Upper Echelon Consulting is a strategic advisory and operations firm focused on helping small and mid‑sized businesses grow with clarity, structure, and confidence. We work with companies that generate between $1M and $50M in annual revenue and want to build businesses that last. Our clients operate in manufacturing, professional services, technology, healthcare, financial services, real estate, food processing, and agriculture.​

Our work is simple to describe and demanding to deliver. We help leaders fix what is broken, strengthen what is working, and install systems that can carry the business to the next stage. The goal is not just more revenue. The goal is a company that can grow without burning out its founder or its team.​

Why We Exist

Clayton’s story explains why UEC exists. He grew up working long days in a family business, then served in the United States Marine Corps, where he learned how to lead in complex, high‑pressure environments. After earning a degree in Agribusiness from Purdue University, he spent a decade inside large organizations, leading sales strategy, building networks, and developing leaders.​

In each role, he was drawn to the same kind of work. He was rebuilding systems, rethinking roles, and creating new playbooks for how teams executed. He saw founders and executives in many sectors wrestling with the same issues: growth ceilings, operational chaos, and teams that were capable but misaligned. Over time, he realized his real calling. It was not to optimize a single company, but to help many owners and leadership teams install the structure and support they had been missing.​

UEC was launched in 2022 with a clear point of view. Most mid‑market firms do not fail because they lack ideas. They fail because they lack systems, clarity, and accountability. Our mission is to stand shoulder to shoulder with business owners, give them strategy they can use, and install the infrastructure that lets their business outlive them.​

What We Do

UEC delivers work across five core areas.​

• Business Reinvention and Strategy
  We start with diagnostics that look at your numbers, your team, and your market. Then we design a clear plan that lines up your vision, operations, and leadership. This applies whether you run a manufacturing firm, a professional services company, a tech platform, or a regional service business.​
• Revenue Systems and Sales Optimization
  We build and refine the systems that drive revenue. That includes your offers, pricing, sales process, and customer journey. Many clients in B2B services and product companies double their front‑end profitability without extra marketing spend by closing leaks and tightening their process.​
• Operational Execution
  We help you move from firefighting to a steady operating rhythm. We document standard operating procedures. We design meeting cadences and dashboards. We install tools like OpsHQ to give you visibility into work, accountability, and performance. This applies across sectors, from regional service providers to multi‑site manufacturers.​
• Leadership Development and Team Alignment
  We work with leadership teams to get everyone on the same page. Programs like Leadership Evolution and Alignment Protocol focus on decision making, communication, role clarity, and accountability. Clients report faster decisions, stronger culture, and lower turnover once the team is aligned.​
• Fractional Leadership and Advisory Support
  Through fractional and advisory models, we provide CEO, COO, and CMO‑level insight without the overhead of a full‑time hire. Flash Coaching gives founders access to senior guidance within 24–48 hours when they face a critical choice or urgent problem.​

We deliver this work through structured consulting engagements, group programs, short sprints, and ongoing support. Our ecosystem includes Strategic Command Academy, Profit Command Platform, OpsHQ, and UEC OnStage.​

How We Work

Our philosophy is straightforward. Strategy is only useful if it gets executed. We treat strategy as an operating system, not a document that sits on a shelf.​

Every engagement begins with discovery. We learn how your business runs today, where it makes money, where it loses money, and how decisions get made. We talk with your leaders. We look at your processes and your numbers. Then we build a simple, clear plan and stay in the work with you as that plan gets executed.​

UEC is veteran‑led and operator‑driven. Our team has sat in the same seats as our clients. We have led companies through growth, restructuring, and turnarounds in multiple industries. That experience keeps our recommendations grounded and practical. We speak plainly. We set clear expectations. We measure progress.​

We see ourselves as partners, not distant advisors. We share responsibility for the result and do not walk away when things get difficult.​

Results and Impact

In the past two years, UEC’s work has produced concrete results across a mix of sectors.​

• Clients have unlocked more than $137M in new revenue.
• Average return on investment sits at 4.2x within six months, with some divisions reporting returns up to 10x.
• More than 40 core systems have been installed across 11 industries.
• 87% of clients renew or choose to expand their engagement.

One client, a regional meat processing and distribution company, entered the relationship with flat profit and heavy operational friction. Over nine months, UEC helped the leadership team clarify its strategy, redesign core processes, and implement the OpsHQ platform. The company tripled net profit, installed twelve critical systems, maintained 93% team retention through the changes.​

Other clients include professional services firms that have increased annual revenue by more than 150%, multi‑location businesses that have removed millions in hidden costs, and founder‑led teams that have finally built leadership benches strong enough to support growth.​

Recognitions, Press, and Speaking

The work done under the UEC banner has led to formal recognition and media visibility.​

• Business Consultancy of the Year 2025 – Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards, recognizing UEC’s results, innovation, and client impact in the consulting space.​
• Excellence in Agriculture Industry Leadership: Outstanding Passion in Agricultural Consulting – AgriNext Awards and Conference 2025 in Dubai.​
• Top 10 Most Influential People in Agriculture and Farming History 2025 – CIO Views global list, with Clayton Michael‑Butler featured on the front cover of the December 2025 digital issue.​
• Feature article “Clayton Michael‑Butler: Redefining Small Business Leadership for a Global Economy,” highlighting his work helping small and mid‑sized businesses across sectors build companies that can scale.​

Clayton and the UEC team speak at business conferences, founder and executive forums, chambers of commerce, economic development groups, and private leadership retreats, covering topics like performance infrastructure, scaling beyond chaos, leadership discipline, and succession‑minded growth.​

Values and Why Leaders Choose UEC

Four values guide how we work with every client: passion, transparency, grit, and commitment. Those values show up the same way whether we are working with a manufacturer, a professional services firm, a tech company, or an agriculture business.​

Owners and executives choose UEC when they are ready for disciplined growth and are no longer interested in surface‑level change. They want a partner that understands real‑world operations, speaks their language, and will stay with them through execution. That is the work UEC was built to do.​