Looked inside businesses
Reviewed how businesses really run, end to end, including newly acquired ones, and saw where things were breaking down.
Sound familiar?
Six signs the business has outgrown how it runs
Everything still needs my sign-off.
Decisions queue up, holidays are hard, and growth stops at your own capacity.
The month-end figures arrive weeks late.
So pricing, hiring and buying decisions are made on gut feel.
We type the same order in two or three times.
Re-keying between systems and spreadsheets eats hours and creates errors.
We're always chasing money.
Work is finished but not invoiced for days, and nobody owns credit control.
I'm not sure which customers make us money.
Prices haven't kept pace with costs, and margin is only known in total.
If they left, we'd be in trouble.
One or two people hold everything together, and none of it is written down.
Most of these aren't the owner's fault. They come from handovers, missing checks and systems that didn't grow with the business. They're fixable, and they cost more than most owners think.
What's different
I don't hand you a report and leave. I find what's really going on, put a cost on it, and then help fix it.
In person and hands-on
The health check is done on site, with your team, following real orders, invoices and payments from start to finish.
Evidence, not opinion
Every finding is backed by something I've seen and checked, not just what people say happens.
Fixed price, agreed up front
You know the cost before we start, and the action plan shows what each problem is costing you.
How it works
From health check to a business that runs without you
- Start here · about 5 days
Health check
Find what's slowing the business down, and what it's costing.
- 90-day stages
Fix
Redesign the key processes with your team, with clear owners and checks.
- Alongside the fix
Equip
Train the team, and use automation and AI where they genuinely save time.
- Final month
Hand over
Measure the gain, then leave it running on its own.
The health check
A fixed-price review of your processes, controls, reporting and reliance on the owner
About 5 days on siteFixed price10 areas of the business
What you get at the end
- A clear score for each area of the business, from sales and cash to people and systems
- The top 10 fixes, ranked by impact and effort, with what each problem costs where it can be measured
- Three quick wins for the first 30 days
- A 90-day plan, and a two-hour session to walk you through it
For businesses that have grown fast
Built for growth
Put in the structure growth outran, before it starts costing you.
- Clear roles and responsibilities
- Processes that scale with the team
- Reporting you can run the business on
For teams stretched thin
Run leaner
Cut rework and wasted effort with simpler processes and checks that catch errors early.
- Process mapping and redesign
- Controls that catch errors early
- Automation where it pays
For owners planning a sale
Sell for more
Get ready one to three years ahead, so the business runs without you.
- Less reliance on the owner
- How the business runs, written down
- The information buyers will ask for
What I've done
I go into businesses, find what's holding them back, and fix it
Here is what that has meant in practice, across acquired businesses, growing teams and a global group.
Found the gaps
Identified weaknesses in processes, controls and reporting, and set out what had to change to put them right.
Improved operational excellence
Reviewed and developed new processes from cradle to grave, removed duplicated work, and put in new systems and target operating models across a global business.
Gave leaders the numbers
Developed the KPIs and management information reporting that leadership ran the business on.
Brought acquisitions together
Worked on acquisitions from the operations side, and established new teams across Europe so each ran as part of the group, not alongside it.
Helped businesses grow
Developed newly acquired teams and businesses into robust, profit-making organisations.
About
Hello, I'm Tom Muskett
Founder, Dovetail Operations
I started out as a carpentry apprentice. After a spell trying to make it as a rugby player, I spent thirteen years in audit and consultancy, most recently leading transformation and operations work in an international insurance broking business.
Audit taught me to check what actually happens, not what people say happens. Consultancy taught me that a good plan only matters once it's running without you.
I was also one of the founding members of an AI innovation lab, looking at how AI can be used commercially to help a business grow, not just to save people time.
My passion is creating an environment of operational excellence, through robust controls, smart systems and efficient processes, so that staff can truly work on the things that matter.
I'm based near Petersfield and work with businesses across Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex.
Ways to work together
Fixed-price projects
The health check, a single process fix, or a training session.
Monthly retainer
A few days a month on site to see the changes through.
Interim or fractional
Hands-on operations leadership for a set period.