We boosted organic growth by 65% within 12 months for our client
BUSINESS CONSULTING
BOARD SERVICES / NED
Client: A global professional services company serving multiple technology leaders across the US and Europe
Reference: available upon request
Areas: strategic account management and sales, business development, organizational development
Collaboration models: strategic sessions with the client, in-person interviews with clients in multiple locations worldwide, and long-term growth consulting
Many companies wrongly consider a high satisfaction among customer peers at the operational level as a sufficient sign of the strategic partnership and loyalty of their clients. While superb execution is important as a foundation for long-lasting relationships, it does not guarantee that the full potential of this relationship is fulfilled; you are considered a strategic partner and the vendor of choice regardless of a changes in competition and environment; you are aligned with a fast-changing strategy of your customer. As a result, companies are losing not only potential revenue but also a traction with the customer, a crucial factor in sustaining relationships.
Our goal was to leverage the existing provider’s reputation to build relationships with customers’ C-suite to boost sales and strengthen our clients’ positions despite growing competition from market leaders and disruptors.
We started with a deep dive into the customer client base and sessions with operational and account management. Based on that, we segmented the customer list by potential, criticality, relationship level, and number of other factors. Using our experience in organizational design, we also identified several significant (but not obvious) bottlenecks in improving service quality and relevance, communications, and leveraging organic growth potential. We have created and presented to our client an individual plan for each account, aiming to address historical and ongoing issues and unlock the growth potential.
The client has introduced one of our most experienced executive leaders as a board member / non-executive director. This allowed us to contact customers at the executive level and enter into direct communication with them. We held tens of meetings, interviews, feedback sessions, and strategic discussions with customers, sharing our expertise, identifying improvement opportunities, and, more importantly, identifying strategic enablers to grow our client presence. All meetings were carefully analyzed and followed up with the respective strategic and operational leadership of our client.
Our research and field activities resulted in unprecedented organic revenue growth for our client, which exceeded 65% within a year. While the project’s immediate outcomes were tangible, the most important return is yet to be achieved. Bringing customer conversations and relationships to a whole new level, presenting our client as a reliable source of market expertise rather than a “get things done” provider, and establishing a strategic, value-focused dialogue with customers will create more opportunities in the future.
Another valuable benefit to our client was the new organizational structure and operational model that better serve customers’ needs and allow clearer communications, faster identification of opportunities, and higher satisfaction.