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Our Latest Ideas
We partner with exceptional Management teams and investors to drive growth and commercial performance. We create content based on concepts and tools that we've found to be consistently helpful when trying to accelerate business growth.
Sam Sanderson
Mar 25, 20244 min read
Pricing in practice: a view from the front line
CEOs and PE firms alike have mastered the art of value creation through improving financial, talent, and operational efficiencies, but...
148 views
Jack Johnson
Mar 14, 20247 min read
The value of a bespoke customer data platform – just how ‘honest’ is your ‘single source of truth’?
Making customer-focused decisions vital to value creation can be an intimidating task when you feel blind to what is going on within your...
103 views
Simone Girardeau
Feb 7, 20245 min read
Fix the dripping tap: What is revenue leakage and why should you care about it?
Your sales team is telling you one thing, your finance team is reporting another, and your cash position doesn’t quite add up. This...
153 views
Dave Kirby
Feb 1, 20244 min read
Fastest finger first – the role of enquiry response time in conversion
We’re continuing our series on alternative indicators of growth, looking at whether any ‘vanity’ metrics are correlated with or...
101 views
Dave Kirby
Jan 22, 20243 min read
Alternative indicators of customer acquisition success: email open rate
Many marketing reports I have reviewed over the years have focused on ‘vanity’ metrics like impressions, likes and views - which look...
59 views
Dave Kirby
Dec 21, 20235 min read
Why you should mystery shop your own business
Among the many ‘data gathering’ approaches that I learned as a strategy consultant, I always found mystery shopping to be one of the most...
93 views
Simone Girardeau
Nov 30, 20237 min read
Unlocking Market Insights: A Checklist for Actionable Qualitative Research
I once sat in on an expert interview at the start of a market research project, as a silent observer. I had to bite my tongue as the...
100 views
Dave Kirby
Nov 20, 20237 min read
Marketing economics – how much should we spend on marketing?
The question of “how much to spend on marketing” is one that every business should ask itself. The answer is often “what we spent last...
225 views
Dave Kirby
Nov 2, 20234 min read
Using a matrix to frame decisions and represent data – or, an ode to the four-box grid
Most of us have probably at some point written a list of the pros and cons, or advantages and disadvantages, of a particular decision in...
162 views
Dave Kirby
Oct 7, 20233 min read
What is customer acquisition? The power of a name.
I’m fascinated by nominative determinism – the notion that our names can influence our professions or personalities. Usain Bolt, William...
66 views
Dave Kirby
Oct 7, 20234 min read
What is strategy?
'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' If there was one lecture at university that impacted my professional path...
142 views
Dave Kirby
Sep 26, 20235 min read
Ten essentials for a marketing update to a private equity board
Perhaps your business has just received private equity investment, or you’ve recently joined a private equity backed business as the...
120 views
Dave Kirby
Sep 19, 20233 min read
What is ‘Spray and Pray Marketing’ and why is it a problem?
Have you ever read the marketing section of your board pack month after month, read a long description of activities, but been...
525 views
Dave Kirby
Sep 12, 20234 min read
The power of customer advocacy
What’s the most effective, cheapest, and in every case where I’ve measured it, the biggest marketing channel that will never feature in...
63 views
Dave Kirby
Aug 29, 20235 min read
Should investors undertake Customer Acquisition Due Diligence?
Compared to its importance in post-deal value creation and frequency of discussion around the board table, Customer Acquisition rarely...
122 views
Dave Kirby
Aug 16, 20235 min read
Pricing – the hardest (proven) value creation lever?
Have you been frustrated by conversions about pricing you’ve had as part of a Management team, or as an investor? Throughout my time as...
249 views
Dave Kirby
Jul 14, 20236 min read
A customer research checklist – how to get it right first time
I’ve run more than fifty primary customer research exercises and have probably made every mistake there is to make. This is one of those...
141 views
Dave Kirby
Jul 7, 20236 min read
Defining an Ideal Customer Profile by understanding customer problems
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a description of the customers that you would most like to acquire for your business. In other words....
237 views
Dave Kirby
Jun 19, 20234 min read
The flaw of averages and its role in measuring marketing ROI
I’ve recently revisited Sam Savage’s "The Flaw of Averages: Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty", a book he published in...
138 views
Dave Kirby
Jun 14, 20235 min read
One question to ask your marketing leader – where would you spend your next £1?
Of course, this could be £100, £10,000 or £1 million depending on the size of your marketing budget today - but this one question has...
95 views
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