AVANTI EXECUTIVE SOLUTIONS GROUP INC.
Kevin Grainger, founder of Avanti ESG, in a boardroom overlooking the city at dusk

Addressing the hidden cost of change

You see untapped value. We help you find the fastest way to it.

Even if your organization's challenges are ‘normal’, paying 2–3x in unnecessary time, money and stress shouldn't be.

Four hours with Avanti ESG can save you 400 to 4,000 hours across your entire organization. Guaranteed.

At Avanti ESG, we focus on an often hidden set of attributes which not only predict success, but answer the key questions of ‘by when’ and ‘for how long’ — very accurately.

That means fewer surprises, faster execution and extraordinary results that are measurable, repeatable and reliable.

Book your confidential discovery call and see what’s possible.

Just a few of our outcomes

Merger integration
Proposed by competing firms 18 months
Avanti ESG Under 6 months
Over $250,000 USD saved
Sales turnaround · Construction
Original plan 60 days
Avanti ESG Under 2 weeks
Sales up 300%
Founder realignment
Proposed by incubator 4 weeks
Avanti ESG 4 days
Sales up 28%, two key team members retained
How these results were achieved →

Who we serve

Investors, founders, owners and executives.

You’re certain there’s untapped value in your company, but unsure about the best way to unlock it. Our model tracks 194 business attributes across six stages of growth to pinpoint the few that matter most for you right now — so your time, money and people go where they'll pay off fastest, with fewer surprises along the way.

Investors

Change the odds.

Two winners, five so-sos and three failures in every ten is often accepted as ‘normal’. Our proprietary diligence helps you find more winners and avoid the bottom three — and our guidance and leadership help accelerate and improve outcomes across the whole portfolio.

Founders, owners & executives

Grow without the guesswork.

Get a more accurate understanding of where your organization actually is, and focus on the (often hidden) levers that will have the greatest impact for you, both now and later.

Public sector & non-profits

Deliver more with what you have.

For governments, charities and NGOs, we measure and align around a different set of key attributes, specific to public-sector and non-profit environments, so programs deliver sooner and budgets go further.

One goal: extraordinary results, sooner.

Our approach

Being correct isn't enough.

Many leadership teams have read the books, invested in retreats, or brought in a major firm. The thinking is sound, yet results often arrive slower and more costly than expected. The fix or advice may be correct, but unless key underlying attributes are addressed with it, serious time and money can be left on the table.

The situation Common approach Our perspective

You need to scale quickly

Hire ahead of demand, add management layers, and replicate what has worked so far.

What got you here won't scale the same way. Each stage of growth calls for a different set of attributes. We identify which will carry the next stage, which need to change, and in what order — so growth doesn't outpace the organization. One construction client went from one part-time shift to three full-time shifts.

You're launching something new

A bigger launch, more features and a broader platform.

Map the attributes that move your prospects and customers through their buying journey, using our proprietary method. One SaaS company increased sales 5x and cut its sales cycle by two-thirds.

Engagement is low

Leadership communication, new incentives and added structure.

Timing is often the missing piece. Much of the literature asks staff to buy in before the proper trust is in place. Our discreet method restores trust quickly, even in extreme situations. With one client, trust was restored in 5 days, even after years of friction.

Sales are slow

More reps, new incentives, a wider target market and more marketing spend.

Typical ideal customer profile (ICP) work often misses key attributes. Our process captures them — not only the who, but the when of your ICPs. One client cut customer acquisition costs by 60%.

Operations are slow

A new CRM or ERP system, with processes rebuilt around it.

Build CRM/ERP readiness across the whole organization, and remove more of the roadblocks and pitfalls before installation begins. Implementation times have been cut by 40–60%.

Specific examples — and how they may apply to your situation — are shared in the 20-minute discovery call.

About

Portrait of Kevin Grainger, founder of Avanti ESG

Kevin Grainger

Founder: Avanti ESG

Creator: The Accuracy Advantage Model

Creator: EB Calendar

Kevin is a strategist with more than 20 years of hands-on experience, both advising leaders and being an executive himself. He has worked with startups, Fortune 500 companies, the public sector and law enforcement across Canada, the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia, and alongside some of today's leading business thinkers.

He created the Accuracy Advantage Model, built on 194 business attributes, and is the author of the upcoming book The Accuracy Advantage. He also created the EB Calendar, a high-performance planning tool. Every engagement is led by Kevin, from the first conversation to the final result.

He is joined by colleagues around the world in accounting, finance, engineering and operations, each well-versed in the model. Outside client work, Kevin volunteers his time extensively to Military and First Responder causes.

Talk with Kevin LinkedIn

Services

Four services. Senior attention on every one.

Built around your company: your customers, leadership team and competitors. Flat fees, results forecast in writing, and Kevin leading every engagement.

01

Competitive Strategy

Move first and move with confidence, with the timing and payoff mapped out in advance.

02

Investment Due Diligence

Before you invest or acquire, know the company's stage, how durable its performance is, and what it will take to grow it.

03

Fractional C-Suite

Senior leadership matched to your company's stage, with a clear mandate: what changes, by when, and how it will be measured.

04

Executive Development

One-on-one and team development for leaders, built on the decision tools used in police, fire and military command. See further ahead and act faster.

Book your 20-minute call →

Results

Not miracles. The predictable results of accuracy.

Construction From $25K to $250K in contracts, and one shift to three

After losing most of its revenue in a recession, the company was struggling to keep its staff busy for a single part-time shift. It realigned its core business around the attributes that matter most at its stage, and grew sales 300% in under two weeks against a 60-day plan. Within three weeks, contract value was up tenfold, and the company now runs three full-time shifts.

Technology · Software Acquisition costs cut 60%

Achieved within six months, alongside a 40% rise in customer satisfaction and 50% higher team productivity, with no added headcount or budget.

Mergers & Acquisitions 18-month merger completed in under 6

Delivered with one-quarter of the planned M&A team. Executive and culture alignment was achieved in the first three weeks, saving over $250,000 USD.

The upcoming book by Kevin Grainger

Hardcover edition of The Accuracy Advantage by Kevin Grainger

The Accuracy Advantage

See Further, Solve Faster, and Achieve Extraordinary Growth in Business

Good leaders are usually correct. This book shows how to be accurate: diagnose a business's true status, focus on the attributes that matter most right now, and lead the way it requires.

The payoff: decisions that land the first time, initiatives that deliver by the date you promised, and growth that lasts — often in a fraction of the time and cost that leaders have come to accept as ‘normal’.

The method behind every Avanti ESG engagement. Written for owners, CEOs and investors, and also delivered as a 20-hour, facilitator-led program for leadership teams.

Read an excerpt Be first to read it
Bring the program in-house →

Insights

Every stage of growth has its own rules.

A series drawn from Kevin Grainger’s 5-Stage Accuracy Advantage Model and its 194 business attributes: what matters most at each stage of a business, and what is most often missed. New insights are released over time.

0 Stage 0 · The Leadership Alignment Stage

“Stage awareness.”

41 attributes
I Stage I · The Idea Stage

“We believe we have an idea, product or service the market will pay a premium for.”

15 attributes

Often missed: when a customer becomes certain the premium is worth paying, and how long they'll feel they should keep paying it.

Why it matters: those two answers shape your sales cycle, pricing and retention, long before revenue shows it.

Read the insight →
II Stage II · The Sales Stage

“Revenue hides all sins.”

36 attributes
III Stage III · The Infrastructure Stage

“The business and brand have a life of their own.”

54 attributes

Featured: Talent & Discretionary Performance — what corporate values are really for.

Read the insight →
IV Stage IV · The Expansion Stage

“Reinvent, grow, repeat.”

38 attributes
V Stage V · The Prime Stage

“Balanced excellence.”

10 attributes

Stage I · Insight 1

The Idea Stage

“We believe we have an idea, product or service the market will pay a premium for.”

The Stage I mantra

The Idea Stage doesn’t necessarily mean a startup. An established company launching a new product, service or venture is at this stage too, for that initiative.

A premium isn't only about price. There are three kinds of premium a customer may pay, and price is just one of them. The other two we share with clients.

Much of the literature stops at whether customers will pay. Two questions are often missed: when will a prospect be certain the premium is worth paying, and for how long will they feel they should keep paying it?

Many companies feel this is too detailed, or something to think about later. We believe Stage I is exactly the time to consider it — briefly, but deliberately.

Here’s why: when Stage I attributes are skipped, the problems rarely show up right away. They usually surface at Stage III, often bypassing Stage II altogether, unfortunately when they’re a lot more expensive to fix.

A third question is often missed as well. Google’s Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) describes the moment a prospect researches a purchase before they buy. We look for a related moment: when does your unfair advantage actually ‘click’ for the prospect or customer?

The Rush?

Why it matters: when these questions aren’t just answered, but woven into the fundamentals of your organization, extraordinary results can follow. In our engagements, we map them to deliberate, measurable marketing and sales improvements — what changes, by how much, and by when — so you can track the impact rather than hope for it.

Part of The Accuracy Advantage. For public-sector organizations, we use a slightly different version of this stage.

Stage III · Insight 1

Talent & Discretionary Performance

What Corporate Values Are Really For

“Values should be the things that protect, sustain and improve your unfair advantages, and you should be able to link every one of them to their impact on your bottom line.”

The Accuracy Advantage view

Discretionary performance is the effort, judgment and care people choose to give when no rule requires it. It's shaped less by policy than by values, and this is where many organizations miss a significant opportunity.

The literature offers sound definitions. Collins and Porras describe core values as the “essential and enduring tenets of an organization.” Lencioni calls them “the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company's actions.” Both are correct.

To be accurate, we go a step further. Values are the things that protect, sustain and improve not just your competitive advantages, but your unfair advantages: the ones competitors can't easily copy or buy.

Read the full insight →

Many organizations settle for correct values without doing the work that makes them accurate: alignment across leadership and teams, consistency in how they're applied, and a clear link to the bottom line.

If we improve this value by a given percentage, where are we certain to see the improvement, and by when?

That distinction, compared with a set of values that is simply marketing- or HR-friendly, can have a major financial and cultural impact throughout an organization. When values aren't defined, aligned and measured to that level, a few things tend to happen:

  • They sound like everyone else's. More than half of the Fortune 100 list integrity as a core value. Important, but it no longer sets anyone apart.
  • Small decisions drift. Without a clear link to what makes the business hard to compete with, day-to-day trade-offs can quietly wear that advantage down.
  • Discretionary effort scatters. It goes where it's easiest or most visible, rather than where it compounds the advantage.
  • Hiring and promotion can't select for it. The people who would strengthen the advantage are harder to recognize, and harder to keep.
  • Decisions slow down. More of them escalate to the top, because people can't tell what they're meant to protect.

Are your values protecting what makes you hard to compete with?

Why it matters: companies can craft corporate values that sound good and partly direct behavior. But without this level of accuracy, they’ll be leaving a lot of their true value on the table.

Part of The Accuracy Advantage. Sources: Collins & Porras, “Building Your Company's Vision,” Harvard Business Review, 1996; Lencioni, “Make Your Values Mean Something,” Harvard Business Review, 2002.

Questions

Frequently asked.

Who is Avanti ESG?

Avanti ESG (Executive Solutions Group) was founded by Kevin Grainger, creator of the Accuracy Advantage Model and author of the upcoming book The Accuracy Advantage. Kevin has more than 20 years of experience working with leading executive frameworks and organizations of every kind, around the world. He has seen what works inside them, and what doesn't.

Is it just Kevin?

No. Kevin is joined by colleagues around the world in disciplines such as accounting, finance, engineering and operations. Each is well-versed in the model, and is brought in wherever their thought leadership or hands-on expertise is needed.

Is this just analysis and insight into our organization?

No. We offer three things: Information, Strategy and Execution. How much of each we provide depends on factors such as the type of challenge or initiative, the size of your organization, your leadership team, and your competitive landscape.

Is this a packaged solution looking for a problem?

No — and it isn't a vitamin pill, either. Every engagement starts from your situation, not a template.

A strategy built on educating the market is very different from one that requires stealth. The picture is shaped further by your industry, the attributes and experience of your leadership team, capitalization, public or private ownership, a union or non-union workforce, employees or contractors, and more. Where other models and frameworks try to set those nuances aside, we require them. They're exactly what we build on and enhance.

Does this work for governments, charities and NGOs?

Yes. For public-sector and non-profit organizations, we measure and align around a different set of key attributes, specific to those environments.

We already use a framework or methodology. Does this replace it?

No. Our attributes work within almost any existing best-practice framework and make it more effective.

Do you support Military and First Responder leaders?

Yes. Kevin has worked extensively with Military members and First Responders in many areas, including entrepreneurship. Service members often remark on how closely the Accuracy Advantage Model mirrors what they already know — structured like a mission plan, direct and no-nonsense.

As part of our appreciation for their service, Kevin and all Avanti ESG associates donate time and services to current and former service members as well as companies and organizations that support them. Be sure to indicate your status when booking your call, and ask how we can help.

Is this for startups or large organizations?

Both. From a founder with an idea to an enterprise leadership team, the attributes can be applied to a single area or to the entire organization.

Working together

Fast to start. Clear on cost. Light on the team.

You'll know the scope, the fee and the expected result before any work begins.

20 minutes A direct conversation about the business or initiative
48 hours A written proposal: scope, fee, forecast result
Typically weeks, not quarters Often ½ to ⅓ the usual time and cost
North America & beyond Canada, the US and international, in person or remote

Your next stage starts here

What's your next best move?

Book a confidential 20-minute discovery call. You'll leave with an early read on your stage and at least one insight you can act on.

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Strictly confidential.

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