More margin from the business you already have

I take every order down to the point of sale: margin at production, at dispatch and at sale. So you can see which customers, products and jobs really pay.

Measures, my own margin process, supported by my own software. Five businesses so far, and I'm on your shop floor for every one.

Unhide the margin.

Half an hour on a call, then a free half-day data check. You keep what I find.

Ro Ballard · Founder and margin specialist · for manufacturers and food businesses · Telford & Geneva

Ro grinning outside a factory unit in a navy MARGIN polo
Where the margin is

Four places margin hides

Your accounts tell you how much margin you made. I show where it came from and what to change next, working alongside your accountant.

  • 01

    capture the value

    Everything you can do with the customers you already have.

    Sell them more · sell it for more · sell it differently
  • 02

    win better work

    Where to grow, profitably.

    Is one customer too big? · score every market · map the best one
  • 03

    cut the waste

    Inside the business, every cost counted.

    Staff time and set-ups · packing, dispatch and office · stock and samples
  • 04

    buy for less

    Every penny you spend buying, checked.

    Vital ingredients · top spend and suppliers · prices over time

Watch the four types in twenty seconds

Which margin?

A customer can look great at production and leave you little at sale

Most numbers stop at production. I take every order down to the point of sale, and every figure says which margin it is.

Margin at productionMAP
What's left after making it: sales less ingredients, packaging, staff time in the recipe and kit
Margin at dispatchMAD
After delivering it: less dispatch and the office
Margin at saleMAS
After selling it: less the sales team
Then overhead
Rent, energy and the rest: your accountant's figures

How the staircase works

Real businesses

What it's done so far

7.7 pts
margin at production, up over three years

Project Darby · Midlands manufacturer

2022/23 to 2025/26, client-reported, after 600 lines were costed.

£100k
a year of extra sales from carriage on small orders

Project Darby · Midlands manufacturer

Against a delivery cost they were already paying.

380
product lines costed to the sub-recipe

Project Elgar · biscuit maker

Gift lines made 8 points more margin at production (MAP) than the rest.

Read the stories
Ro in a hairnet grinning beside recipe sheets and scales on a factory bench
Weighing yields, recipe sheet by recipe sheet.
Ro’s knowledge and passion for margin enhancement has totally changed not only our financial performance but our cultural engagement around margin.

Managing Director, Midlands manufacturer

Fancy a chat about your margin?

Half an hour on a call. Tell me about your business, test me as hard as you like, and I'll tell you where I'd look first.

Book a chat