“Having identified historic billing errors, Kevin went on to negotiate a five figure savings for us. Without his knowledge and tenacity we would not have achieved anything near this on our own.”
- Head of Finance, RADA Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
“On each occasion, Kevin has saved us significant amounts of money on what might be considered minor items.”
- Finance Director, Carluccio’s
“Thanks very much for all your hard work on this and the other overhead areas; it’s going to save us a lot of time and money.”
- Office Manager, Childline

At Watermill Lane Associates we deliver worthwhile and sustainable savings to your cost of operation.

Our business and charity clients use us to identify cost reduction opportunities and overspending within their general overhead spends

Many Finance Directors face a frustrating challenge: How to effectively reign-in spiralling supplier costs and regain control of inflated overhead budgets?

Are you receiving best value pricing for the products and services you purchase from your suppliers or are you needlessly wasting hard-earned profit without realising it?

Our self-funding, ‘no savings, no charge’ guaranteed service reduces indirect costs, improves procurement process and saves staff time. 

What our clients have to say.

We have a proud 99% savings success record over our 30 year history and have saved millions of pounds helping numerous business and charity clients of all sizes with sustainable and relevant, service-led overhead cost reduction solutions.

Click the logos below to find out what our clients have to say.

To date WLA have been extremely successful in reducing our costs across a number of key categories. Their approach was extremely professional and at all times they were mindful of maintaining the level of quality and service from the suppliers as well as reducing costs.

Finance Director, Bauer Media

We have used Watermill Lane Associates twice in the last few years. On each occasion Kevin has saved us significant amounts of money upon reviewing our purchasing of what might ordinarily be considered minor items. The reason that we have used Watermill Lane is because Kevin always delivers and is really pleasant to work with.

Chief Financial Officer, Carluccio’s

Watermill Lane Associates worked very hard on the Trust’s behalf with the suppliers and produced some worthwhile savings. I would not hesitate in recommending Watermill Lane and in particular Kevin Fallows for cost reduction work.

Director of Finance and Administration, Terrence Higgins Trust

When you first offered your services to me I was sceptical about what you could achieve. Having looked through our overheads you have achieved excellent cost savings beyond my expectations and confirmed in other areas that we are buying competitively. Importantly your recommendations were within brief, relevant and ensured continuity of service and product quality.

Finance Director, Landor

Kevin’s approach is methodical and his attention to detail and knowledge of invoice line items across all categories is excellent and he has identified overcharges that we would not have done without his assistance. I would not hesitate to recommend WLA to other organisations looking to achieve immediate and ongoing savings and efficiencies.

Head of Procurement, Royal College of Physicians

I am pleased to confirm that we are delighted with the cost savings. We have found your approach to be both professional and determined and are pleased with your continued involvement in attempting to deliver further savings in these challenging times

Regional Director, Lambert Smith Hampton

Having identified historic billing errors on our electricity invoicing, Kevin went on to negotiate a significant five-figure savings for us in a very aggressive market. Without his knowledge and tenacity we would not have achieved anything near this on our own.

Interim Head of Finance, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

I thought we ran a very tight ship and I was initially skeptical of your ability to squeeze anything much out of our overheads. A year on and I am delighted to have been able to show my board an impressive table of savings made to date. I am now quite convinced that without your specialist expertise and dogged negotiating skills we would be poorer today.

Finance Director, Consolidated PR

Your way of working has been very hands-on and you not only provided us with extremely detailed analysis of our expenditure but have also taken time to understand our processes, requirements and aspirations. Your experience and professionalism has enabled RFIB to improve the quality of their operations as well as save money.

Operations Director, RFIB
Many more client references here

Our Process.

We embrace a collaborative approach. Collaboration allows us to understand how you buy and what kind of product and service quality you expect and receive from your supply partners.

Our analysis and recommendations will enable you to make informed decisions on how to achieve sustainable savings and consistent service with your incumbent suppliers. This will significantly save staff time, effort and resources, and positively impact your bottom line.

THE BRIEF

In our briefing meeting we listen to and discuss your objectives for an independent cost review and identify any priorities, challenges or internal process issues you may have. It is vital to the review process that we understand the quality of products and service you expect and receive from your suppliers and the relationship you have with them. This only takes an hour or so of staff time.

Analysis

We work off-site so as not to disturb your staff and do not need you to photocopy any invoices. We carry out an in-depth, forensic analysis of your invoices and supplier management reports to identify buying patterns, errors, tail spend, trends, price creep, wastage, anomalies, and off-contract purchasing. Our factual reviews will uncover multiple, genuine savings opportunities.

Negotiation

Having presented the savings opportunities to you, we negotiate positively and respectfully with your suppliers on your behalf. We negotiate for best value, not the cheapest price. Many supplier relationships are long-established and valued, yet with a collaborative approach it is still possible to achieve worthwhile additional savings. We also secure billing error refunds.

Implementation

Overhead cost management is time consuming so when the negotiated tariffs and savings are agreed with you, we help implement them and monitor them over the engagement period. This saves significant staff time and resources moving forward, helps improve the client/supplier relationship and ensures low benchmark pricing for future negotiations.

LISTEN

I listen to your objectives for an independent overhead cost review and discuss any priorities or challenges. Understanding why and how your purchasing staff use your suppliers and identifying the quality of service and product you expect from your suppliers is vital to our review process. This should only take an hour or so of staff time.

Analyse​

Savings generally come from a number of different places and it’s my job to analyse your invoices and supplier management reports to establish true purchasing costs. I look for trends, anomalies, wastage, errors and off-contract purchasing. My factual, in-depth reviews will uncover multiple savings opportunities. I work off-site so as not to disturb you.

Negotiate​

My role here is to make savings on your behalf by working positively and respectfully with your existing suppliers. Many supplier relationships are long-established and valuable in many ways, yet it’s still possible to make significant savings in this area. I will also look for errors and unused services where I can make very significant cost reductions too.

Implement​

Once you have approved the savings negotiated, I help implement them and monitor them over the engagement period to ensure that suppliers retain their prices and bill correctly. This will save significant staff time and resources moving forward, and ensure low benchmark pricing for negotiations in the future.

Watermill Lane Associates is truly independent and completely supplier agnostic.

Our expertise covers all the key cost categories within these overhead sectors.

  • Stationery
  • Telecoms
  • Mobiles
  • Utilities
  • Business Rates
  • Shredding
  • PMI
  • Vending
  • Photocopiers
  • Vouchers
  • Couriers
  • Storage
  • Data Lines
  • Software
  • Merchant Card Fees
  • GLA & GIP