Method
Four steps applied without exception, from a four-week diagnosis to twelve months of transformation support. Here is exactly what happens, what you receive and what we expect from you.
Steps
04
Scoping
Free of charge
Exit clause
Quarterly
Principles
A method is only worth something if it survives contact with reality. Ours has four steps because we have found that every step skipped is paid for later: a rushed diagnosis produces a recommendation disconnected from reality, and a recommendation delivered without support ends up in a drawer.
We apply these four steps to every engagement, including the shortest. On a targeted four-week diagnosis, scoping takes half a day and implementation three follow-up meetings. The proportions change; the sequence never does.
The guiding principle is simple: at no point should you discover something we have known for two weeks. Uncomfortable findings are shared straight away, deviations from the trajectory are flagged immediately, and bad news arrives before the final presentation, not during it.
Finally, every step produces a document that belongs to you. Financial models in an open format, editable maps, procedures written so your teams can take them over. We keep no artificial dependency: a successful engagement is one you no longer need.
Full process
Each step shows its indicative duration and the deliverable it produces. These are confirmed case by case in the scoping note.
A first confidential conversation to qualify the real issue, the constraints and the expected result.
Thirty minutes is enough to know whether we are the right partner. We then devote half a day to scoping: reframing the request, defining the scope, identifying the data needed and the people to meet. This step is not invoiced unless the proposal is signed.
DeliverableScoping note and costed engagement proposal
Data analysis, interviews with key teams and a factual presentation of findings.
We work on your figures, not on sector averages. Interviews are conducted individually and remain anonymous in our reports. At this stage we propose nothing: we establish what is. The interim presentation serves to validate the facts before drawing conclusions.
DeliverableDiagnostic report and interim presentation
Costed scenarios, documented trade-offs and a prioritised roadmap.
At least three scenarios, each with its cost, timetable, prerequisites and risks. We state our preference and argue for it, but the decision is yours. The resulting roadmap is prioritised by effort and impact, and every action has a named owner.
DeliverableCosted scenarios and roadmap with milestones
Hands-on support on the ground until the agreed indicators are reached.
This is the step most firms leave to the client. We stay: regular presence on site, running the follow-up meetings, unblocking sticking points and measuring the indicators defined together. Pace and duration are agreed in advance, with an exit clause every quarter.
DeliverableRegular progress reviews and indicator dashboard
Pace
We prefer a series of four- to ten-week engagements, each with its deliverable and indicator, to an annual contract with no exit point. You stay in control at every milestone.
4
weeks for a targeted diagnosis
10
weeks for a strategy engagement
3
months of follow-up at least after roll-out
12
months at most for a support engagement
Working rules
They appear in every engagement proposal and bind the firm as much as the client.
The initial thirty-minute conversation and the resulting scoping note are free. They let us qualify your needs and, where appropriate, tell you that we are not the right partner.
What teams tell us is never attributed by name in our reports. Without that guarantee, interviews are worthless.
A single recommendation is not a recommendation: it is an order. We always present costed alternatives, with their costs, timescales and risks.
On long engagements, you can stop the support at the end of any quarter, without penalty. A firm should be renewed on its results, not held by a contract.
The partner you meet at the first meeting leads the engagement from start to finish. No handing over of the file along the way.
What defines the success of the engagement is written into the scoping note before work starts. This avoids debates after the fact about what was expected.
Our tools
Your contribution
A consulting engagement rarely fails on technique. It fails on the availability of decision-makers and on access to data. We prefer to say so at scoping.
Frequently asked questions
Mainly SMEs and mid-sized companies with 10 to 250 employees, as well as holding structures and family offices. Below ten people, a structured consulting engagement is rarely the right investment: we say so frankly in the first conversation.
As a fixed fee, set after the half-day scoping session on the basis of the agreed scope and timetable. The amount is announced before work starts and only changes through an amendment you have explicitly approved.
No. The initial thirty-minute conversation and the resulting scoping note are free and without commitment. They are as useful to us as to you: we turn down engagements for which we are not the right partner.
Yes, in the Greater Region (Belgium, France, Germany) for clients whose business or subsidiaries cross the border. Our base and our regulatory knowledge remain in Luxembourg.
French and English for all deliverables and exchanges. Interviews can be held in the country’s other usual languages depending on who is involved.
Success indicators are defined together at scoping and reviewed at every milestone. If the trajectory drifts, we flag it immediately rather than at the final presentation, and propose an adjustment. Every long engagement includes a quarterly exit clause.
Always. Accountant, lawyer, notary, banker: our job is to bring their input together, not to replace them. We even ask to be introduced to them from the scoping stage.
From four weeks for a targeted diagnosis to twelve months for transformation support. The duration is set at scoping, and we prefer a series of short engagements to a long contract without milestones.
Get in touch
Thirty minutes is enough to qualify your needs. This conversation and the resulting scoping note are free and without commitment.