I have a client who has a very specialized service and has been successful from the very beginning. He has setup successful partnerships with the likes of Costco, Uber and restrauant.com.
In an effort to bring their business to the next level, he made a deal with a very famous consulting company. They promised the world. Here is a quote from their website:
“We drive sales and profits for our retailer and supplier partners through our customized service approach.”
After more than a year, the clients revenue did not budge up or down in any noticeable fashion. Yet the expenses saw a huge increase, which significantly lowered the profits…
So the promises of the branding consultants did not go far. But they got paid, their revenue and profits increased, even if they were unable to facilitate the same for my client, with their “customized sales approach”.
I do not know all of the details of the agreement, but there should have been measurables put into place along with the game plan. These measurable should have been reviewed together with the consultants and my client regularly. The plans should have been tweaked where the numbers were not lining up with the goals. I fear that my client was given a ‘cookie cutter” approach to marketing and that is why the sales increases did not materialize.
The whole project ended up as a failed experiment for my client.