In 2011, our founder Marcus Delaney left a 14-year career in corporate finance to set up a consultancy that would work differently. He had watched too many projects end with a thick report and no change on the ground. The idea behind Pinnacle Consulting Group was straightforward: stay small, hire people who have run things, and tie fees to measurable results.
The first client was a £4m plastics manufacturer in the Midlands struggling with cash conversion. Marcus spent six weeks on site, renegotiated supplier terms, restructured the invoicing cycle and freed up £380,000 in working capital. That project set the tone for everything that followed.
By 2015 the team had grown to five consultants, all recruited from operational backgrounds in manufacturing, logistics and professional services. We moved into our current office at 371 Ryan Green in Little Huel, which remains our base. The firm now has twelve full-time consultants and a network of specialist associates we bring in for sector-specific work.
Our mission is to help UK businesses make better decisions with the resources they already have. We do not sell transformation programmes that take two years and require a project management office. Most of our engagements last between six and sixteen weeks. The goal is always to leave the client's own team capable of sustaining the improvements without us.
We put specific targets into every proposal. If the project does not hit the agreed improvement, we revisit the work at no additional cost. This clause has been triggered on fewer than one in twenty engagements since 2011.
We tell clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. If a project is not worth doing, we say so in the scoping call. That saves everyone time and keeps our conversion rate honest rather than inflated.
Businesses lose money while they wait for answers. We deliver a diagnostic within two weeks of starting, and most implementation plans are complete within eight weeks. Long timelines usually mean the consultant is padding, not adding value.
We train your people as we go. Every engagement includes documented procedures, coaching sessions and a handover meeting so the improvements stick after we leave.
Our consultants have held director-level and senior management positions before joining the firm. That gives them the credibility to challenge a board and the practical sense to work alongside warehouse staff or sales teams without friction.
Founder and managing director
Former finance director at a £90m engineering group. Chartered accountant (ICAEW). Specialises in cash-flow improvement, pricing strategy and M&A due diligence. Has led over 120 engagements since founding the firm.
Head of operations consulting
Spent nine years managing distribution centres for a national retailer before joining Pinnacle in 2016. Leads our supply-chain and logistics work, with particular experience in warehouse layout, route planning and shift optimisation.
Senior strategy consultant
Background in management consulting at a Big Four firm, followed by five years as commercial director of a SaaS company. Focuses on market-entry analysis, competitive positioning and growth planning for firms between £5m and £50m in revenue.
Beyond the core team, we maintain a vetted network of twelve associate consultants covering HR, IT systems, regulatory compliance and sector-specific expertise in healthcare, construction and food manufacturing. We bring them in when a project needs depth we do not carry in-house, and they work under our project management and quality standards.
Marcus Delaney founds Pinnacle Consulting Group with one client and a home office. First project recovers £380,000 in working capital for a Midlands manufacturer.
Team grows to four consultants. We complete our 50th engagement and introduce the performance guarantee clause into all new contracts.
Sarah Okonkwo joins to lead operations consulting. We open the Little Huel office and begin working with logistics and distribution clients.
Revenue passes £1.8m. We launch the associate network to extend our sector coverage without losing the small-firm culture.
Two hundred engagements completed. Client retention rate (repeat engagements within three years) reaches 62 per cent.
Team reaches twelve full-time consultants. We introduce a fixed-fee diagnostic product that gives prospective clients a full financial and operational review in two weeks for a transparent price.