Business Growth Consultant: 5 Lessons From Reddit

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Business Growth Consultant: 5 Lessons from Reddit

These 5 Lessons from Reddit can help you decide what to ask a business growth consultant before you hire one. Which customers should we look for more of? Can we afford to take this order at the price the buyer wants? What would make it worth paying someone to help us decide?

A finished part and its drawing give sales and production a common starting point for reviewing a job. Illustrative image.

Five Reddit discussions bring those questions to life. One machine shop could win occasional jobs but struggled to secure regular work. Another had added operators and could take on more orders, yet the owner was questioning whether the expansion had paid off. Both owners wanted to grow. Each needed a different conversation.

These are contributors’ accounts of their own businesses. Here’s what I’d take from them when briefing a consultant in a UK manufacturing or engineering SME.

1. A first order and a repeat customer are two different sales problems

A newer CNC shop was picking up occasional jobs through an online platform and had supplied a few local companies. The owner wanted a steadier order book. They were weighing up cold outreach, networking and supplier lists. What caught my attention was that some local buyers had already given the shop work. Read the CNC shop owner’s question on Reddit.

I’d start with those buyers. What prompted the original enquiry? Was it a prototype, an emergency because a regular supplier had let them down, or a part they purchase every quarter? A prototype might lead to a conversation with design engineering. A recurring part could justify asking purchasing when the next batch is due and what it takes to become an approved supplier.

Ask the consultant: “Before we spend money finding more customers, how would you establish which of our first orders could lead to a second?”

2. Find out what the extra work earns

One shop owner described growing from a one-person operation to three machines with three operators. The shop could take on more work, but the owner still handled quoting, purchasing, scheduling and programming. They questioned whether the larger operation was actually more profitable. Read the owner’s account of expanding the shop.

Put a recent repeat job beside a new order of similar value. Compare what you allowed for material, programming, setting and inspection with what each job actually consumed. Include the director’s time, even if the job sheet has nowhere to record it. An afternoon spent programming a new part is an afternoon the director cannot spend quoting the next one.

Ask the consultant: “Can we use our own completed jobs to decide which work we should actively pursue?”

3. Understand the price gap before cutting your rate

A machinist starting a shop said buyers were reporting competitor quotes well below theirs. The owner was considering reducing the hourly rate. There was one important gap in the discussion. The owner knew what the buyer had said about the competing price, but the thread did not establish what the other supplier had included. Read the machinist’s pricing question.

For a short run of machined parts, I’d want to see the drawing revision, batch quantity, inspection requirement and delivery date behind both prices. If the buyer can’t share the competing quote, ask which requirement can move. Would a longer lead time help? Can several batches run together? The answer gives sales something specific to reprice while protecting the rate on work that already earns its keep.

Ask the consultant: “What evidence would persuade you that our rate needs to change?”

4. See whether somebody else can quote the repeat job

A contributor who grew up in a small machine shop described estimating jobs from memory and earlier work. When responsibility passed from father to son, much of the knowledge stayed in the father’s head. The contributor later recognised similar dependencies in a larger operation. Read the discussion about knowledge held by one person.

Try a small test. Give an experienced colleague a repeat enquiry while the usual estimator is available but stays out of the exercise. Where does the colleague stop? Perhaps the last order shows a selling price but nobody recorded that the customer supplied the tooling. That single missing detail tells you more about what needs documenting than a general instruction to improve the CRM.

Ask the consultant: “Which decision should someone else be able to make confidently by the time you leave?”

5. Agree what the first piece of advice should let you do

A software founder described paying for growth consultancy after revenue had stalled. They found some of the advice useful, but felt too much of the engagement covered familiar ground. Although the business was in software, the buyer’s question applies just as readily to engineering. What will you be able to decide once the consultant has done the work? Read the founder’s account of hiring a growth consultant.

For a manufacturer, a manageable first brief might be a review of one family of repeat parts. Ask the consultant to help sales and production agree which parts to reprice, who will speak to each buyer, and how finance will check the margin on the next order. Even if the evidence supports holding prices, you have a decision you can explain.

Ask the consultant: “At our first review, what decision will be ready for me to make, and what evidence will I see?”

What to take to the first meeting

Bring one recent quotation, the order that followed and the record of what it took to deliver. Choose a job that still divides opinion. Perhaps sales was pleased to win it and production would hesitate to run it again. Ask a prospective adviser where they would start, whose input they need and what would change their mind. Their answer will tell you how they work with the people who know your business.

If you're comparing advisers, our manufacturing director’s guide to hiring a business growth consultant by Fox Healey covers fees, scope and what to expect from the first 90 days. If you’re still deciding which commercial issue deserves attention first, start with the free Commercial Performance Snapshot.