Rachel Whitmore
Founder. Twelve years in accountancy practice before starting ProBiz Direction. Leads strategy and financial performance engagements. ACCA qualified.
How we got here
ProBiz Direction started in 2016 when our founder, Rachel Whitmore, left a regional accountancy firm after twelve years. She had spent most of that time advising owner-managed businesses on tax efficiency, but the conversations that mattered most were never about tax. They were about pricing decisions, team problems, cash flow timing and growth plans that kept stalling.
She set up a small consultancy to focus on those conversations full-time. The first client was a plumbing contractor in Leeds with fourteen employees and a margin problem. Within three months, revised pricing and a restructured quoting process lifted gross margin from 22 to 31 percent. Word spread.
By 2019 the team had grown to four consultants, each with a background in a different discipline: finance, operations, HR and sales. That mix is deliberate. Most business problems do not sit neatly inside one department. A cash flow gap might trace back to a quoting error, which traces back to a training gap, which traces back to a hiring decision made eighteen months ago. We follow the thread wherever it leads.
Today we work with 30 to 40 clients a year across England, Scotland and Wales. We are still small on purpose. Every engagement is led by a senior consultant, not delegated to a junior analyst.
What we believe
These are not slogans on a wall. They are rules we use to make decisions about which clients to take, how to structure engagements and when to push back.
Measure first
Opinions are cheap. Before we recommend anything, we collect numbers: revenue by product line, time per process step, cost per hire, debtor days. The data tells us where the real problem is, which is often not where the client thinks it is.
Stay honest
If your plan is sound and you just need to execute it, we will tell you that and save you the consulting fee. If your plan has a flaw, we will name it directly. Polite vagueness wastes everyone's time.
Leave skills behind
A good engagement ends with your team able to do the work without us. We document every process change, train the people who will own it, and build dashboards they can maintain. Dependency on a consultant is a sign of failure, not success.
Keep it small
We limit the number of active engagements so that every client gets senior attention. If we are at capacity, we will put you on a short waiting list rather than stretch the team thin.
The team
Four senior consultants, each with at least a decade of hands-on experience in their field.
Daniel Osei
Operations lead. Background in logistics management at a national distribution company. Specialises in warehouse layout, process timing and supply chain improvements.
Margaret Chen
People and leadership. Former HR director at a 200-person construction firm. Runs hiring audits, leadership alignment sessions and onboarding redesigns. CIPD Level 7.
James Hargreaves
Sales and growth. Ten years running commercial teams in B2B professional services. Focuses on pricing strategy, pipeline management and sales process design.
Ready to talk?
The first call is free and takes about 30 minutes. We will ask direct questions, listen carefully and tell you honestly whether we can help.
Or call +44 113 108 1259 · Email [email protected]
United Kingdom, England, Wolf-Jacobson-le-Koss, BU3 1FB, 262 Terrence Park