Project details

One of Europe’s largest utilities was steadily losing customers as consumers gained the right to select their energy supplier. To boost customer loyalty, Consult Plus helped UtilityCo transform itself into a customer-focused culture with an innovative loyalty strategy designed to better meet consumers’ needs while creating significant financial benefits for the future. UtilityCo faced erosion of its long-established leadership due to regulatory changes that redefined marketplace competition. With more suppliers pursuing them, customers raised their expectations and took advantage of attractive offers, including improved pricing and more flexible energy products. To curb the high customer churn rate in its retail business, Consult Plus worked with the utility’s CEO to improve customer loyalty through a comprehensive program, including cultural change.

When an Asia-based private equity consortium purchased a local directory publisher, it inherited a firm that seemed to be in a downward spiral. Both customers and employees were leaving fast, leading to revenue declines in each of the previous five years and little hope for improvement in sight. The investors called on Consult Plus to help turnaround the situation and increase salesforce effectiveness, leading to a more than two time return on their investment upon exit. DirectoryCo was among the leading directory providers in the Asia-Pacific region, but inefficiencies in its sales process hindered advertising revenue and overall growth. As with many companies, it could not reach its full potential without increasing its salesforce effectiveness. At the same time, the processes and systems to manage and incentivize sales staff were inadequate. An inefficient compensation structure drove high turnover, but declining revenues made it hard to retain top performers or attract high-quality new salespeople. This vicious cycle perpetuated customer defections, and ultimately, revenue declines. Consult Plus worked with the new private equity owners, along with DirectoryCo management, to identify, prioritize and resolve the most pressing salesforce challenges. The teams set the tone for the project by initially segmenting and prioritizing customers and accounts, identifying the profit potential associated with each one.

OilCo wanted to shift from a geocentric model to a global model to improve performance, but doing so presented significant cultural and logistical challenges. Bain helped OilCo map roles, update critical systems, standardize key processes and communicate clearly to business units. The result: The new, centralized organization was implemented ahead of schedule and with minimal disruption to the business.