CEO, Crookes Walker Consulting Limited
We have recently engaged with Ian to help our leadership team sharpen up and focus our external communications and online presence, particularly on platforms such as LinkedIn.
From the outset Ian has been a positive driving force in taking our team forward with bags of enthusiasm and energy coupled to important knowledge on how we best present ourselves online.
I'm confident that his work and influence with the wider senior team will bring that paradigm shift we are looking forward and allow us to properly highlight all the great strides our business is taking to our peers, potential employers, and potential employees.
Director of Commercial and Advisory, Point Accounting Ltd
I’ve known and worked alongside Ian for well over 12 years, first meeting through business networking and since becoming a good friend. What’s always stood out is that our conversations were never just social – they were about how to run a better business. As a finance man, I don’t often meet sales and commercial people who really understand numbers. Ian does. He’s sharp on margin, cost, profitability and what a business can realistically carry.
Unlike almost every sales driven consultant I’ve ever known, Ian understands the answer isn’t always ‘just sell more’. Sometimes it’s ’fix this and then sell more’.
It’s profit that matters and not clicks, or leads or even new business. Ian gets this and this makes him worth his weight in beer.
He’s also practical. He’ll push for growth, but he won’t ask you to throw money at something you can’t afford. He works within the resources you’ve actually got, not some fantasy version of the business. If you’re an owner who wants to grow in a controlled, commercially sensible way, he’s a very good person to have around.
Managing Director, LCA Group Ltd
I’ve worked with Ian for approaching two years. He brings a lot of energy and he’s very focused on growth. He’ll quite happily drag a topic into the light if he thinks it needs looking at – even if it’s not an area you’d normally spend time on. That can feel uncomfortable at first, but in practice it’s useful. He’s commercially minded, he thinks about where the next opportunity is coming from, and he’ll keep the pace up.
He’s helped us on a number of fronts and is currently mentoring a younger member of our business development team, who’s benefiting from his experience. That frees me up to focus on running the wider business while knowing that side of things is being pushed in the right direction. We’re quite different characters, but he’s proven to be a constructive part of the mix and someone I trust.
Managing Director, Argents Installations Ltd
Ian has been a real breath of fresh air over the past year. He’s not just another ‘marketing bloke’. He’s a very experienced business person who genuinely understands the day-to-day pressure on an SME owner. We started working together on sales, marketing, and lead generation, and he’s delivered on that.
As we’ve worked together, it’s naturally developed into something bigger. Ian’s become a trusted adviser on the wider commercial side of the business – positioning, pricing, priorities, and where we take the company next. He’s helped shape a clear plan to grow the business, not just get the next enquiry.
Managing Director, Catalyst Interiors
Ian helped us sharpen our growth strategy around our core strengths and turned LinkedIn into a real asset for the business. During the early stages of working together, we saw more high-quality enquiries in one quarter than in the previous two years combined — that wasn’t luck; it was structure and consistency.
Although we haven’t worked together for a few years, we’ve kept a strong business friendship and still speak regularly. I’m not easily impressed, but Ian’s commercially-minded, challenges well, and gets results.
Company Director, JST Construction Ltd
I’ve known Ian for well over a decade and worked with him on and off during that time. He understands our world – construction, joinery, doors, windows – because that’s where he started out himself. You don’t have to explain the basics to him.
As we’ve both got a bit older, he’s become someone I can pick the phone up to and talk things through with, and it works both ways. He’s straight, he’s realistic, and he won’t promise something he can’t deliver. For an SME that wants to grow, I’d say he’s a good person to have in your corner.
Growth Advisor for UK Owner-Managed SMEs.
Chester • Working UK-wide.
