Cumbria
Experienced commercial leadership for companies across the county that want to sell more without adding another permanent director to the payroll.
Cumbria's business base is unusual. It is dominated by manufacturers, engineering firms, construction and building product companies, and specialist service businesses — many of them well established, often family owned, and frequently better known for what they make than for how they sell it.
A well-made product, a solid reputation and an underdeveloped sales operation produce a recognisable pattern. Growth happens when the market is kind, and stalls when it isn't. The sales function has rarely had the same attention as operations, finance or production.
Evans Sales Consultancy exists to close that gap: to bring the sales strategy, structure and hands-on commercial activity that a business needs, at the point it needs it, without a permanent senior hire.
The managing director is still the best salesperson in the business, which means growth is capped by one diary and the business is harder to sell or hand on.
Enquiries arrive because of who you know and what you've built locally. That works until a major customer changes hands or a national competitor moves into the region.
Businesses restrict themselves to a radius that feels manageable, rather than deciding which customers are worth the travel and planning accordingly.
Quotes go out and are chased when someone remembers. In most businesses we look at, this is the single largest source of lost revenue.
A commercial diagnosis of lead generation, pipeline, conversion and follow-up
A sales strategy that names the sectors, accounts and territories worth pursuing
New business development activity carried out alongside your team, not just planned
Sales process and CRM work so the pipeline reflects reality
Training and management structure for existing salespeople
Territory and market expansion beyond the county where it makes commercial sense
Work starts with a sales growth assessment: a structured look at where opportunities are created, where they are lost and what the numbers actually say.
From there the engagement is deliberately practical. We build what is missing, then get involved in using it — sitting in on sales meetings, making calls, going out on visits and reviewing performance with the people responsible for it.
Most arrangements run over several months at one or two days a week, which is enough continuity for the changes to become habit rather than initiative.
We work with businesses throughout the county: Carlisle and the north, Penrith and the Eden valley, Kendal and South Lakeland, and the west coast towns of Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow-in-Furness. Being based here means meetings happen in person, which matters more in this market than most.
Evidence
UK Market Entry
A Scandinavian glass manufacturer wanted to sell into the UK for the first time. There was no presence, no customers and no distribution to build on.
0 → UK Market entered from no prior presence
Distributor Development
A German balustrade manufacturer needed a route into the UK. Distribution alone was not the answer — the distributors had to be found, onboarded, trained and then supported in selling.
5 UK distributors established
Business Development
A major UK balustrade supplier was well established elsewhere in the UK but thin on the ground across the northern territories. Growth there needed direct commercial activity.
A management consultant will typically analyse and recommend. We do the commercial diagnosis too, but the value is in what follows: building the sales process and then taking part in the selling activity that produces revenue.
Usually a monthly arrangement based on an agreed number of days. Some pieces of work — a market assessment, a pipeline review, a training programme — are better as fixed projects.
Typically established SMEs in the £1m to £20m range, with either a small sales team or an owner currently carrying the sales load.
If your business could sell more than it currently does, the fastest way to find out why is to look at the numbers together.
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