They were originally incorporated in the 1950's as a heating systems installation company working with local builders and businesses by their father who had grown the company and brought his sons into the business the hard way, working on the tools and going to trade college, running projects profitably, learning as they go. The father retired and handed over running the business to his sons, which successfully operated until their largest customer collapsed and dragged them down into administration. The business owners and long term staff worked as a "family" all staring into the abyss, with no clear direction inwhich to go......

We listened to their proud company history, successes and recent failures to discuss a way forward. They have a fantastic brand name, long serving well respected employees both in the office and in the field but the old business model, working mainly in the construction industry was no longer "safe and viable" they were in crisis so, we needed to change direction, we needed a change of working...

• We met with the business owners/directors and discussed their thoughts and feelings about the imminent demise of the business and brainstormed easy-hard changes which could be made on the existing model. There was't mush more we could add, they had exhausted all avenues in relation to their long experience within the heating installation industry, the old ways were no longer working. We had listened intently to their and their employees individual histories and experiences, using our experiences within the HVAC/R, Electrical and M & E industry we suggested a radical idea..... there is nothing to prevent them from changing from an installation only company catering, in the majority, to the construction industry, to becoming a service and maintenance oriented business, with an installation division, catering to businesses in general, with far less exposure to the ups and downs of the construction industry. They were surprised it first, but then intrigued/excited about the change but not confident in achieving this on their own and expected strong employee resistance.
• The owner/directors were onboard, now we organised an employee meeting to firstly explore their thoughts about the current business model, its successes and failures, during which we could guide them into thinking about using all their knowledge, skills and experience in making a slight change to the existing failing  model and offering service and maintenance as a primary source of contact, with installation initially taking a back seat, the younger ones are open to trying, the older ones were more cautious and needed to hear how this would be done.
• We have worked in the HVAC/R, Electrical and M&E service/maintenance/installation industry for over 20 years and had a wealth of experience on how to make the change, the pitfalls, the successes and what form the new business model would take, to help them achieve this we suggested that we "take the helm" and manage the company through this difficult transition, they agreed and we started.
• We carried out the various S.W.O.T and S.P.E.C.T.R.E analysis, involving the owner/directors and the employees to direct their thoughts towards changing the very company operation and business offering, brought our knowledge and experience to them (via the judicious use of the various industry vehicles; Kotter, Levin and McKinsey models and frameworks) in such a way that it matched their own with only very slight differences... the change didn't seem so much now...
• We needed an easy victory to cement the new idea, where better than their own customer base and old clients. Meetings were arranged and the new business model introduced to the customer base, backed up by our presentations and experience, the changed was enthusiastically received. We gained our first service contract.
• We suffered a few setbacks re organisational procedure in delivering the service and maintenance initially, this was a new concept and learning something new is always difficult and stressful at first, we therefore represented our clients through all the stages of customer communication, service delivery, call out delivery, pricing, procedure, service documents customer queries and solutions until everyone in the team could do it all on their own, naturally and eventually proactively.
• We stayed with them over the weeks and months required to nurture the new business model through the various stages until they reached sustained profitability (within three months), everyone was on board especially the growing customer base, the gloom and doom had dissipated and the future was looking bright.....

Success, the company goes forward and into profitability, using the service and maintenance contracts to provide, like for like replacement parts, equipment and bespoke installation projects any from the construction industry and with business "end users".

We moved into air conditioning service and maintenance and installation, initially with partner companies (where we provided a heating division when they had none, a "win, win" for both companies) and then more so with their own re-trained engineers, who could now offer multi-skilled support to the growing customer base.

The business moved into large Blue Chip companies and across all sectors where it achieved great success, a far cry from the despair and bleak outlook when we first met.

Turnover form zero to £800,000 in year 1, £1.2M year 2.