About Us...

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Ok, so this is the page where we tell you all about us, how brilliant we are and general things that will give you confidence to use our services. Well that is what we would do if we were any other company but we prefer to think outside the box.

Instead we would like to do something not often seen on websites that are selling a service, we're going to tell the truth. Even better would be to give us a call and we would be more than happy to tell you about us and how we could support and grow your business.

Acorn was established in December 2009 by Alex McElhoney who has experience of Sales and Marketing across a number of sectors. Working in a bank throughout his University days whilst studying Accounting & Finance, Alex realised that he wanted to work in all departments at once. He was able to see the bigger picture of how an organisation works and how one weak link can affect every aspect of a business and this developed into a love of understanding how businesses work and problem solving to make them more efficient. After completing his degree Alex moved to the North East and into retail, managing multiple departments of a large office supplies company and even the warehouse when the opportunity arose. He knew that re-organising and increasing the efficiency of the warehouse would make his life easier on the shop floor, that they were all part of the chain to achieve the ultimate goal of increased profit.

From retail it was back down to Merseyside and a year away from working to "experience life" as he puts it. It was at this time he increased the profits of many a fine establishment in the area but learnt more about people and how they tick than at any time before. Understanding a business was a key element of his development but understanding people as well provided a much more rounded experience of how he could help strategic growth. After a brief role as the Sales Director for a Marketing Agency and a few broken promises later, Alex made his first move into the training industry as the Sales Manager for delivering NVQ and Apprenticeship programmes. Having been mostly self taught he found the final piece of his learning journey as he began to understand the importance of training and experienced sound advice and guidance. Learning on the job and in flexible workshops rather than in a classroom day after day was instantly appealing and speaking to numerous Business Owners only confirmed this. It was natural for Alex to form strong relationships with Employers and offer extra support and business development ideas simply because he enjoyed it.

Finally he helped set up Blue Sky People Solutions to provide a wide ranging training solution for businesses across the country, predominately through Government funded schemes. Blue Sky is going from strength to strength and Alex stayed on until April as a retained consultant since he left in October 2009.

We don't profess to know all of the solutions. How can we if we don't know the problems? In most cases it is you that has the answers but maybe lack confidence or focus and that is where we come in. However long you need us for we will be there for you, to understand your business and make a positive difference.

If you think you would benefit from some down to earth yet creative thinking then please give us a call.

Thank you

The Team @ Acorn Business Performance