Case Study:
Castle Heslop

Castle Heslop is a UK family-run accountancy firm. Run by father and son team, Paul and Matt Castle, the firm is transforming itself from a traditional compliance service business to offering a wide range of business development, advisory and coaching services to its clients.

Personal service and expertise are critical to what the business offers its clients.

The Challenge

Like many accounting firms, Castle Heslop grew through referrals, personal contacts and offering competitive accounting compliance services.

However, the directors were acutely conscious that this approach wasn’t scalable and with ambitious growth plans, both in terms of the number of clients they support and the range of services that they provide, they approached Proten Sales Development.

The Approach

The engagement started with the preparation of a business plan to define the personal and business objectives of the directors, along with the specific actions required in order to move towards hitting their targets. We identified a number of areas where improvements could be made that would enable the business to focus its efforts on the type of potential client most likely to benefit from Castle Heslop’s services, and to communicate the true commercial value of these services, thereby increasing the likelihood of generating interest.

A complete review of the organisational structure was completed to define the specific roles and responsibilities required within the business and we worked on helping the directors address internal conflicts and management issues.

We meet with the directors once a quarter to review progress against the plan, identify any corrective action required to keep the business on track and to address any issues that have arisen during the previous 90 days.

The Results

The business now focuses its sales activities on target businesses that are more likely to become clients, has increased its average client value and is generating increased revenue from existing clients.

We continue to work with Castle Heslop as they grow their team and the business.

The Client’s View

“(Quarterly Coaching) is a great way to move forward. It is very emotional and often you feel as though you are going backwards instead of forwards. It has been particularly useful in understanding the pressures we put our advisory clients under and explains their dysfunctional behavior. Setting goals and meeting them and being held to account is an emotional experience because you come face to face with your own failings. It’s like having a mirror held up close to your face. An essential experience for a business owner (me) who has spent many years without a boss of any kind who has developed a lifestyle business. Moving away from lifestyle to scale-able is our biggest challenge and Phil has helped us “edge” closer towards this objective”

“Phil is a true professional and a credit to his role as a business coach. he never obviously took sides in what could sometimes be very tense and emotional outbursts between me and Matt. We could not have had anybody any better. he has been perfect for what we needed. This may become more apparent when we look back in a few years. 10/10”

Paul Castle – Managing Director