From generic to supermarket specialist in consulting
Over two years, a generic data and analytics consultancy reoriented toward supermarket operations, starting with sales forecasting and expanding into a structured client success journey. Using a phased, four-sprint program, the firm validated a sharper value proposition without disrupting existing revenue, then rebranded around its new focus. The result: bigger deals, multi-year contracts, lower acquisition costs, and scalable growth anchored in a specific market context.
Points clés
- The firm began as a Q1, generic data and analytics consultancy facing commoditization and price pressure from the Big 4, contractors, and boutique rivals.
- A 12-week, four-sprint program aligned leadership, reviewed “best engagements,” and set a specialization path toward supermarkets and sales forecasting.
- The Best Engagements Review showed strongest traction in Q3 (retail focus) and Q2 (sales forecasting), with the highest past revenue from supermarkets.
- The initial value proposition centered on “Sales Forecasting Improvements for Supermarkets,” chosen to test and validate before broader rollout.
- A milestone-based client success journey was built to map services to outcomes across discovery, foundational forecasting/inventory, customer strategy, and store performance/risk.
- Early services launched around Milestones 1–2 (data readiness, sales forecasting, inventory) to gain momentum while building advanced capabilities for later stages.
- Go-to-market was phased: Phase 1 campaign-level testing with a landing page and minimal homepage changes; Phase 2 full rebrand, launch campaign, and client event.
- Commercial enablement included playbooks, collateral templates (website, social media, pitch deck), and a pilot program to validate the proposition while creating visibility.
- Results included higher average deal size, multi-year agreements (including managed services), reduced client acquisition costs, and journey-based scalability.
- Project leaders and contributors referenced include Luk Smeyers and Florian Heinrichs of The Visible Authority, with prior roles at Deloitte, Accenture, Nielsen Consulting, and iNostix.
À retenir
Pick a niche your past wins already hint at, test it quietly before you repaint the logo, and map everything to a client success journey so upsell paths feel natural rather than needy. Start with services you can deliver today (yes, really), then level up your capabilities as the journey expands. Do this well and your deals get bigger, your CAC gets smaller, and your spreadsheet starts smiling—while your inner generalist grumbles but gets over it.
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