PHNC

Management consulting for small and medium businesses · Beacon, NY

Working this hard, and still not growing? We find the actual problem before you pay for the fix.

Most owners grab the first fix they think of: more ads, more social, another hire. We step back and look at the whole engine first. We gather your real numbers and find where the work gets stuck. AI does the heavy counting, so a handful of people can do what used to take a big firm’s army of analysts. That’s why we can do this for a business your size.

Start a conversation See an example

It starts with a 20-minute call with Andrew Phan. We reply within 24 hours.

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The example: a made-up event venue, 25 people · numbers illustrative

An example: how we find the actual problem, told through a made-up event venue

[01]The problem

Busy, but not growing.

Take a made-up venue with 25 people that hosts weddings and company events. The owner keeps asking, “Why am I working so hard and not seeing the business get better?”

It shows up one of three ways: the quality slips, there’s no time to keep up, or the money isn’t there. Here it’s money. “We need more bookings.”

[02]The first fix

So they grab the first fix.

“We need to run more ads.” “We need to get on social.” “We need another person.” They just go and do something, before anyone looks at where the work gets lost.

Which would you try?

[03]What happens

More inquiries. No more revenue.

The ads work: 3 more inquiries a month, 12 instead of 9. But the same 3 book a tour, and the same 2 events get hosted. Nobody was counting, so nobody saw it.

[04]Where we come in

Nobody at the venue has time to step back.

So we do. We pull a month of their records, the inbox, the calendar and the quotes, and count every step an event goes through. AI does the sorting and counting. A person reads what the counts can’t say.

Most inquiries never book a tour: 9 of 12. And the owner does the first three steps alone.

[05]The actual problem

Why do most of them never book a tour?

They wait. Every inquiry waits for the owner, who answers between events and at night. The 3 answered the same day booked 2 tours. The 9 left for days booked 1.

That’s why the owner is so busy, and why the venue can’t grow past them. More ads just sent more people to wait.

[06]The fix

So hire someone to answer them?

Not on its own. A new person with no training and nothing set up is just more payroll.

The fix is one job, set up properly: one person owns every new inquiry and answers it the same day, with a reply script and a booking link. The wait gets counted every week. No new ads, no new website.

[07]The test

Did it work?

First we agree when to keep it and when to stop: keep it at 5 or more tours a month, stop if it’s still 3. Then we try it for 30 days.

Now 8 of 12 inquiries book a tour, up from 3 (simulated).

[08]What’s next

So did revenue go up?

Not yet. More people tour, but most proposals still don’t book. The owner still prices every event by hand. That’s the next leak, and the next small step.

If that gets fixed too, one more event gets hosted every month (simulated).

Find the actual problem before you pay for the fix.

Start a conversation

Working together

How we’d start with you.

  1. 1A 20-minute call

    Tell us the fix you have in mind, and we’ll ask why. We reply within 24 hours.

  2. 2Half a day, then one page

    Half a day with you and your team. We start with what you want the business to be. Then we pull your numbers and count every step from first inquiry to finished job, with AI doing the heavy counting. Then one page: what we’re solving, how we’ll know it worked, and a fixed price. It’s yours to take to anyone.

  3. 3The first small step

    The smallest useful fix, tried with real customers for 30 days, with the keep and stop lines agreed first.

  4. 4Keep score, then hand over

    A monthly check against the plan. Everything is made in your name, with the files and the training, so you can run it without us.

Then the next small step, like the venue in the example

Why AI, and why a person

In a Harvard study of 758 BCG consultants, the ones using AI finished 12.2% more tasks, 25.1% faster. On the one task where the answer sat in the interviews, they got it wrong more often. So AI does our counting, and a person reads the interviews. The study

Who it’s for

Is this you?

  • You run a business with 5 to 100 people.
  • One more customer is worth thousands to you.
  • You’re busy, the business isn’t growing, and you’re about to spend money on a fix.
  • You can pay for someone to lead the work as well as people to make things.

Short on time, or getting complaints about quality? We start the same way: find where the work gets stuck before you hire or retrain.

It isn’t a fit if

  • You need one piece made at the lowest price. A good freelancer will serve you better.
  • You’d rather skip the questions and start building.
  • You’d rather not agree the price and what’s included, in writing, before we start.

What you get

What you get.

  • A one-page brief with a fixed price. It’s yours to take to anyone.
  • Where the work is getting lost, counted.
  • The first small step, set up properly and tried for 30 days.
  • A monthly check against the plan.
  • Everything made in your name, with the files and the training.

If the problem calls for it, we build the fix too. There are 68 things we can make, from a reply script to a website. The venue in the example used 12 of them.

Direction

8 parts

Where the business is going, and in what order.

Project brief, vision and values, roadmap, success measures

Research

9 parts

What we learn before anything is made.

Interview notes, customer questions, journey map, assessment report

Story

9 parts

What the brand says, and how it says it.

Positioning, messaging guide, script and storyboard, newsletter

Brand

3 parts

How the brand looks.

Name check, logo and visual system, brand guidelines

Print

5 parts

Physical pieces, designed and produced.

Business cards, stationery, print pieces, welcome kits

Web

7 parts

Sites and stores.

Site plan, page copy, website or store, site care

Media

5 parts

Photo and video.

Photo sets, video, documentary, social clips

Operations

10 parts

How the business runs, written down.

Process map, SOPs, playbooks, operating manual

Tools

4 parts

Software, data and automation.

Workspace setup, apps and integrations, automation, platform care

Launch and grow

8 parts

Putting it out and keeping score.

Launch plan, pilot, monthly report, analytics setup

Who you’ll talk to

You’ll talk to Andrew Phan.

Andrew Phan has run his company since 2019, working inside owner-led firms as their part-time marketing and operations lead. He interviews the staff, maps how a customer gets from first call to finished job, and writes the plans, SOPs and front-desk templates that come out of it.

The venue in the example is made up. Its numbers are illustrative and its results simulated.

Start a conversation

What are you about to spend money on?

More ads, a new website, another hire. Tell us before you pay for it. A few lines is enough: what the business does, how many people, and the fix you have in mind. We reply within 24 hours and suggest a time for a 20-minute call.

Sent

Thanks. It’s with Andrew now.

We reply within 24 hours and suggest a time for a 20-minute call. A confirmation is on its way to your inbox.

Its name and what it does.

Including you. A rough number is fine.

More ads, a new website, another hire: whatever you’re about to pay for.

Or email
info@phncreative.com
Based in
Beacon, New York