Project Experience

Business-to-business services…Successful positioning requires an understanding of both the competition and client perceptions.

Client Situation
A number of consulting firms—including the leading management consultants, the Big 5, some of the large HR/compensation firms, and a host of boutique firms—provide services that fall under the broad umbrella of shareholder value consulting. Our client was interested in understanding the value proposition of the leading players in this field, including members from each of the above categories.

Fuld Approach
We conducted interviews with partners from within the competitor firms to determine how these players positioned themselves to potential clients. In addition to providing our client with an understanding of how competitors wished to be perceived, it was essential to provide them with information on how the client and its competitors were actually being perceived in the marketplace. We conducted in-depth interviews with over 100 buyers or potential buyers of value-based consulting services from within the Fortune 1000. The executives we interviewed represented a variety of functional responsibilities, including finance, compensation, HR, and business line management.

Benefits and Implications
These buyer interviews provided our client with an objective assessment of both the market potential for shareholder value consulting services as well as its own reputation for providing those services. Combined with the competitive analysis, our research enabled our client to effectively reposition itself to maximize its potential in this market segment.
For more information on effectively positioning your company against competitors in a way that will be best received by customers, please contactlscanlon@fuld.com.