A generic data and analytics consulting firm transitioned from offering generic services to specialising in improving supermarket operations over a two-year period. They followed our four-sprint approach, focusing on strategic alignment, value proposition design (starting with sales forecasting), client success journey design, and commercial enablement.
This phased approach involved testing and validating a new value proposition before a complete rebrand. The firm successfully increased deal size, established long-term contracts, reduced client acquisition costs, and achieved scalable, journey-based growth by specialising and focusing on specific contextual client needs.
The firm began as a typical Q1 data and analytics consultancy, offering generic services such as data integration, data cleaning, data visualisation, business intelligence solutions, etc., to various industries and client profiles.
However, four years after founding, they recognised that their undifferentiated Q1 position and value proposition risked further commoditisation and intense price competition. This was driven by the fierce battle against the Big 4 and brutal competition from contractors, freelancers, and other similar boutique consulting firms.
They aspired to develop a narrower and more specific focus to differentiate themselves and capture premium pricing, solving high-stake business issues in a much more targeted market.
At the start of the project, the decision to specialise in a specific client segment had not yet been made. The consultancy had the strong ambition to evolve into a Q4 player, a consulting firm known for its specialised expertise in a clearly defined market. Still, it had not yet determined the precise market or client focus.
That's where we came in. The consulting firm asked for our support to help identify the most promising specialisation path, assess their existing strengths, design a differentiating consulting value proposition, co-create a client success journey that would define their differentiation in the market, map their services on the client journey, and help them set up their future business development approach – all without risking the immediate erosion of the existing data & analytics revenue/clients.
We call this ‘the fade-in the new and fade-out the old approach’. Ultimately, they sought to eliminate the generic data and analytics profile step by step. After completing our project work in the first three months, they aimed to complete the entire consulting firm transformation and build the entire client success journey within approximately two years.
Recommended reading: The Consulting Value Proposition Quadrant
Our approach consisted of four tightly connected sprints during 12 weeks, each building toward a sharper, outcome-led proposition, a scalable service architecture, and a more effective commercial engine. Here’s what we did:
In this first phase, we aligned the firm’s leadership around a new growth strategy, identified the most impactful past engagements (our ‘Best Engagements Review’), and set the direction for their future market positioning. This was crucial for understanding what had already worked and where their future specialisation could create the most significant impact.
The best engagement review promptly highlighted potential directions for their future proposition, aligning with their ambitions. Much of their best work occurred in Q3 (retail industry focus) and Q2 (sales forecasting specialisation), with the highest previous revenue coming from the supermarket sector (Q3 quadrant).
Reviewing and discussing options in this sprint, the team narrowed the proposition down to helping retail companies improve operations. We co-created a clear, differentiated consulting value proposition anchored in real client issues that would form the backbone of their Q4 journey.
This included defining the key business issues to solve, for whom, and why they matter, ensuring their message would resonate in a competitive market. They decided to first focus on building the Sales Forecasting Improvement for Supermarkets proposition, testing and validating it, and then start building additional services within a client success journey concept, as created in the next sprint.
Once the initial value proposition (Sales Forecasting) was defined, we connected it to a practical client success journey. We mapped the stages in which clients could realise value, from initial conversations to profound, long-term transformation.
This included mapping their service offerings onto the client journey, ensuring each stage had clear, outcome-focused services aligned with their target market's specific needs and pain points. This journey design helped to identify trust-building entry points, natural expansion paths, and the critical role of service design in delivering on their promise.
Recommended reading: Why Consulting Value Propositions Must Include a Client Success Journey
Finally, we equipped the team with the tools, structure, and initial key actions needed to test, validate, and sell their new proposition confidently. This included developing a go-to-market strategy to support long-term commercial success, business development playbooks and templates for core collateral (such as the website, social media, and pitch deck), and a small yet practical program that the firm could run to validate its initial value proposition (Sales Forecasting) while creating market visibility.
In collaboration with our team, the consultancy undertook a comprehensive repositioning project that included:
Expanding upon the firm’s newly-focused proposition (starting with Sales Forecasting Improvements), we co-created a journey featuring three core milestones:
Defining this client success journey had two goals:
Importantly, this development journey was carefully phased. They started immediately with the services linked to Milestones 1 and 2, as their Best Engagement Review confirmed they already had a solid foundation and expertise in these expertise domains. This allowed them to quickly gain momentum and confidence while building the more advanced capabilities required for the later stages of the journey.
We cannot disclose all the details of their GTM, but the most important takeaway of the project is the phased GTM approach (see also Chapter 3):
Over nearly two years, the consultancy transitioned from a generic data and analytics provider to a highly specialised firm with a sharp, differentiating value proposition built around a structured client success journey. The laser-sharp focus on supermarkets allowed them to achieve four key results:
The consultancy’s journey highlights the value of intentional proposition design and narrow focus over opportunistic growth. It demonstrates the power of deeply understanding a specific client segment, building a differentiating value proposition, and a structured client success journey.
Aligning services to each of the four strategic milestones provided a clear path for delivering measurable client value. This shift has already increased profitability and created a more resilient business model with recurring revenue streams.
As we always say, they transformed the consulting firm from a “We do X” (generic data and analytics) positioning to “We solve X” (improving supermarket operational performance).
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