus Case Studies
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In2Focus Success Stories
Discover how In2Focus helped businesses achieve their goals
At In2Focus, we are proud to have worked with a diverse range of clients across a variety of industries. Our case studies showcase the impact of our consulting services on businesses from various sectors including farming, healthcare, hospitality, retail and government agencies. These case studies provide a glimpse into the unique challenges and opportunities that each of our clients faced, and how we were able to help them achieve their goals.
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Company Alpha’s sales had been declining rapidly for just over a year. They realised that the status quo could not keep where it was. The CEO had built Alpha up into a medium sized healthcare company. He now had to ask for a new insight and advice on how to turn things around. I was recommended to the CEO by a third party we both knew.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
The sales and marketing function at Alpha needed to be updated as soon as possible. The CEO needed to work only as a CEO, leading and directing the strategies of Alpha instead of also managing the whole organisation. He had to trust his management team to manage.
Alpha needed to recruit both an experienced sales and marketing manager, and a product manager. I ran learning and development sessions for the whole organisation. I helped the CEO with the job descriptions for new staff.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
I advised and helped to implement Alpha’s new sales strategy and campaign. I trained Alpha’s sales team in dealing with newly identified customer groups. I helped Alpha select and recruit the services of experienced managers. I introduced a policy to Alpha that communication must be open and transparent. Over the following months more professionals joined.
The Actions that occurred
A year later, Alpha’s sales had doubled. They were now running as a smooth and well-oiled operation. The CEO had been approached by multinationals to sell Alpha to them. My final advice at Alpha was to keep on the same trajectory for a few more years (calling and retaining me on a needs basis), which was done. Eventually Alpha was sold to a large multinational for a life changing fee for the CEO and the board.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Uncovering the Mystery of Declining Sales in a Company
1.2
Epsilon had found that their sales had been declining at an increasing rate over the last three years and they needed to address this problem. Worryingly all Epsilon’s main competitors had increasing sales over the same time period. The CEO of Epsilon had dismissed two sales directors during this time frame and the new sales director was struggling to remedy what her predecessors had unsuccessfully tried before.
Epsilon’s sales could not continue to decline at the rate they were, as in a few years’ time they could be out of business. The CEO over the last two years was becoming more and more involved in running the sales department. He was running out of ideas to halt his company’s sales decline. The question the CEO was asking why was Epsilon losing sales? We have great products.
The CEO wanted a ‘fresh’ insight and new advice on how to turn things around. Various consultants including me were suggested him, and all had to pitch their propositions to him and the sales director. My pitch was successful and I was given the project.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
I had my initial meetings only with the CEO, who was very honest and transparent about the problem Epsilon was facing. He gave me a very good insight into Epsilon and his present thinking about what to do, including dismissing his sales director. I needed to talk to Epsilon’s whole sales department, and any other departments that dealt directly with the customers. I would organise meetings with customers to investigate further.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
I had meetings with all the directors of Epsilon different departments to gain a better understanding and insight of Epsilon as a company. I looked at the resumes of the previous sales directors and the present one, and they were all impressive. I didn’t believe that the problem was the sales director, but I had to go and meet all individual staff with an open mind and clean slate. Epsilon’s products were good and well-known, it was quite a mystery to me.
I met all Epsilon’s staff and I am still couldn’t get a good insight into the whys of the problem faced. I noticed a few in the sales department who I had met up with were not as open and fore coming as they should have been, even after much prompting from me.
The next stage was to meet customers, the national sales manager of one sales section within the sales department insisted on either his manager or his ‘top rep’ coming out with me to meetings with the customers his section focused on. I decided I would go separately but would give him the courtesy of letting him know who I was meeting.
At my first arranged meeting with a main customer, his ‘top rep’ tried to hijack the meeting by getting their early claiming to represent me but the customer had realised something was wrong and she was shown the door.
Once everything was cleared up with the main customer I had an interesting and insightful meeting with him and in that one meeting I found out what Epsilon’s problem was. He told me that the rep, her manager and her national manager did unethical business and he wanted no part of it.
The CEO couldn’t wait to meet me the following day, at the meeting I made him aware of what I had found out from the customer. The ‘top rep’, her manager and national manager were doing serious damage to Epsilon sales and reputation, resulting in increasing loss of orders and not only that it was also affecting the other sales sections of Epsilon’s sales department as word got out between customers.
The Actions that occurred
After a thorough investigation, the unethical employees were all dismissed. They were all replaced by experienced and ethical professionals selected and recruited with my help and support. The sales director had contacted and met with customers apologising for what the three unethical and dishonest dismissed employees had been doing. The decline had been stopped, and Epsilon’s sales were starting to recover and increase slowly.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Revitalising a Non-Profit's Business with a New Marketing Strategy
1.3
I was contacted by a third party, who had spoken to an ex-colleague at a non-profit organisation, and believed that my services would be most welcomed there. Non-Profit organisation Beta is a well-established non-profit organisation who was experiencing a decline in government business and hence profit, due to increased competition. They may be a non-profit organisation but they are also a ‘not for loss’ organisation as they still have to make profit to survive.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
The first thing they needed to do was to learn about and know all their customers. I was shocked when I saw their main customer excel spreadsheet, which was a total mess, it had not been updated in over ten years, and even then the information inputted had no use. This needed to be updated and made user friendly.
More time was needed to be agreed by senior leadership to be found for the various managers and their teams to meet the all-important customers (who would employ their clients). Presently all their time was spent dealing with the very challenging targets set by the senior leadership, to meet with the clients sent to them by the government’s employment agency. If Beta couldn’t get enough customers to give their clients employment, then the clients would be moved onto one of Beta’s many competitors.
Beta’s team members were spending too much with challenging and problematic clients, which meant other more employable clients were being lost due to lack of time and they were going to the competition instead. This needed to be addressed, as in the long run everyone loses out.
Beta’s representatives would meet the very large customer organisations and the customers who owned small businesses, but no organisations in between, this needed to be addressed.
The marketing function needed to be updated as soon as possible. The absent senior leaders seemed to trust their teams but were never there, at least the manager I was working with had good access to them. Beta needed to keep up to date with the changes in their sector, as they were losing business they were not even aware of. I discovered that they needed to become involved with the NDIS.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
Firstly, I needed to get the customer list up to date and made it user friendly so all staff could use and share it as a live document. I trained the staff in using the new customer recording system. Next I renewed and improved their marketing function, and helped design relevant marketing materials for their potential and existing customers. I designed and implemented a new marketing strategy for Beta.
After attending a NDIS meeting, I identified lots of new business Beta was missing out on. I wrote a report pointing out all the NDIS opportunities for Beta. I recommended and concluded that a dedicated NDIS executive should be employed as soon as possible, and as the business grew then a NDIS team should be set up. My report was passed onto the absent senior leadership, and no feedback was received. I found this to be a common theme, management would acknowledge my reports but senior leadership would never give any feedback. It seemed that sending information to the senior leadership was like sending things down a black hole.
Beta’s team members were given more time to meet customers at different sized businesses to secure employment slots for their clients. I helped and advised Beta on training its staff on how to approach and access potential customers, and how to use the various marketing materials I had developed for them.
The Actions that occurred
The manager that had obtained my services, was rightly promoted to a new more senior role that had been identified during my time working with Beta. The services of an experienced NDIS manager was advertised and soon recruited by Beta. The marketing campaigns were doing well and gaining leads from new customers, leading too more business. Beta’s NDIS business was going well, and organisational profits were increasing and more jobs created. The advice I had given was being implemented successfully.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Reviving a Retail Giant's Business with an Innovative Marketing Campaign
1.4
Zeta a large national retail chain, needed a re-energised and new marketing campaign. They are a well-established player in the groceries and fast moving consumer goods sectors but not in the top three positions anymore. They were experiencing a decline in their business due to their competitors taking more market share from them. I had been asked to consult for them.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
The first thing Zeta needed to do was to know their main customer groups. Zeta had originally been a ‘stack them high and sell them cheap’ chain, however new competitors had entered their markets applying the same strategies as them but were much cheaper.
If things didn’t change for Zeta they would not survive. They were not even reactive to the market changes let alone proactive like some of their competitors. They had to get a market leader mind-set and become very proactive and innovative. Keeping up to date with new technology for their own benefit, would be a big ask for Zeta, but I felt they had no choice.
Zeta needed to think outside the box, and utilise any great ideas. They needed training in creative thinking to generate those much needed new ideas. It was important that Zeta started learning about the customers who attended their stores, competitions were used by everyone to generate limited information on customers, but something new had to be done. If you don’t know your actual customers, how can you impress them?
The priority focus had to be their customers, we arranged for staff members in individual stores to ask simple and fast non-intrusive questions to customers visiting their stores. Zeta needed to find out how to improve the customers shopping experience and how could the customer feel that they had benefited by visiting the store.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
Firstly, the market research competed by the individual stores in the chain gave some interesting results. Customers had many different reasons why they visited the Zeta store, the first answers that came up was that there was easy parking and it was either close to home or on the way back from home.
Price didn’t really come in as much as Zeta expected it would, customers pointed out that they would go to other competitor stores for cheaper prices. And for better quality products the customers would go to the high end chains. Zeta had major problems, they were stuck in the middle with no competitive advantage, it was worse than what we had thought.
However, on a positive note we had a better understanding of Zeta’s customer groups, who were different to the customer groups Zeta thought was their main base and who they had been marketing to for years.
The creativity training I introduced and implemented came up with the solution to our problem, a loyalty program! The new marketing program would focus on this new loyalty program. Customers would have to sign up to this new loyalty program to receive many of the new benefits Zeta was offering. Customers would all receive a Zeta customer card, which would be a continuous reminder of Zeta. Every time the customer spent money at Zeta they would gain points on their cards equating to money and offer vouchers. The new marketing campaign would totally focus on the new targeted customer loyalty program.
The Actions that occurred
Zeta’s new marketing campaign was very successful. Zeta’s customer data base was expanding greatly on a daily basis, and the now targeted customer groups that had been identified earlier in the store’s internal market research, were spending more money in the Zeta stores. Soon Zeta had the largest data base of customers in their sectors and this allowed them to connect and respond quickly to their targeted customers groups.
Zeta’s continued success enabled them to become market leader charging premium prices for their quality goods. They were an innovative market leader who offered value to their main customer groups. The power of knowing your customer.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
I had known Gamma for many years, and over time I had built good relations with its owners and directors. It is a good sized healthcare organisation and like many similar sized organisations was growing at a good rate, but it did not have any HR professionals at their disposal. The problem which they were having was the recruitment of disruptive employees which can be a costly problem for any organisation, in terms of finances, disruption in the workplace and team dynamics.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
They needed to have policies and procedures in place to prevent or lower the risk of recruiting a disruptive employee. It was not surprising that one had recently joined them and was causing so many problems, as Gamma had no recruitment policies and procedure in place to follow and went with good old fashioned gut instinct (which luckily worked well most of the time for them).
Gamma needed clear and easy to follow general company policies and procedures. The first thing Gamma needed was an actual selection and recruitment policy. Also, it would be important to train all the leadership in how to use the new recruitment procedure. Gamma needed staff development and performance management plans.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
I developed and implemented new company policies and procedures for Gamma over time. Also, over time I interviewed all staff members to gain more insight and feedback on improving Gamma. Firstly I developed and implemented a recruitment procedure. I trained the owners and directors in the new recruitment procedure, by going through it with them. I did various role play scenarios with them, so they fully understood how to follow their first recruitment procedure and policy. I would next train the management and everyone else who recruited on behalf of Gamma.
It was important to align all HR policies and procedures with Gamma’s vision and strategies. I developed and implemented staff development and performance management plans. This enabled Gamma to develop staff, maintain a good performance level and reward high performers with the opportunity to be seconded into next level roles within the organisation (and if they perform well, be ready for the next promotion). It is important for all organisations to have succession plans in place.
I carefully went through all the new company policies and procedures with the directors, making sure this all fitted in with their company vision and strategies. And that they could then pass this onto their managers, who would then convey this on to their various teams.
The Actions that occurred
The disruptive member of staff soon left after the new policies and procedures came into effect. I followed up Gamma’s owners and directors on a monthly basis to make sure that all the new company policies and procedures were running smoothly, and any problems were ironed out. Gamma’s senior leadership were pleased to point out that after a six month time period they had not recruited one single disruptive employee, which was a first for them as they regularly employed at least two every six months. That’s a great saving for Gamma in finances and workplace environment dynamics.
The staff development and performance management plans I had introduced were working well, and that high performers had been developed further and a couple had been promoted within Gamma.
The policies and procedures I had developed and implemented, were all successful. Gamma’s leadership were able to focus more on the strategic direction of Gamma. I was invited back to do a new remuneration and benefits plan for them, which I did for them.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Planning for success using strategic HR management
1.6
Many companies that successfully grow, organically increase their workforce. There becomes a stage, a sort of critical mass when a company will need a human capital specialist, whether in the form of an in-house HR professional or a specialised HR consultant. Eta is a healthcare goods supplier who had reached this stage and the managing director had decided on an even cheaper HR option, rather than hire a HR professional or bring in a HR consultant, he had made his partner the HR director of the company. His partner was not a HR professional, and over time this was starting to show as Eta was trying to increase in size, from a localised company into a national organisation but started stagnating.
I knew of Eta through contacts, and how their success kept growing. The managing director contacted me out of the blue, he told me that he had come across my details and decided to call me to see if I could help them. Their growth had slowed down, and the only ‘HR professional’ they had was in name only.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
The main problem which they were having and a common problem for many businesses like Eta, is having no strategic human resources management (HRM) in place. I would have to help and support Eta in where they were now in human capital terms and where they planned to go.
I would work on various HR strategies with them, explaining everything clearly to them. The partner of the managing director was very helpful and keen to learn, and kept telling me how surprised they were they didn’t know this or that. I would have to help and support them in writing actual correct policies and procedures for Eta.
I would have to help and support them in respect to recruitment, remuneration and performance management policies and procedures. I would also be needed to run leadership training for Eta.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
Firstly, in many HR consultancy assignments I find myself either developing new or revamping existing company policies and procedures. This was also true for Eta. I helped and supported Eta in respect to new recruitment, remuneration and performance management policies and procedures. The implementation of all these new policies and procedures, required me to run various training courses for Eta’s leadership and management. It was important to align all HR policies and procedures with Eta’s vision and strategies.
Over time, I developed and implemented both staff development plans and performance management plans. This enabled Eta to have all their strategic HRM in place, helping to satisfy all present and future HR needs. They would be able to develop staff, maintain a good performance level and reward high performers with the opportunity to be seconded or promoted. I made many recommendations for various professionals they would need including a HR team. I recommended a new acceptable title to the present HR director.
The Actions that occurred
I was retained by Eta on a regular basis, as well as being involved in different and new HR projects to make sure that all the new company policies and procedures and all things HR were running smoothly. I helped and supported them in their smooth transition and growth from a small localised company into a large national organisation.
Eta business had increased in size but importantly all the planned and needed talent we had identified earlier were now in position and continuing the success of the organisation. All the various HR plans I had introduced were working well. This would enable Eta to keep growing in the future and become the international organisation, it intended to become (it eventually achieved this goal successfully).
My HR consultancy work at Eta, had been successful and the policies and procedures I had developed and implemented, were being used successfully by them. This enabled Eta’s leadership to focus on the strategic direction of the organisation, leading to eventual successful internationalisation.
The Results
* Please note I respect all my client’s privacy and confidentiality, Hence I will never disclose actual names and any sensitive information in the case studies I publish here, or introduce in any of my business training sessions.
Fixing Talent Recruitment and Retention Issues: Identifying Image Problems
1.8
Theta is a national manufacturing company. Over the last two years their HR brand selling image had become more negative which was resulting in the increased difficulty of recruiting new talent and the loss of their talent to competitors.
Theta had found out that talent did not want to join through the flippant comment a competitor company’s director had been heard making by a Theta director at an industry conference’s dinner event. The director decided to investigate further and found out that talent did not want to join them. What was going wrong? One of my contacts who knew Theta contacted me on their behalf to help them.
The background and what led to me being asked to consult
The problem which Theta was having is talent’s negative image of the organisation. . The director discovered that their competition had known Theta’s talent recruitment and retaining problems for up to two years before Theta did. And worse still Theta thought it was due to a challenging recruitment market.
I needed to find out ‘why were they struggling to retain their talent, and recruit new talent?’ The most important thing to do here was to focus on Theta’s HR Brand Selling, how could one help Theta improve its image? Resulting in new talent wanting to join and present talent staying. I would need to embed myself within the organisation and be present at all meetings, to gain a greater understanding of Theta and see what was happening.
I needed to identify what was going wrong with Theta’s business, which was causing their poor company image. I would interview staff members to gain a better understanding of Theta. I needed to contact previous employees and those who had turned Theta down, to find out their various reasons for leaving or for not joining.
What needed to be done – The Tasks
I attended all Theta’s meetings, nothing to report after a month. I started meeting with ex-employees and the non-joining talent when I got the real picture of Theta. Theta’s image was worse than we thought and their competition had known this for at least three years. I found out the why through my external investigations, but I needed internal confirmation.
With my new knowledge about Theta I knew exactly what to look out for, I ran people analytics checks, I noticed something that could have been easily missed. I started focusing on certain meetings, soon after, I was able to confirm what I already knew.
Theta had a senior manager at these ‘not friendly’ meetings who had been appointed three years ago at the same time as Theta started having their problems. I found out that this senior manager had left a trail of destruction at his previous companies. I had previously interviewed this individual and interestingly I had made an earlier note that read ‘masking real personality.’
This senior manager’s name had come up in most of my external interviews, as to why people left or would not join Theta. He was also attracting and recruiting similar toxic individuals like himself to Theta and this was amplifying Theta’s problem. The people analytics data had shown me that the longer serving managers of this toxic senior manager’s team were having more sick days but not the new toxic members were not having any sick days. The directors and I interviewed both groups of the team members, each had conflicting narratives of the ‘toxic’ senior manager, the long serving team members pointed out he was managing them out, and the toxic manager’s hires said he was the best manager ever. I presented my report of my recommendations with all the evidence to the board.
The Actions that occurred
The ‘toxic’ senior manager resigned before he would have been dismissed. A high performing Theta manager from another department was seconded into the ex-‘toxic’ senior manager’s role. The main cause of the toxicity problem, had been removed. The toxic hires under the new senior manager started to leave. A year later, Theta were attracting, recruiting and retaining talent. Theta’s narrative ended up with a successful ending, where talent now wanted to join and stay.
The Results
