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schneider + partners
creative management consultants, catalysts + coaches - london
what our clients say …
"… As architects it took us time to find the right consultant who understands our needs. Eric had an acute understanding of what makes us tick and managed to extract core values which are important to us. I now feel truly excited about the opportunities that lie ahead .… it has given me a new lease of life, something tangible to work towards”
Paul Beatty-Pownall, BPR Architects
“Eric Schneider is an outstanding management and business consultant. Even his free up-front session gave me invaluable ideas for growing my business. In the paid consultancy which followed I have gained a clear idea of where I am heading and what I need to do the get there. I have already taken significant actions that are moving my business forward. Eric's consulting is worth its weight in gold”
Graham Price, CEO Abicord
“Eric distinguished our strengths and encouraged us to build upon them. We gained valuable insight into the perception of our company from our valued clients. (He) also taught to recognise bad habits, no matter how simplistic they may have appeared, and install good ones in their place."
Jon Eaglesham, Barr Gazetas
“The exercise and the outputs were most useful… it was a pleasure working with Schneider & Partners on this most useful and rewarding assignment”
Peter Siddall, Siddall & Company
“Using Eric Schneider was one of the best decisions we ever made”
Harry Pearce, Lippa Pearce Design
“ … You quickly identified that we seemed to be under-performing by comparison with comparable organisations - this helped us to recognise the urgency of reviewing our structure and management… we have developed our own interpretation of the organisation matrix which you presented as an adaptable model… this has led to improvements in quality and productivity as well as improved marketing, as well as freeing up more time for engineers to work effectively on projects… You brought home the urgency of converting our long history of low energy design into a market advantage … we have subsequently developed our branding to take advantage of this… and have achieved substantial and continuing growth in this area… In summary, the management presentations that you prepared for us and the subsequent working sessions that you facilitated have acted as a springboard and contributed to a substantial increase in our turnover and profitability and helped put us in a stronger position to address current and future markets … ”
Richard Shennon, Fulcrum Consulting
“… The overall scope and content of the project was good. The conduct and presentation was gentle and thoughtful. The survey and feedback from both clients and staff was particularly helpful. The project was well worth the cost - and the time commitment from the management, whom it enabled, in calm surroundings, and with adequate time, to be taken through the advice and to reflect on it. As a result of it and the changes that we (subsequently) made, the profitability of the practice has improved significantly”
David Parker, David Parker Architects
“… Eric Schneider identified, very quickly, our strengths and our potential shortcomings… There have (since) been very positive developments internally with internal crits, design meetings, marketing meetings and delivery group meetings all going on at different times … His interaction with our clients was (also) positive and acted as a catalyst for us to have follow-up discussions with them addressing issues which ordinarily may have been overlooked… A very positive experience …”
John Burrows, Burrows Cave International
“… Our practice appointed Schneider + Partners in early 2006 to help guide us through the retirement of three founding directors. In a period of high workload pressures due to a buoyant market, it would have been ‘easy’ to carry as before (but) Eric quite simply opened our eyes to the real potential of the practice and to a direction for developing and managing our business into the future, building on our strengths. He interviewed all our staff gaining an independent view on our culture and the personal aspirations of our key team members. He also carried out customer surveys that have given us an independent external perspective on our service and product. This insight into both our team’s and our clients’ needs have helped significantly to develop a relevant and deliverable vision for the future ”
John Baulch, LHC Group
“This process has opened up many new fields of discussion within the office. Everybody on the staff enjoyed meeting Eric. Often now when we have a problem someone will say: 'what would Eric say?'!”
Alistair Barr, Barr Gazetas
“I used to have sympathy with the view that management consultants simply borrow your watch to tell you the time, only to walk off with it. My experience with Schneider + Partners has been very different. Eric borrowed my watch, told me why it was running slightly out, then gave it back - pointing out that with a bit of cleaning it would be worth more than I had thought possible. Schneider & Partners gave my consultancy the kind of invaluable independent perspective that I hope we give to our clients”
Robert Smith, Jog Limited
“Our current success and the enhanced reputation that we now enjoy are in no small measure due to the changes which Schneider + Partners helped us to accomplish and the issues he forced us to face. All the partners have reason to be grateful for his involvement in Sheppard Robson”
Richard Young, Sheppard Robson
“Eric is the only businessman I have met who is also both a genuinely skilled and observant “creative” and an effective and gritty strategic consultant, able intelligently and articulately to evaluate the needs and objectives of others on their own terms, rather than simply by reference to himself.
I have known and worked with Eric on a number of projects over 10 years or so. He has been: a valued counsellor to me whilst leading a period of strategic change within an established franchise business; a considered, original and creative group leader in developing and rounding-off quite a complex new market proposition in the lifestyle-marketing arena; a coach and strategic analyst in the launch a new property business; and he has acted as a sounding board, perhaps a foil, for the development of the customer proposition in a specialist construction business. To cap it all, his concept-design contribution to two substantial new-build residential projects transformed their prospects for success at both planning and sales stages. Throughout, I have also valued Eric’s ideas and contributions on diverse small issues such as logo-design, the content, tone & ‘pitch’ of web sites and brochures, aspects of overhead management and even preparation for important meetings and presentations.
What I like about Eric is that he is prepared to get to the nuts & bolts; he can bring real rigour to the table. He can also be relied on to take a step back from time to time and try to lift one’s head up to the horizon that lies ahead.”
Chris Agace Chalk Hill
"In hindsight we should have appointed Schneider + Partners ten years earlier in our development cycle at the time that we went through a management buy out.
(Although) we had entered the Architects Journal top 100 and were running one of the most successful architectural practices outside London with an enviable client base and continued year on year growth … we found ourselves at a standstill as a business, maintaining our regional profile but slightly stagnant in terms of growth and development.
We appointed Eric in July 2014 to help us define our goals and aspirations for the next decade and beyond with a view to developing a robust forward looking business plan.
In the first instance Eric analysed, probed, questioned and basically got under our skin in order to understand the DNA of our company culture and reasons for our success.
The second stage involved a phase of reflection, feedback and the distillation of client and staff views.
The critical third and final phase of the process involved discussion, debate, deliberation and recommendations that helped us to crystallise our ambitions and inform our future course and direction as a practice.
Throughout this six month process Eric delivered insight, knowledge, financial acumen and most importantly intellectual challenge to the business planning process. The initial benefits are a practice reinvigorated, recharged and most importantly ambitious to face a new decade of challenge. We are confident that the financial benefits will follow close behind.
Eric continues to show a genuine interest in the progress of the practice and is always happy to act as a sounding board on issues that influence strategic course and direction.”
Mark Hobson, Maber Architects
“We have referred back to the consultancy exercise on many occasions and remarked on the value and pertinence of the resulting advice. A very worthwhile exercise … invaluable insight from an impartial third party”
Maggie Town, Town Group Creative
"Eric Schneider acted like a 'Non-Executive Director' to us during his involvement with our Business Review and his insights and advice have advanced our business thinking significantly. The external review with Clients has been extremely well received by them and highlighted some key areas to improve on. Eric has provided a well needed independent review of our business from top to bottom and it has been very enjoyable working with him. I would have no hesitation in recommending him ...".
Ian Craig, Evolve Consulting Engineers
“… Schneider and Partners have carried a thoroughgoing review of our Practice and helped us through a continuous programme of analysis and improvement. Their comprehensive grasp of business economics and real in-depth knowledge of our industry has meant that their findings and recommendations have been seen as authoritative across the firm. As a result even within a few months we have seen a massive improvements in morale, focus and productivity. We also now have a clear route map for expansion and an increase in profits that is ‘owned’ by all the team.
Nigel Spawton, Gray Baynes + Shew
“We have been working with Eric to help develop our strategic plan … The interviews Eric conducted with our staff and clients has made this a very inclusive and insightful process. It has been really beneficial to have someone who understands architectural practice looking at what we do and how we are performing. Eric has made us question our assumptions about the future, our priorities and how we move forward. As a result of this process we have the vision and strategies,… (to) enable us to move forward in the next five years with confidence“
Kevin McDonald, Stride Treglown
"the (Away Day) meeting was extremely valuable and without doubt has focused minds on what needs to be done”
Michael Barker, Stephen George + partners
“having taken a slightly sceptical
approach to the process, I found the
whole exercise very rewarding. Eric has the knack of getting to the nub of an issue quickly and without fuss giving us a clear set of issues to address”
Ian Yallop, Stephen George + partners
“I just thought you might like to know that Strides has got a new word doing the rounds: "Being Schneidered." It made me laugh. I want to become a word someday … Your presence has "unstuck" us and pushed us forward, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you and well done. I hope you enjoyed the process, others certainly did.”
Elizabeth Kavanagh
Head of HR, Stride Treglown
"Excellent overall insight into our clients’ perceptions of us (and) our standing within the competition; Eric was particularly good at presenting the information in ‘plain English’ and inspiring us when not all the news was great"
Andrew Panatti, Finish Creative Services
“We were impressed by the speed with which Eric got to the heart of what we do … he immediately gained the trust of both our staff and clients enabling him to provide us with a clear accurate critique of our business”
Robert Mathews, BPP
“Eric Schneider came highly recommended for the task; he exceeded expectations. Through his astute and tactful guidance we have and are achieving development ambitions which I would have not thought possible” -
Lyn Edwards, GMW Architects
“Eric Schneider showed a remarkable insight into our business and was always positive and innovative in finding and discussing solutions. His report was of enormous benefit in developing our business plan”
Daniel Atkinson, James R Knowles
“I have enjoyed our meetings over the years and again I thank you for your contribution to our reorganisation. You have been an important catalyst to my/our thought process and our more conventional thinking. We believe that this has helped us move forward considerably over the past couple of years”
Stephen Limbrick, Stephen Limbrick Associates
"The project was an important step in identifying a long term direction for our business. We gained a great deal of insight into our industry and others’ perceptions of us. Eric helped us to identify and create a much more corporate culture"
Todd Carpenter, Travel Trust Association
“… Our brief was well interpreted. Eric fed back his understanding of what we wanted and set expectations from the beginning. He allowed us to involve the team and … made the process both relevant and inclusive. The outcome has given us much food for thought and, more importantly, a focus for action”
Jane McRoberts, ArchitectyourHome
“…his consultancy makes you want to win - every time …”
Gunther Feuschel, GMW Architects
“I started the project in a fairly sceptical frame of mind, but your ability to cut to the chase and inspire friendly discussion soon won me round”
John Morley, Stephen George + partners
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