
Gain insights on business growth in our series of bite size chats withbusiness leaders, brought to you by The FD Consultant.
In this edition of Insights Q&A, we welcome David Coleman, managing director of DAC Planning.
DAC Planning was founded by David in 2016 after he had built his career experience in both the public and private sectors. DAC Planning is passionate about shaping the future of our communities.
Learn about the key factors that have driven business growth to date and the challenges of working with the public sector.
We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Insights.
Hi David, please tell us about your business.
DAC Planning is a town planning consultancy that works for local authorities and local communities. Our focus is on the strategic and forward planning work that local authorities and local communities do, as opposed to development management, which means that we do not generally get involved in planning applications.
I started the business in 2016 and it has since grown steadily since. We are now a team of six and will soon be growing to eight with two new starters in January.
Our client base has grown both in scale terms and geographic coverage over the years. We now serve clients nationally and are steadily increasing the range of services that we provide.
The team consists of five town planners, a part-time office manager, and a small number of external advisors (including The FD Consultant) who provide support for the day to day running and future planning of the business when needed.
Almost all comparably sized SME planning consultancies work predominantly (if not exclusively) for the private sector, so the fact that our focus is on other markets makes us fairly unique. It enables us to differentiate ourselves from others.
As a team, we are passionate about the work we do and have made a conscious decision to focus our efforts on supporting the public sector despite the challenges that this can bring.
Like many businesses, our operating model continues to evolve. We have used the challenges and changes brought about by the pandemic to our advantage, and whilst we do have a dedicated office, the team predominantly works remotely from home.
This has meant that we have been able to widen our selection pool nationally when recruiting and also gives team members greater flexibility, ensuring that a healthy work-life balance can be maintained, which I believe leads to a happier workforce. We come together in person as a team once a month.
We have used the challenges and changes brought about by the pandemic to our advantage
What are the key factors which have driven your growth to date?
It sounds obvious but ensuring that we meet and where possible exceed the expectations of our clients has been key. It takes dedication, attention to detail and hard work to ensure continued client satisfaction, and these relationships must be nurtured if they are to continue.
meet and where possible exceed the expectations of our clients
At the same time, I always have to have my eye on where the next project is coming from. No matter how busy we are I am always looking for new opportunities and ways to expand our offer.
I also believe that creating and maintaining a happy and hard working team is essential. I always pay close attention to recruitment and ensure that any new team members can demonstrate the necessary ethos, skills and attributes to fit in well with the rest of the team.
Thankfully, this has worked to date, and I feel very fortunate to have such great colleagues to work with!
creating and maintaining a happy and hard working team is essential
I would also say that collaboration is key. We have formed a number of important informal partnerships with other companies and individuals over the years which have helped us to develop new products and services, to build our reputation and to punch above our weight.
Collaboration has come about through networking and being commercially minded in order to seek out opportunities, if necessary taking calculated risks along the way.
What makes you so passionate about what you do?
I strongly believe that planning is and should be a force for good. I want to help ensure that communities of the future are high quality, cohesive, healthy and happy places supported by the services and infrastructure that people need, whilst ensuring that the natural and historic environment is protected.
I want to help ensure that communities of the future are high quality, cohesive, healthy and happy places
Before starting DAC Planning, I worked in a range of roles in the private and public sector, and my prior experience has helped me to determine and shape the approach of the business.
I feel passionate about supporting the work of local authorities and local communities in seeking to obtain the best possible outcomes, and I take great pride and satisfaction in doing so despite some of the challenges that this brings.
What do you view as your greatest achievement in this role to date?
In 2023, DAC Planning won the award for Small Planning Consultancy of the Year for the East of England region.
That was a fantastic achievement, and it recognised the high-quality work that my team undertakes consistently across the country.
What are the biggest challenges your business faces?
Working with the public sector certainly brings frustrations and challenges, but I would say that public sector procurement practices are the biggest challenge. Many of our contracts are won through competitive tendering process, and these are regularly very time consuming with no certainty of outcome.
We do not get any payment for preparing and submitting a tender and we do not know how many other consultancies we may be bidding against.
Sometimes local authorities procure our services through intermediary agencies in order to overcome complex public procurement requirements which can be frustrating because the agencies take a slice of our fee and can sometimes delay our payment. This is very frustrating as an SME as it can impact on our cash flow.
Some local authorities procure work through frameworks, and as an SME, we regularly find that it is virtually impossible to secure entry to the frameworks as the requirements can be disproportionately onerous and more geared towards much larger multinational practices.
In addition to public procurement challenges, our work is also very susceptible to changes in national policy and public sector budgets. We mitigate risk by continually seeking to diversify our client base and service offerings.
We mitigate risk by continually seeking to diversify our client base and service offer.
What one piece of advice would you give to those who want to achieve or sustain high growth in their businesses?
You need to work hard and maintain high quality work outputs whilst always having an eye on the future work pipeline.
You also need to have a trustworthy, ambitious and dedicated team around you.
We hope you found David's comments insightful.
Please visit the DAC Planning website if you'd like to know more about David Coleman and DAC Planning.
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