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Testimonials

More Profit

'Hawick Group has added £3,000 per month extra profit after only 2 months work. This is a brilliant investment already’

More Customers

'Hawick Group started generating 1 new business enquiry every week soon after starting work. This looks like a good investment’

New Market

'We couldn't see how to find new customers for our new eco service until Hawick Group worked it out and did the marketing for us. This is going to be an excellent investment’

More Sales

'I was worried about adding to our cost by appointing Hawick Group to develop our sales but I now see it was an investment that will keep paying us back long after the project has finished’

More Efficient

'Hawick Group put a team in that quickly eliminated the inefficient work practices that I knew were there but couldn't identify myself. The investment paid for itself in the first month’

Stronger Cashflow

'My cashflow was terrible until Hawick Group worked out how get payments coming in 6 weeks earlier. Fantastic investment’

Efficiency from Technology

'I had no business systems in use because I didn't understand what they can do and thought they would be expensive. I was wrong. After 3 months of the Hawick treatment I knew more about my business than ever before and all the difficult decisions became easy and obvious. I wish I'd made this investment years ago’

No Win, No Fee

'I was waiting for the market to pick up again, cutting back everything, not spending a bean until Hawick challenged me to let them have a go and pay nothing if they failed. Within 2 months I had to pay them and I was delighted to do so because there was new cash in the bank for the first time in 2 years. A no-lose investment’

Market Exploited

'I was convinced there was no business out there but Hawick showed me there was more than I could ever handle and how to find it. Amazingly good invesment’

Nothing Ventured

'I was scared to spend anything but took the free Hawick diagnosis and action plan and advisory meetings hoping I'd learn enough from them to do something myself. I tried but failed and in the end they took pity on me and threw down the challenge: Let us do it - no result - no payment. Best gamble I've ever taken as it very soon turned out’

Productive people needed

'I suspected that my staff were working unproductively but without benchmarks and the processes to manage people for results I was powerless until making Hawick investment. I had payback within 3 months’

Better Margins

'I was paying too much for just about everything but with Hawick analysis and negotiating skills I've been able to improve gross margins by 10%. A fabulously fast return on the investment’

Business Skills

'To be honest I had no idea how to run a business, all my skills are technical. After 6 months of Hawick working hands on with me I feel as if I've done a practical MBA. I understand so much more now and see completely new possibilities from this modest investment’

Self Funding MBA

'An MBA course takes 1 year full time and costs about £100,000 with course fees and lost earnings. This Hawick programme has actually given me all the business skills I need and added £20,000 to my profits. Much more than the whole project cost, an amazing investment’

How to run a business

'I didn't know what I didn't know. So I was sceptical that this Hawick investment would achieve any payback, but I gambled and my eyes were opened wide. I was astonished that after 20 years in a business there was so much that I had missed, I really wish I had been trained for business in the first place. What a great investment’

Business for Sale

'I was reconciled to closing the business down with nothing to show for 30 years hard work when Hawick convinced me that the business could be sold for a great deal of money. What they did was very clever and I'm exceedingly grateful for such a good retirement return achieved from a very small investment’

Capital Gain

'I really didn't think my business could get back on its feet after so much recessionary damage but Hawick helped me to rebuild it to its former glory showing a quite exceptional return on the investment’

Growth with care

'I wanted growth but was worried about how to make it happen and then handle the consequences without messing up. The problem was that I knew my trade very well but not how to run a business. Hawick put that right for me by working hands-on to put in systems and processes and teaching me how to use them. A superb investment in my future’

Life back under control

'I was working 24/7 as the linchpin of the business with my family getting on with Life without me. I wanted to change that and couldn't see how, but was unsure that Hawick could really do it for me. However, they did. The business is now far easier to run, more profitable and we take a family holiday every 3 months without worrying. A really good lifestyle and business investment’

Better organised

'The whole business was inefficient with me running around like a headless chicken. Hawick Group put in business systems and controls that changed all that and once I'd learned how to use them I felt completely empowered to run a really good business. The investment was small and the return enormous’

New Products and New Markets

'My market was drying up and I needed to find a new one but where and how? Hawick Group solved that with clever research that matched the strengths I already had to the needs of a different client baseI hadn't thought of. Terrific investment’

Taking a calculated chance

'You know, the big problem I had with taking outside help was that I didn't understand what they would be doing. If I did, I would already have done it wouldn't I! So I'd have to take on trust that they were offering me the right answer, that they knew what they were doing and they would be good at it. How could I judge any of that, given that I knew nothing and could end up in a bigger mess? In the end i gambled and the result was brilliant. Sometimes in Life you have to jump first and only then does the safety net appear. Mine did, all over the place’

Over advised

'I asked Hawick exactly how they would do the job and I wrote it all down as they spoke. I asked friends. I checked on the internet. I spoke to Business Link and I asked my accountant. They all gave me different advice, much of it critical of the Hawick proposal. In the end Hawick insisted on a straight answer and I nearly said no but they challenged me - no result no fee. So I went for it and it proved to be an excellent investment that I couldn't have done myself. You can take too much advice!’

Horses for courses

'The bloke from Hawick said to me "tell you what, why don't I fix your roof and you do my marketing?" I said "no way, you have no idea about roofing and I have none about marketing". "Exactly" he said. So we agreed that he would find me new roofing customers and I would do the roofing work for them. Now I'm a good marketer as well as a very good roofer. But the bloke from Hawick is still a useless roofer. So a very successful investment for me, if not him!’

Risk averse and stuck

'I'm a cautious character so I check a lot and reflect carefully before making a new decision and this one was tough. I was being offered a service that I didn't understand to deal with a problem that hadn't happened to me before, so all very risky. I kept delaying, hoping business would pick up again and wondering whether to cut back more. In the end Hawick said to me "let us come in and work with you and if we are wrong we'll compensate you - in full". I didn't believe it but I said OK but I don't want to pay anything till I see it working and they said "OK so long as you agree to do what we tell you". So we did it together and what a brilliant investment it was. Being cautious all the time is no good in business and the risk of doing nothing is usually greater than the risk of doing something by buying expert help’

A better boss

'The really big things I got from this were personal: the knowledge of greater possibilities; the skills to build a succesful business; a winning attitude; my best aptitudes identified; and the power of influential behaviour. I can move mountains now thanks to this wise investment with Hawick Group’

Hands on learning

'I looked at all sorts to improve my business before deciding to use Hawick: business school; training providers; Business Link; consultants; coaches; mentors; accountants; the bank. I met some very bright people with great ideas but all of them wanted to just advise me. I would have to do a lot of things I'd never done before, by myself, on top of my day job. It was too much to ask. Then Hawick said something that no one else had said "We'll come in, do it all for you, get it working, then teach you how to use yourself". That was the answer and a brilliant investment for me and the business’

Keeping control

'I had a big problem understanding what Hawick Group would be doing to me and my business and it was preventing me from getting started. I knew I needed action but I was scared of losing control of something they understood better than me. "It's an act of faith they said, just like when Mr & Mrs Smith ask you to build an extension, only this is lots cheaper than an extension and comes with a guarantee of results”. Good answer I thought and went for it with fingers crossed and I was soon building more extensions and making a lot more money from each. It was a very smart investment in the end’

Missed opportunity

'I wanted to do the Hawick project all right but was afraid of resistance from the team so I took the Hawick proposal and showed it to them. They weren’t impressed and persuaded me that they could do it all themselves without paying Hawick anything. They had a go, using the Hawick proposal, but 12 months later I had to go back on tools myself. I guess the team had been afraid of being shown up and underestimated how quickly they could learn on the job. Stupid of me not to see that. This business could have been saved for a fraction of what I lost in the end’

End of the road

'Hawick made me a proposal that I could see was the answer but I said I wanted to think about it for a week. Really, I was scared to listen to my brain because my gut was feeling tight and knotted. It was as if I had become more comfortable living with the old problem than with fixing it and seeing a bad old friend killed off. So I asked the wife and she was dead against spending anything. That made me feel better, it was what I wanted to hear if I’m honest. Then I asked my mates in the pub and at the club and they had the same view. Several said they had heard of people who had been ripped off by consultants. I was feeling even better by now. Then a couple of new business enquiries came in and that clinched it. I really started to feel OK again, so when Hawick called back a week later, I was ready for them. No I said it’s not for me right now I’ve got too much on but call me in 3 months, I’ll have more time then. I didn’t want to say no because I was guilty about taking so much of their time, but I really meant no. 3 months later business had gone flat again and I was back to square 1. So when Hawick called my head was again telling me to do it but the gut was tight again and I started to feel angry. How could I admit I’d been wrong and explain that to my wife and mates? So I told them I’m doing great and not to call me again. So what happened in the end? I closed the business down, had to, not my fault the market had dried up. You can’t do anything about that can you?’

Chris Brookman - Back to Earth

'It’s really helped the guys feel part of the business and we all work better as a team. Turnover is up 20% this year, and profit has improved too.’

www.backtoearth.co.uk

David Woodley - Woodley's Joinery

‘Staff motivation and teamwork has really improved. People are more cooperative and issues are resolved more quickly. That’s had a positive effect on productivity and profits.’

www.woodleysjoinery.co.uk

Simon Virgo - 1st Scaffolding

‘Achieving Investors in People recognition has proved a good marketing tool with our larger clients. It’s added kudos to our company and makes us more likely to get the order.’

www.1st-scaffolding.com

Ian Plowman - Interdesign Storefitters Ltd

‘It’s made us a lot more organised and proactive – I can delegate a lot more now. Despite the recession, we’ve got a lot more enquiries than before, and we’ve got work booked ahead to Easter. We plan better, and I’m ahead of the game. It really does work – and we’ve made money out of it!’

www.interdesignstorefitters.co.uk

Catherine Proctor - A J Proctor

‘It helped us focus on the right things. We got some brilliant ideas on marketing, and as a result our phone hasn’t stopped ringing – unlike lots of other builders who are going bust. We’ve also improved our systems – I used to be hopeless at bookwork before this'.

www.a-j-proctorbuildersltd.com

Paul Brannan - Brannan & Son

‘It’s given us more prestige. It’s given us a more defined structure in our humble little company, and that’s enabled us to go on to better things. We can take on bigger jobs and run them more efficiently. For example, we’ve taken on a 3-month refurbishment job involving 18 of our men. It’s a job we couldn’t have coped with before.’

Peter Scoble- South Hams Roofing

‘It’s helped us identify our training needs. Our employees now look more at what they can do for the company, rather than the other way round. They’ve been more focused on what they do and how to improve.’

www.southhamsroofing.co.uk

Greg Lang - GMC Project

‘We’ve benefited 10-fold from the help. It’s really made us focus on our service to our customers.’

www.gmcprojects.co.uk

Sidmouth Design - Extract from assessor's report

‘People do feel very involved and valued for their input, and, as a result, spend a lot of what could be considered as their own time and energy making the business what it is;‘There is recognition that, because of a more structured approach to planning, running and reviewing how things are done, the business is now more professional and that, as a result of effective learning, there are actually more sales and more customers, leading to optimism for the future in an uncertain economy.’