Cash Flow Pressure
Constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul; missing payroll, or relying 100% on a line of credit.
Fractional business partnership
Strategy. Solutions. Results.
We act as your fractional business partner to stabilize underperforming companies, resolve liquidity crises, and drive sustainable profitability.
Are you facing these critical challenges?
Business decline rarely happens overnight. If you are experiencing these symptoms, time is your most valuable asset.
Troubled Bank Relationship
Transferred to Special Assets Group (SAG), facing forbearance deadlines, or violating loan covenants.
Flying Blind
Incomplete financial reporting, lack of KPIs, or making decisions based on “gut feel” rather than data.
Declining Profitability
Weak gross margins, ineffective pricing strategies, or unmanaged operating expenses.
For Business Owners & CEOs
Regain Control of Your Business.
Whether you need to navigate a liquidity crisis, execute a turnaround, or position your company for a sale, we function as a one-year partner to the ownership team.
- Resolve Cash Flow Shortfalls
- Operational Restructuring
- Exit & Succession Planning
Bankers, Attorneys & Investors
Preserve Value. Mitigate Risk.
We act as the indispensable ally to rebuild trust and restore credible turnaround plans. We help you select the right partner for formal resolution or full exit.
- Special Assets Group (SAG) Support
- Independent Business Reviews
- Maximizing Collateral Value
About Cole Advisors
We help find solutions when business problems feel elusive.
The challenges small and medium business leaders face are not easy ones. We thrive on solving problems, figuring out what seems elusive and, at times, overwhelming. Our role is to help find solutions.
Many business owners and executives consider us their “fractional business partner.” We are there, always there, whenever our clients need us. We find solving problems, especially hard ones, very rewarding.
We invest ourselves deeply, intellectually and emotionally, in our clients’ success. We bring a disciplined, yet pragmatic and responsive, approach to achieving required results.
Strategy
Strategy is an action word. It is the backbone of every successful organization. A good strategy helps focus attention and prioritize action. While some parts of strategy should be etched in stone, much must be dynamic. It needs to adjust as the market, customers and environment shift.
Solutions
Good solutions start with a clear view of the current state. Solutions are not bumper stickers, they are plans and actions that drive financial and operational improvement. Many businesses have a defined vision and mission. Translating these to objectives, strategies and action plans requires focus and hard work and is where many organizations struggle.
Results
Starting with the desired results clearly in mind is important, like starting on a long drive to a known destination. Resources, information and priorities are directed to influence the performance of an organization. Strategy drives Solutions that deliver Results to an organization’s people, customers, business and community.
Our Clients
Discretion is part of the work.
Some firms are big on dropping names and publishing lists and logos of the companies they’ve worked with. We do it differently. We’re engaged to solve one or more problems - sometimes they’re critical and often the future of the company is on the line.
Our clients come to us for solutions to problems and we don’t think it’s right to shout to the world a list of clients who have struggled. We’re behind the scenes and working for our clients’ success. If there’s a light to be shined our clients should be the ones on which it shines. We prefer to just stay in the background and quietly help the light shine more brightly.
Clients count on our discretion and confidence.
Services
Listen. Learn. Advise. Execute.
We don’t show up with prefabricated assumptions. We listen. We learn. Only then are we in a position to well advise.
Our clients need more than “bookend consulting” - providing a roadmap before a journey or evaluating results after the fact. We help clients connect the dots with an integrated and holistic plan. We then help execute on that plan.
As trusted advisors, we influence strategy, drive solutions and work with our clients’ staff to effect positive business results. When our clients are struggling, we’re also burning the midnight oil to find and implement a solution - as a “fractional business partner.”
Our clients need help because they have been underperforming versus the expectations of the owners, leadership team, bank, investors or customers. They often have experienced leadership teams who either struggle due to skill-based gaps or a lack of well defined Strategies, Solutions and Results.
Common reasons clients call
- Banking or investor relationships have deteriorated
- Balance sheet is challenged
- Cash is painfully tight
- Profit is elusive
- Revenue lags expectations
- Leadership gaps require an interim solution
- Financial results are trending down
- Critical projects need extra horsepower
- Key customers are lost or reduce orders
Services, alphabetical
- Business Process Planning
- Capital
- Cash Flow Management
- Change Management
- CRM System Implementation and Management
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Modeling
- Financial Reporting
- Increasing Employee Engagement
- Key Customer and Vendor Negotiations
- Lender/Investor Negotiations
- Lender/Investor Relationship Management
- Marketing Strategy and Implementation
- Maximize Sales Team Performance
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Ownership Transition
- Retaining and Recruiting Top Talent
- Revenue Growth
- Staffing Review and Analysis
- Technology and Automation Planning
Industries
Experience across the business landscape.
- Business and Consumer Services
- Financial Services
- Healthcare
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Not-for-Profit
- Real Estate
- Retail
- Technology and Communications
We are based in St. Louis, Missouri, but our customers are located throughout the country, including New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah.
Contact Cole Advisors
Don't wait until it's too late.
We are based in St. Louis and work with clients throughout the country.
Schedule a call712 N. Second Street, Suite 301St. Louis, MO 63102
(314) 436-6250 phone