And proprietors of privately owned, small and mid-sized corporations may need help to get back on track.

That's when they start searching for professional consultants to grease the wheels of their operation. But not just anyone. They're not looking for over-the-phone solutions.

They need the services of professional advisors who are ready and willing to visit the home office, to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

The Deloitte Mid-Market team can help.

Dave Zimmel is a key leader of Deloitte’s Mid-Market team.

A key leader of Deloitte's Calgary-based Mid-Market Group, Dave Zimmel, CA, CPA & CMC, is a seasoned business advisor and offers solutions.

His specialty: helping sound growing companies focus and execute their strategy.

"We can assist in rebuilding a business strategy from the ground up," explains Zimmel. "We help them implement, execute and follow up. It may take a month, it may take a year. But we'll make sure that the job is done properly."

Zimmel believes that when it comes to a business plan, execution is often the missing link between operations and results.

"We try to help organizations understand how to put their goals in focus and how to execute their plan. In short, we help them make it happen."

By way of illustration, Zimmel cited a recent example.

An owner-operator came to Deloitte's Mid-Market Group with an interesting problem, namely a weakness in his own style of management: he felt he was off-loading too much responsibility for day-to-day operations, tactical plans, even hiring and staff performance measurement.

After a period of evaluation, Zimmel's experts helped him to regain his focus. They showed him how to integrate his personal style with fresh strategies for steering his operations team toward a more productive model.

"Our clients are smart people," Zimmel elaborates. "In most cases, they're working from an excellent roadmap. It's just that they're having trouble identifying the factors that may be lacking, in terms of successful execution of their plan."

Deloitte's Mid-Market team offers a "holistic" approach to solving problems. Zimmel doesn't believe in band-aid solutions.

"We really try to peel back the onion, and get as close as we can to the problem.”

He adds with a grin: "I call it blue-collar consulting. We get our hands dirty. We help them identify why their plan is not working and move them to action."

Zimmel's team probes beneath the surface, identifying issues while they analyse the corporate culture.

Team members evaluate performance, paying special attention to strategic tactics and implementation skills.

"Invariably, we'll turn up weaknesses," Zimmel says. "That's when we really get to work."

And when the job nears completion, Zimmel's experts embark on a process of knowledge transfer to make sure the client knows exactly how to proceed.

"We want them to understand the solution and to build on it. We don't want to be coming back the following year."

Then, too, Alberta's currently prosperous business climate has a tendency to fool many senior decision-makers.

In Zimmel's view, plenty of mid-sized companies find themselves in unusual circumstances: Revenues are strong and traditional growth indicators seem robust - on the surface, at least.

"If you're not paying attention, you can be misled by growth indicators," Zimmel warns. "Margins can shrink and profits can erode even during periods of apparently strong growth."

In short, you can be bigger ... yet not as profitable.

But Dave and the Mid-Market Group will help you and the rest of your ownership group understand how to create more value from your existing model.

It's a results-oriented consultative approach that works wonders for a surprising variety of mid-sized businesses, from startup oil and gas companies to technology firms to car dealerships to storefront retailers.

Taken as a whole, Deloitte's multi-talented Mid-Market Group makes its services available to the Alberta business community on several different fronts.

These motivated and versatile professionals have helped medium-sized, family-controlled companies to draft orderly succession, estate and trust plans.

The plans enable them to defer, minimize or eliminate applicable domestic or foreign taxes payable.

They reduce tax liability while increasing family wealth by means of strategic income-shifting techniques.

And they evaluate and moderate the risk of fraud or theft within independently-owned private companies.

For more information on Deloitte's Mid-Market team, plus other ways they can help your private business to thrive, please call 403.267.0618. And take time to visit Deloitte's website: www.deloitte.ca.