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Fixes In Action
Messy bits show up in every business - the hidden steps and missing checks that make work harder and more complicated than they need to be.
Here's how we fix them to get everything organised - one fix at a time.
Real clients. Real problems. Real results.
Messy Bit: Sales support chased heads of departments for updates on quotes that had already been accepted. Everyone assumed someone else had told her.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Assumed someone else would see the acceptance
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No clear acceptance step
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No shared status
What We Fixed: Added a visible Accepted / Not Accepted status field in their CRM that everyone could see.
Outcome: Clear ownership, zero duplicated sales effort and instant visibility of every acceptance.
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Messy Bit: A project to digitise fundraising risked delivering the wrong solution. Expectations were unclear and there was no agreed definition of “done”.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Invisible assumption of shared scope
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Missing a consolidated scope
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Missing multi-team input
What We Fixed: Started with a cross-team review to build a clear, shared project scope, then created quiz-style testing to make it simple and interactive for everyone to check functionality.
Outcome: Functionality aligned across all teams, no last-minute surprises, zero grumbling and an on-time, on-budget go-live.
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Messy Bit: Directors wanted to put the business on the market to sell, but all operations were mainly in their heads”.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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No way to show the business could run without the directors
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Missing documented processes
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Increased risk of a reduced valuation
What We Fixed: Built a full operational manual covering all areas, showing the business would run well without the owners.
Outcome: Buyer concerns disappeared, negotiations were straightforward and the sale completed at the expected value.
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Messy Bit: Sales pipeline stages were undefined, follow-ups were missed and some leads were contacted after sales had converted.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Steps lived in the owner’s head
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No consistent follow-up approach
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No role clarity for the team
What We Fixed: Designed a sales pipeline with defined stages and an owner so follow-up happened in a steady, consistent way.
Outcome: A predictable pipeline, zero duplicated effort and a double-digit uplift in conversions and profit.
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Messy Bit: New enquiries were captured on a single paper-based form that also held project scope, dates and actions. Follow-ups were inconsistent and mistakes sometimes led to refunds or discounted work.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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One form used for both lead qualification and live enquiries
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No visibility without reviewing the form
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Time wasted working out the next action and who owned it
What We Fixed: Mapped the real sales steps, separated early qualification from live enquiries and built a clear board where each step and owner sits in the right place.
Outcome: Leads are qualified properly, visits are booked consistently and the team now has a shared, visible, error-free sales process - reducing refunds and discounts.
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Messy Bit: Rollout of a new case management system risked operational disruption because there was no visibility across remote sites.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Hidden requirements and nuances at non-HQ sites
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Missing team-specific requirements
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No cross-charity understanding of how the system should be used
What We Fixed: Ran discovery sessions with all sites and departments to surface the real requirements for specialist outreach teams and to minimise downtime.
Outcome: Shared the go-live schedule early so teams could plan resources, reduced risk to service recipients and protected a zero-impact frontline rollout.
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Messy Bit: One spreadsheet was used to manage prospects, clients and actions. No way to see what needed doing next and important follow-ups were missed.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Prospects and live clients spread across multiple rows
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No clear next action or reminder structure
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Time lost constantly reworking priorities
What We Fixed: Introduced a free CRM so notes were stored centrally and next actions sat clearly in a list or calendar.
Outcome: Follow-ups are clear, nothing gets forgotten and both actions and pipeline now work without hiccups.
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Messy Bit: Previous issuing of laptops had caused downtime and stress, and this needed to be avoided for 800 new staff laptops.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Missing personalised setup and accessibility needs
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Missing a post-issue survey to confirm everything worked
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Missing a structured handover and rollout schedule
What We Fixed: Created a booking system allocating each person a 30-minute handover with a user-friendly engineer - including a checklist to ensure each person’s laptop worked as expected.
Outcome: Post-rollout checklists scored a minimum of 90% across all staff and there was no disruption to service delivery.
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Messy Bit: No shared plan for introducing the new CRM created multi-team confusion and fear about the upcoming change.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Teams felt their voices and needs were not heard
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Invisible concerns across departments about the new way of working
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Missing a reliable communication approach throughout the project
What We Fixed: Held a company-wide introduction to the implementation plan and set up weekly drop-in calls for updates, questions and issue resolution.
Outcome: Better alignment across teams, more trust in the change process and no surprises as the CRM went live.
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Messy Bit: Everyone had bits of prospect info in their emails or heads, which meant things were repeated and important details got lost.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Hidden knowledge held by individuals, not the wider team
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Missing central place for prospect and relationship details
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Missing fields for key information such as introducers, providers or next steps
What We Fixed: Implemented an entry-level CRM with structured fields and an easy way for the team to record insights after each interaction.
Outcome: Everyone could see the latest conversations and background in one place, making it easy to engage and minimising duplicated effort.
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Messy Bit: Everyone used their own version of the sales process, so deals moved inconsistently and forecasting was unreliable.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Invisible definitions of what each stage meant
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Missing shared language across the team
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Missing dashboard to track progress or forecast
What We Fixed: Defined four pipeline stages with clear criteria and added a central dashboard the whole team could use.
Outcome: Sales started closing in the month forecasted, the team used the same language for prospect stages and deals moved through the pipeline without errors.
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Messy Bit: Remote flower arranging workshop kits kept going out wrong. Items were missing, evenings were spent fixing mistakes and the team were always scrambling at the last minute.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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She thought there were 5 steps
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There were actually around 50 invisible steps in her head
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No checklist, so the team improvised every time
What We Fixed: Mapped the real steps, created a clear visible checklist and added a verification check at the end.
Outcome: Kits now go out right every time. Prep time is predictable, zero overnight courier costs and she has her evenings back.
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Messy Bit: The owner had put real effort into refining his tech and processes but felt certain several areas were still broken.
Hidden + Missing Steps:
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Owner assumptions about issues that weren’t there
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One overcomplicated process spreadsheet
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No defined way to assess how things were working
What We Fixed: Reviewed all processes and systems and confirmed everything worked well apart from one outdated spreadsheet.
Outcome: No fixes needed from us. The owner felt reassured everything was in good order and could focus on tidying the one scruffy spreadsheet.
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