Recent months have seen costs for businesses of all shapes and sizes continue to rise, as inflation and energy bills bite ever harder. Inevitably, this has meant a growing number of companies have accelerated their cost-cutting plans to ensure every pound of expenditure provides tangible value.

And it’s not just businesses that are being impacted; all types of organisations and commercial bodies are increasingly in need of cost optimisation. This demand for specialised cost optimisation services has led to strong growth opportunities for the entire ERA UK franchise network.

Over the past three months, ERA cost consultancy business owners have collectively secured dozens of new clients – all of whom are in real need of ERA’s unrivalled experience in uncovering hidden profits.

To highlight the diverse nature of these clients, as well as the power of collaboration within the ERA network, we have discovered the story behind three of our franchisees’ latest acquisitions.

David Ramm – Leading power tools distributor

One of the UK’s leading independent stockists and distributors of power tools joined David Ramm’s stable of clients over the summer.

“The initial face-to-face was with the company’s MD,” explains David. “A follow-up meeting on Teams ensued, in which my fellow ERA franchisee, James Dawson, joined to talk the client through distribution options.

“Subsequent meetings with the directors also went very well. They completely understood the value we could add to their business, as they had reduced costs as far as they were able to themselves. So using ERA was a no brainer for them.

“Initial categories we will be working with them on are distribution, card fees, packaging, marketing, and energy.”

Stuart Hallam – Prestigious boarding college

Schools are expensive operations to run, particularly large-scale boarding colleges such as the one Stuart has recently begun working with. After doing his homework, this is how Stuart chalked up another client:

“I managed to get a first call with the school’s COO in March 2022. It was a very positive first meeting and they ‘got’ the ERA offer very quickly. Several further calls confirmed the college had never looked at its spend in detail before, and they were keen to review everything.

“A site visit to meet colleagues and agree priority areas to review took place in April. The spend for cleaning alone was £670,000 a year, so they were keen to make savings! I’m pleased to say eight projects – all with large budgets – have been signed, starting with cleaning and printing.”

Carlo Walther – Large-scale fruit importer

A multimillion-pound supplier of fruit to the UK and Europe will soon start benefitting from the cost optimisation expertise of Carlo and fellow consultancy owner Dan Howells.

“A meeting was set up in mid-August, which was great timing as the business is facing some significant challenges due to price increases, especially for energy and fertiliser,” explains Carlo.

“We agreed to a follow-up meeting to discuss waste as a pilot project, as that has the fewest stakeholders involved. Other categories are more complex as they have to involve their customers, which in this case are supermarkets.

“After the proposal was sent, a second meeting took place to organise the project. For this I was joined by Dan Howells. He did a fantastic job in explaining how we would run a waste project and the benefits for the client in doing so. We received the signed contract via DocuSign the very next day!”

Huge congratulations go to all ERA UK franchisees who continue to help business in their time of need, with demand for ERA services growing as margins are being squeezed.

If you would like to join the hugely supportive ERA network and share in the hidden profits you help businesses uncover, now is the perfect time to start. Contact us to receive your franchise opportunity prospectus and discover how you can build your own lucrative cost optimisation consultancy, backed by our world-class training and support.