Often it’s hard to define exactly what the problem is. Our initial conversations with clients are designed to establish the issues. 
The following are comments that have come from clients at the beginning of our relationship. 

Business
•    “Business is much more complicated than it used to be”
•    “All we do is make short-term, opportunistic decisions, on an ad hoc basis”
•    “I just don’t know where we’re going to get growth from over the next 5 years”

Consumer
•    “We’re struggling to understand the changing consumer needs”
•    “I can’t get the brand to connect with the target market”
•    “We seem to have too many brands”

Employment
•    “I can’t align my staff with what we’re trying to do”
•    “The younger generation are so difficult to retain”
•    “I don’t feel that we’re organised for growth”

Intermediary
•    “The retail trade are constantly blocking what we’re trying to do”
•    “The financial planners don’t deliver the message right”
•    “Private label is hurting us”

Environment
•    “Everyone is talking about sustainability, but no one knows what to do about it”
•     “I’d like to be more environmentally friendly, but the costs are too high”
•     “We just don’t know enough about it – the risks or the opportunities”

Community
•     “We don’t really understand who the ‘community’ actually is”
•     “We need to understand the regulatory environment”
•      “Our community effort isn’t integrated with anything else we do”

Shareholder
•      “I don’t believe my marketing budget is well spent”
•      “We need to make the brand portfolio work harder”
•      “I’m not sure if this plan is going to be viable”