Practices
Our work is organized into three practices, plus a short engagement for single decisions. Most clients start in one practice and add another as the business changes.
Fractional CFO
A fractional CFO gives you the judgment of a seasoned chief financial officer on a monthly retainer, for far less than a full-time hire. For most owner-led companies between $1M and $50M in revenue, that is the right fit. Someone needs to watch cash, margin, pricing and risk every week, but the business does not yet need that person in the office full time.
A typical retainer covers the following work.
A monthly review that turns the bookkeeping into decisions, so you know your gross margin by service line, your true labor cost, your cash runway and what changed since last month.
Pricing and job costing down to the crew, the job and the location, which is where most companies have never looked.
Pay plans for crew leaders, account managers and key staff, including commission and gross-profit tiers that reward the results you want.
Cash management and banking relationships, including the projections and loan packages a lender expects to see.
A budget and forecast that we update as the year unfolds, so the plan stays useful well past January.
A standing weekly or biweekly call, with access between calls when a decision cannot wait.
This practice suits owners who have outgrown what their bookkeeper or controller can tell them, who are making six- and seven-figure decisions on instinct, or who are preparing for a lender, a partner, a sale or a succession.
How is a fractional CFO different from my bookkeeper or CPA? Your bookkeeper records what happened and your CPA reports it. A fractional CFO uses those same records to decide what happens next, and works with both of them.
What does a fractional CFO cost? We charge a fixed monthly fee based on scope, never by the hour, and it is a small fraction of a full-time CFO's salary and benefits. You get the number in writing before we start, and it changes only if we agree to change the scope.
Margin leak review
Some trades and service businesses stay busy all year and still do not keep enough of what they bill. In a margin leak review, we go through your job history, estimates, invoices and payroll to find where the money slips away. The usual culprits are job types priced below cost, change orders that never got billed, labor that runs past the estimate and discounts nobody approved. We put a dollar figure on each leak and give you a short list of fixes, ranked by what each one is worth. Many clients start here before moving to a retainer.
Pricing and customer strategy
Most owners set prices by checking the competitor down the road and nudging up or down from there, and most lose customers without ever finding out why. This practice starts from how your customers actually choose: what they compare you against, what price they expect and what makes them stay or leave. We then build prices, offers and retention systems that work with that behavior rather than against it. The approach draws on behavioral economics, which Nunzio has taught at the graduate level for years.
The work usually touches several of these areas.
Pricing and price increases, including how much to raise, how to package and tier the offer, and how to announce the change without losing the customers you want to keep.
Customer economics, which shows what a customer is worth over time, which segments and lead sources make money, and which ones to stop chasing.
Retention, starting with why customers leave and the early warning signs, then the follow-up and service habits that keep them.
Offer design, meaning what you sell, how you bundle it, who it is for and why someone should choose you over the next name on the list.
Referral systems for businesses that grow by word of mouth, which describes most trades and professional services.
Audience strategy for creator, media and professional service businesses, where people follow you long before they buy.
It is a good fit if you have not raised prices in two years, if you are busy but not profitable, if customers are drifting away for reasons you cannot name, or if you keep competing on price and losing.
Is this marketing? No. Marketing gets you noticed. We focus on what happens once someone is deciding and after they say yes, which comes down to the price, the offer and whether they stay. We are glad to work alongside whoever runs your marketing.
Do you need my financials for this? Yes. Customer strategy without margin data is guesswork, which is why most clients pair this practice with fractional CFO work.
Strategic advisory
Some decisions are too big for a spreadsheet and too important to make alone. Buying a competitor, taking on a partner, forming a joint venture, opening a second location, launching a new line of business and planning an exit all belong here. In a strategic advisory project, we build the case, test it against the numbers and the people involved, and help you carry it out.
Recent projects in this practice have included the following.
Advising buyers and sellers of privately held companies on valuation, deal structure, seller financing and due diligence.
Structuring joint ventures and partnerships, from the economics through the operating agreement.
Site selection and feasibility studies for new locations, backed by a financial model.
Organizational design, hiring frameworks and management systems for companies shifting day-to-day control from the owner to a team.
Performance systems such as the Balanced Scorecard, so the strategy shows up in the work people do each week.
Strategy and funding plans for nonprofits that want to rely on more than one source of revenue.
Each project has a fixed scope, a set number of working sessions and a written deliverable, such as a decision memo, a model or a plan. We agree on the fee before we start.
How long does a strategic advisory project take? Most take four to twelve weeks. Acquisitions can run longer, because the deal sets the timeline.
Acquisition diligence review
If you are an owner or a first-time buyer looking at a specific business, this review checks the deal before you sign. We compare the seller's financials with the tax returns and bank statements, test the add-backs, look at customer concentration, the lease and the key contracts, and work out how much debt the business can really support. You receive a written memo that ranks the issues, lists the questions to put to the seller and recommends what to offer. We do not give legal opinions. Your attorney reviews the documents, and we tell them what the numbers show.
The Decision Sprint
Not every decision needs a retainer or a three-month project. Sometimes you need a few focused weeks and a straight answer. A Decision Sprint is a fixed-fee engagement of two to four weeks built around a single question, such as whether to raise prices, buy a competitor, hire a general manager or open a second location. We gather your numbers, run the analysis and deliver a written memo with our recommendation, the math behind it and a plan to act on it. Most sprints include three working sessions. It is the quickest way to work with us, and it is how many new clients begin.
Not sure which of these you need?
Most owners are not, and that is fine. The first call is about your situation, and we will point you to the right starting place. Start a conversation