// diagnosis before prescription

Business consulting for companies that have outgrown guesswork

You built something real. Revenue is there, staff are hired, customers keep coming. But margins are thinning, decisions feel slower, and last quarter's plan already looks stale. We help you find out why, then fix it.

Book a diagnostic call
Business consultants reviewing financial data on a conference table
Keen Biz Guides consultants collaborating in their office

We started because most advice felt generic

Before founding Keen Biz Guides, our team spent fourteen years inside operating businesses. Retail distribution, SaaS, food manufacturing, logistics. We sat in the rooms where decisions got made and watched expensive strategy decks gather dust because nobody translated them into weekly actions.

So we built a consultancy that works differently. Every engagement starts with a diagnostic: two weeks of structured interviews, data review and process mapping. Only after that do we recommend anything. About a third of the time, the solution turns out to be simpler than the client expected. That honesty keeps people coming back.

Four steps from confusion to clarity

Most engagements follow this sequence. We compress or expand each phase depending on what the diagnostic reveals.

Diagnostic deep-dive

Two weeks. We interview your leadership team, review your last 12 months of financials, map your core workflows and identify where time and money leak. You receive a written diagnostic report with ranked priorities.

Action blueprint

We translate the diagnostic into a 90-day plan with specific owners, deadlines and measurable targets. No 60-page decks. The blueprint fits on a single dashboard your team checks weekly.

Guided implementation

We join your team meetings, coach managers through changes and troubleshoot blockers in real time. Typical cadence: two half-day sessions per week plus async support on Slack or Teams.

Measure and hand off

At the 90-day mark we compare results against baseline metrics. If targets are met, we hand off ownership to your internal leads with a maintenance checklist. If not, we adjust and continue.

What we actually do

Each service can run standalone or combine into a broader programme.

We trace every pound from invoice to bank account. Pricing leaks, discount overuse, supplier creep, hidden rework costs: these are the usual culprits. In a recent engagement with a 40-person distribution firm, we recovered £185k in annual margin within eight weeks by renegotiating three supplier contracts and eliminating a redundant quality-check loop that added two days to order fulfilment.
Growth without a plan is just chaos with higher revenue. We help you decide which markets, products or customer segments deserve investment and which ones drain resources. Our process includes competitive positioning analysis, customer lifetime value modelling and channel economics so you know exactly where your next £1 of marketing spend should go.
When a company doubles in size, the processes that worked at 15 people start breaking at 30. We redesign workflows, reporting lines and decision rights so your team spends less time in status meetings and more time doing the work that generates revenue. Typical outcomes include a 20–35% reduction in internal meeting hours and faster decision cycles.
Founders often get stuck doing the job they had two years ago instead of the one they need to do now. Our coaching sessions, delivered fortnightly over six months, focus on delegation frameworks, difficult conversations and building a senior team that can run the business without you in the room for a week.
We build live financial models in your existing spreadsheet or accounting tool. Cash flow projections, scenario analysis for hiring decisions, break-even calculations for new product lines. You get a model you can actually update yourself, plus a two-hour training session for whoever owns the numbers internally.
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Questions we hear often

How much does a diagnostic engagement cost?
The two-week diagnostic is a fixed fee of £3,200 plus VAT. That covers interviews, data analysis and the written report. There is no obligation to continue beyond the diagnostic if you decide to implement changes on your own.
Do you work with businesses outside Northern Ireland?
Yes. About half our clients are based elsewhere in the UK. We run diagnostics on-site for the first few days, then continue remotely. For implementation phases, we mix in-person visits with weekly video sessions depending on what the project needs.
What size of company is the right fit?
Most of our clients have between 10 and 200 employees and annual revenue from £1m to £30m. Smaller companies sometimes find the diagnostic too intensive for their stage. Larger ones often have in-house strategy teams already. But we evaluate fit on a case-by-case basis.
How quickly will we see results?
The diagnostic itself often surfaces quick wins that pay for the engagement within the first month. Structural changes to operations or growth strategy typically show measurable impact within 60 to 90 days. We set specific KPIs at the start so there is no ambiguity about what "results" means.
Can we hire you on a retainer instead of a project basis?
We offer a monthly advisory retainer for clients who have completed at least one project with us. It includes two half-day sessions per month, async support and quarterly reviews. Retainer clients also get priority scheduling when urgent issues come up.

Start with a conversation

Tell us what is going on. We will reply within one working day.

946 Friesen End, Bahringer-le-Lubowitz, Northern Ireland, MK9 2HN, United Kingdom

+44 1427 608321

[email protected]