Client Stories

Consulting for Existing Businesses

Will Belford, Shop Manager at Natural Cycleworks, wanted to increase staff wages, but he needed assistance in determining if it was a realistic decision.

“We needed advice, we needed guidance,” says Belford, who participated in SEED’s Business & Enterprise Support & Training (BEST) program to learn if the business could support this change.

Through SEED’s Best program Belford acquired the skills needed to anticipate how raising salaries would affect the business as a whole while taking into account all the other facets of the business that needed attention.

We’ve been seeing growth in sales by 10 per cent per year

“At the end, we concluded that for the health of the business, we couldn’t do it,” says Belford.

However, the process did lead to the discovery of other changes that would benefit the business, and the implementation of these changes paid off.

“Ultimately, it was the healthiest choice,” say Belford. Natural Cycleworks eventually was able to increase wages as planned after one year.

“During our second year we actually increased them (wages) again,” says Belford. “We’ve been seeing growth in sales by 10 per cent per year.”