Introduction to
Commercial

Most companies eventually reach a stage where organic growth is no longer sustainable. Reigniting growth can be challenging. Companies are rejecting tired formulas of the past and looking for new ways to identify, design and achieve sustainable commercial growth.

We help you design growth strategies that are fit for humans and fit for the future.

Statistically, three out of four large companies will face a growth stall within a 15-year period. Acknowledging the existence of this issue can be both challenging and humbling. We help your company achieve a commercial turnaround by providing the necessary elements: an accurate diagnosis, a focused value creation plan and effective performance management.

New-product development shapes the company’s future. Improved or replacement products and services can maintain or build sales, while new-to-the-world products and services can revolutionise industries, transform companies and change lives. Yet 95% of new products fail. We help your company become part of the 5% that succeed.

For companies seeking growth, entering a new market is a tempting strategy. But whether distant or close, entering new markets often presents unforeseen challenges, and you need to plan to gain traction proactively. We help assess whether entering a new market represents an opportunity or a potential trap, and we provide guidance to navigate your entry successfully.

Only one third of all strategic initiatives are successfully implemented. These findings have proven to be constant over time in an ever-changing world. This leaves huge untapped potential for organisations across the globe. We help you unleash some of this potential by rethinking your strategic processes and implementing strategic initiatives.

Reaching consensus and building commitment at the kickoff of a commercial strategy is just the beginning of the journey. The bigger challenge lies in mobilising the broader organisation behind the strategy on an ongoing basis. We help companies define their must-win battle (MWB) journey – figuring out what to do – in a way where people at all organisational levels make a commitment to the chosen battles and begin to truly work together as a single team with shared objectives.

Customer centricity has gained popularity and for good reason as customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable. However, only 1/3 of organisations succeed with their customer centricity initiatives. Based on our experience, the most common thing that companies lack is an organisational culture that nurtures customer centricity. We help your organisation build a customer-centric movement.

Research suggests that it takes 12 positive customer experiences to compensate for one bad one. To achieve success in the market, companies must go beyond great products and services. They have to deliver engaging and profitable customer experiences. We help you design and deliver signature customer experiences that benefit both customers and the business.

Segmentation is an important tool for companies looking to create more targeted and effective commercial strategies. However, too often, segmentation is treated as an insight rather than a strategic tool for driving focus and change. We help your organisation segment markets and customers to better understand the unique needs and preferences of your target audience. With this knowledge, we enable you to develop segment strategies that unlock growth potential.

Data has been a hot topic for years. Big data, small data, thick data, smart data. Yet only 29% of data-driven companies successfully connect analytics to actions that add business value. We help your organisation gather and structure customer and market data and transform the data into actionable insights that support and create business value.

Only 5% of companies understand their drivers of churn. Your customers are likely to leave if their experience fails to meet expectations. Despite this, not enough companies analyse and understand the specific moments and reasons behind customer dissatisfaction. We help you move from debating why the latest churn figures look the way they do to ideating how they should improve the customer experience to drive loyalty and retention.

Good customer service is much more than a cost centre. We see the conversations in customer service changing, turning towards an increased focus on customer experience and the way we interact with customers. Therefore, in today’s business landscape, delivering a great customer experience is just as important as cost efficiency. We help you develop and execute your organisation’s “face” towards customers

A strong value proposition is a key driver for growth. Yet most companies fail to leverage the full potential of their value propositions. Surprisingly 75% of companies are not able to communicate their value propositions in a clear and differentiated way. We help your company become value-driven by co-creating differentiated value propositions that resonate with target customers, enabling impactful value-based sales and marketing communication.

Value messages help companies communicate their unique selling proposition to their target audience. By crafting messages that speak directly to the needs and desires of potential customers, companies can differentiate themselves from competitors and build a loyal customer base. We empower your company to create compelling messages that resonate with your target market, ultimately leading to increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Brands are living organisms. They need the right conditions to grow, expand and adapt to the demands of the people who interact with them. We help your company unlock the potential of your brand, define the purpose of what you do and your attitude towards the world. Our goal is to leverage your company brand as an asset that drives company growth.

A company’s growth is largely determined by the brand and product portfolio it chooses to compete with. We help your company make decisions about what brands and products you need and feed. We help identify clear brand “bulls eyes” so your brand is positioned in differentiated ways and cannibalisation is minimised. And we set clear brand roles to maximise return on investment.

Brand architecture is an organising structure of the brand portfolio that specifies brand roles and the nature of relationships between brands. A coherent brand architecture can lead to impact, clarity and synergy and leverage instead of market weakness, confusion and missed opportunities. We help you design a strategic, logical and efficient brand architecture that knits your brand together into an interdependent system.

Successful innovation is not a “happy accident” but a systemic capability that requires the right processes, systems and culture to support it. By incorporating the latest in product modularisation and strategy, user-centered design, and lean innovation, we help your company test hypotheses, refine them, and bring them to market fast, so that you can achieve a competitive advantage over your competitors and drive transformational growth.

Figuring out the right approach for entering the market is one of the toughest things for a company to do. But if you do not understand the customer and their journey, it is almost impossible to get it right. We help your company uncover a deep customer understanding and customer-centric view to design your go-to-market model and configure your channel setup.

Being an omnichannel business has become more of a prerequisite rather than an actual choice. At the same time, the customer dynamics in the market are changing faster than ever, while new business models are disrupting and challenging the status quo. We provide your company with strategic direction and operational solutions that bring your brand to life in every touchpoint and channel.

Short-term competitive advantage is created by exploiting existing business models. However, in the long run, all markets mature, competition intensifies, and turbulence increases. Consequently, it becomes crucial to explore new sources of growth. To seize new opportunities, the scope of innovation must be expanded to encompass the full business model and new processes must be mastered. We are here to help you exploit the potential of business model innovation.

There is a growing need for B2B companies to reconsider their go-to-market approach to offer an online and omnichannel customer experience. This has been a prerequisite in B2C for many years but is now becoming increasingly important for B2B players. We help your company digitise B2B sales in a way that delivers a true omnichannel experience to customers without disengaging or negatively impacting current sales teams and/or channel partners.

Companies need to rethink their channel setup on three levels. Firstly, you need to optimise the channel mix. Secondly, you need to optimise each individual channel. And lastly, you need to allocate your marketing and sales resources across channels. We help your company configure and optimise your channel setup, constantly informed by emerging technologies and an evolving understanding of customer needs and channel preferences.

Direct to consumer is all about connecting the dots between marketing, data, CRM processes and internal sales to create a seamless end-to-end customer experience. We help companies ensure strong customer support and internal sales execution as well as streamlining data and system processes.

Many of today’s organisations follow principles that date back to the 60s. However, megatrends, such as digitisation, sustainability and volatility are driving companies to redesign their commercial operating models. We help companies design marketing operating models to respond to this new context by addressing all dimensions, including people, leadership and culture, structure and governance, processes, tools and performance management.

Employees who do not feel that they are developing are 12 times more likely to leave. A marketing capability assessment provides valuable insights into teams, so companies can make informed decisions about where to focus their training and development initiatives. We help your company assess your marketing capabilities to identify potential risks and opportunities and create a road map for growth and success.

Companies that invest in building their commercial capabilities are three times more likely to achieve faster growth than the industry average. In our opinion, investing in building commercial capabilities is one of the best growth investments you can make. We help you improve the capability of your commercial teams through bespoke learning journey solutions, including training and development, coaching, gamified simulations and more.

We are well aware of the megatrends that are impacting marketing organisations and the challenges they face in adapting to these new changes. We help marketing organisations design customised marketing academies focused on building the transformational marketing capabilities they have identified as being critical for success. With our marketing academies, your organisation can improve its marketing capabilities, equipping marketing teams to drive growth and success.

As companies grow their product management function, they will need to quickly train new product managers and upskill existing ones. However, finding effective and engaging training can be difficult. We can help you unlock the potential of your product management teams by designing and facilitating product management academies tailored to your organisation’s needs, building capability, community and collaboration.

Our sales processes service is designed to help companies streamline their sales efforts for maximum effectiveness. We help you identify areas of improvement in your processes from lead generation to conversion and provide tailored solutions to enhance your overall performance.

Way of selling is designed to help companies and individuals improve their sales skills and strategies. We help you understand your unique sales challenges and goals and provide tailored solutions to help you achieve success.

Way of leading, also known as commercial leadership, is focused on helping individuals and companies develop their leadership skills across a range of industries and contexts. We assess your current leadership style and identify areas where you can make improvements.

Commercial KPIs and incentives are designed to help companies optimise their performance by developing and implementing effective key performance indicators (KPIs) and incentives. We assess your current business metrics and identify areas where you can improve.

We focus on helping sales functions optimise their structure and capabilities to drive growth and success. We assess your current sales organisational structure and identify areas where you can make improvements to better align with your business objectives.

We help companies develop effective strategies for driving revenue growth and achieving their business objectives. We assess your current growth strategy and identify areas where you can make improvements to better align with your goals.

Do you know where the gaps and opportunities lie in your pricing strategy? Our assessment can quickly identify which pricing levers to pull and help you price your products and services effectively to maximise revenue and profits. Additionally, we can help you build a roadmap to a price resilient company, ensuring that your pricing strategy is able to withstand changes in the market, industry, or competitive landscape.

In today's diverse customer landscape, there are numerous opportunities for newly developed revenue streams. But without a clear monetisation strategy, defining the strategic role of your revenue streams and maximising your potential for growth and profitability can be challenging. Our systematic approach helps unlock the power of monetisation and lets you take full advantage of these opportunities.

Promotions and bonuses can increase sales volumes but be careful they do not devalue your brand or distort customers’ expectations. We can help you gain a deep understanding of your customers’ behaviour, market trends, and financial metrics. We help you strike the right balance between running promotions and discounts to attract customers, while maintaining healthy margins.

By focusing on the perceived value of your product or service, rather than solely considering the cost of production, you can make huge improvements in your sales. Failing to understand the value your product or service provides to customers could result in missed opportunities and lost revenue. We help you set a price that aligns with the value your customers place on your offering, leading you to increase revenue, improve customer loyalty, and stand out from your competitors.

Struggling with the right pricing model for your company? Uncertain about selecting the right recurring revenue model and whether bundling your offerings is the right choice? Making the wrong choices lead to lost revenue, decreased customer satisfaction and reduced competitiveness. Our proven process helps you design revenue models that align with customer value and business objectives, keeping you ahead of the competition.

Investing in internal talent yields high returns. Failing to set up an organisation with solid pricing competence, structured processes and clearly defined roles and responsibilities may result in inefficient price management with higher internal costs and foregone sales. We help you grow your human capital through pricing competence development and set up the organisational structure and processes to reach your commercial goals.

Today’s business landscape offers advanced pricing-centric systems and software with cutting-edge analytics and pricing execution engines, empowering you to make well-informed pricing decisions aligned with your goals. However, without careful selection and utilisation, these systems may provide little to no value. Our customer-centric approach prioritises your needs to seamlessly streamline pricing processes, optimise revenue streams and stay ahead of competition.

Many organisations fail to deliver a commercial transformation strategy that delivers long-term goals through measurable iterative initiatives. Our services create impact through multiple business initiatives sustained by behavioural changes, reducing time to impact and boosting the overall effect, sense of achievement and stakeholder satisfaction.

Ready to leverage technology to design personalised customer journeys based on interactions? We help you utilise data-driven insights to understand, segment and differentiate your customers, enabling meaningful touchpoints at the right time and through your customers’ preferred channel. Capitalise on every customer interaction by increasing awareness, driving conversion and unlocking loyalty.

Our advisory service offers tailored guidance and support to organisations navigating the complexities of digital transformation. With expertise in technology and business strategy, we help clients drive innovation, improve customer experiences and achieve digital transformation goals with confidence.

Like most IT projects, CRM implementations can become problematic and costly. How can you prevent this in your project? We believe that robust architecture is crucial for achieving success. With our technical expertise, industry knowledge and subject matter experts, we build future-proof solutions that support your processes and are fit for the future.

Our process optimisation service improves workflows and operational efficiency using the latest commercial technology. We analyse your processes, identify areas for improvement and develop tailored data-driven solutions. With our expertise, we deliver measurable results, reducing costs, increasing productivity and improving your customers’ satisfaction.

Looking to boost your digital commercial processes? Need a compelling vision for your organisation? Our digital sales and marketing strategy delivers direction on where to play (e.g. customer segments and channels) and how to win (e.g. messaging, metrics and digital tactics). With a road map to guide you, this strategy unites your organisation with a vision of sales and marketing working together to accelerate growth.

Digitalisation promises automation and scalability but often fails to materialise due to incoherent approaches and low organisational maturity. Our operating model provides you with a future-fit description of the capabilities needed to deliver best-practice digital sales and marketing across people, processes and technology. It defines global/local split, sales-marketing, collaboration, and in-/outsourcing split.

Curious about the potential in digital channels but not ready to reorganise your commercial function? Revolutionary dreams can be achieved through evolutionary steps. We develop multichannel pilots, working closely with your sales and marketing teams to create successful campaigns and scalable capabilities. Focusing on select markets, we deliver documented positive returns on marketing investment (ROMI) and valuable learnings, enabling digital scaling in your commercial engine.

Building capabilities across 20+ markets takes time. Our training solutions empower teams to achieve multichannel engagement success in an engaging and productive learning environment. Through virtual instructor-led training, e-learning options and assignments, we ensure skill and knowledge development. We have increased the maturity of hundreds of marketers and commercial stakeholders, making digital sales and marketing strategies stick.

Not getting the expected results with lead gen or ABM? We provide a multichannel performance assessment by evaluating key drivers for success (e.g. target audience mapping, channels, messaging and tech setup). We diagnose how to improve lead quality, cost/MQL and pipeline by providing valuable insights on best practices from 20+ different companies that we have worked with.

Embedding sustainability into your commercial strategy is key to making your sustainability investments drivers of profitable growth. We can help you achieve this goal by combining a proven commercial strategy approach with a thorough understanding of sustainability, reflecting changing customer needs, market trends, and regulatory landscapes. This helps break down silos in your organisation and ensures that sustainability is embedded in your commercial priorities and aligned with your overall corporate strategy.

Customer-centric companies tend to be more profitable compared to product-centric companies – and the sustainability topic is no different. Understanding the concerns, needs and priorities of your customers, segments and end users is key. We can help you collect and leverage customer insights, revise your customer journeys and develop better touchpoints to align your positioning with their current and future sustainability expectations..

Strong value propositions are essential in making your customers recognise the value of your sustainability offerings. We assist you in crafting compelling selling messages and materials that make your sustainability initiatives resonate with your customers' needs. Our approach focuses on quantifying customer benefits and setting you apart from competitors on the sustainability agenda, leveraging your existing value proposition framework when possible.

When market conditions undergo changes, for example, driven by an increasing focus on sustainability, you most likely need to recalibrate your go-to-market approach. This often initiates a chain reaction across your entire commercial operating model. We can provide you with a holistic view to assess and address both existing and emerging market opportunities to gain even more from your organisation, commercial structures and efforts.

To position your sustainability expertise, offerings and achievements towards your customers, your sales teams need to be confident in addressing sustainability. We provide sustainability-focused capability building for sales teams, establishing a common sustainability language and trend understanding. Our programmes leverage your product and sustainability expertise, equipping your sales teams with the tools to drive and lead sustainability conversations with customers.

By designing a commercial academy, you will ensure a coherent development of the capabilities for all commercial functions. Together with our experts, you include elements from virtual training, e-learning, gamification, AI and conventional training to maximise the impact of the training.

We know that leaders are the most important lever for changes in commercial organisations. Together, we design learning journeys that improve the leader’s ability to do sales coaching, communication and commercial strategy. This ensures that commercial managers acquire the capabilities to ignite growth.

With 20+ years of experience, we provide you with the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in the competitive world of sales. The learning journeys are tailored to your specific challenges and cover a wide range of topics like value selling, KAM and negotiation technique. Training is combined with extensive anchoring activities.

Improving customer satisfaction requires a focus on the capabilities of the frontline. By training leaders and customer service agents in practical tools and methods, you will ensure that they deliver state-of-the-art customer service both verbally and written. Furthermore, you will empower the managers to lead by example.

As an alternative to conventional leadership training, our “hands-on” commercial coaching programme helps leaders to coach on specific sales opportunities or portfolio pipelines. As a result, you will experience both improved capabilities and sales results.

We help identify potential marketing efficiency gains and the actions required to achieve them. 

A comprehensive breakdown of your spending by channel, category, agency and market allows us to assess the allocation of your financial resources accurately. We combine exhaustive quantitative analyses with qualitative interviews, i.e. agency partners and internal stakeholders.

We help identify top priorities and lay out the exact strategies and tactics needed to reach your full potential. 

We see a significant advantage in focusing on areas such as: 

• Agency consolidation and tender process
• Opportunities to cut your media budget
• Revamping the marketing operating model
• Embracing agility and speed
• Leveraging technology

We help bring the leadership team together and get their buy-in. 

We help implement key initiatives such as agency consolidation and/or agency tender process. It can also be support to improve the operating model. We document the value capturing of key activities and ensure progress according to the defined targets.