Getting to Know Henchards: Who We Are and What We Do
At Henchards, we pride ourselves on offering specialised exit planning services tailored to meet the unique needs of business owners. This article answers key questions to help you understand who we are, what we do, and how we can support your journey toward a successful business exit.?
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What do you do??
Henchards provides exit planning services to owners of small and medium sized companies.?
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Specifically, who for??
Our services are perfect for business owners looking to step back from running their company and/or wishing to sell their shareholding over the next two to five years.?
Typically our clients are privately owned, service businesses with a turnover between ￡1m and ￡10m per year.?
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What’s your purpose??
Our primary purpose is to help our clients plan and deliver an exit from their business that meets their personal objectives – perhaps to be comfortable in retirement, starting a new business or doing something completely different.?
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Who is Ian Parker??
I founded Henchards in 2003 following a 20 year career in telecommunications, media and IT where I successfully led teams across marketing, operations and customer services. An opportunity to take a new direction followed four years of running the customer service and call centre operations at Orange.?
With children at the ages of seven and nine, the prospect of more control over my own time and determining my own business future was too good to miss.?
In addition, my experience across multiple business functions – working for both large and small businesses – a business degree and post-graduate executive development, extensive business training and leadership of many teams provided a strong mix of experience and capability which I have used to help business owners.?
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Why the name Henchards??
I wanted a business name that had meaning and conveyed a sense of professionalism.? I toyed with company names that described what I offered – but they were too lengthy – and whacky names, but I thought they would become dated.? I settled on what was important to me – my children Henry and Charlotte, from whose names Henchards was created.?
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Branding??
The Henchards logo has been refreshed over the years and the current logo is a stylised version of my own handwriting.?
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Service evolution?
In the early years, Henchards offered a broad range of business consultancy and services. As with many start-ups, the focus was on generating revenue and we fell into the trap of adopting a ‘scatter-gun’ approach. Our one minute intro at networking events and our elevator pitch was crammed with so many things that the message ended up being diluted and no different to many other business consultants, coaches and mentors.?
After some reflection, we took some of our own advice and focused.?I decided to be known for one thing and to do that one thing better than anyone else. Henchards provides exit planning services for owners running businesses between ￡1m and ￡10m turnover and wishing to step back over the next two to five years.?
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Service offering?
Each client engagement is unique but follows a similar approach.?Typically, the services include:?
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For the vast majority of our clients, they will only go through a business exit once in their lives – it can be critical to how the rest of their lives play out. However most will know little about the process, the options or know anyone who can guide them through the various decision points and moments of pressure and uncertainty. In addition to the processes we have refined for successful exit planning, we provide the support and guidance that our clients value. ?
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Contact us today if you’re ready to start planning your business exit or simply want to learn more about how we can help. ?