Background and challenge

A leading direct seller in the U.S. beauty and personal care (BPC) and nutrition products space was looking for support in defining its growth trajectory. A key challenge to this process included establishing a solid fact base from which to draw insights, as the company had historically lacked the capability to properly capture data and its representatives were wary of sharing information about their clientele. In an effort to address this issue, the company had implemented a new data management system to capture its consultant and customer data in a more comprehensive and accurate way, but the company’s data analytics capabilities were underutilized.

As a result, the company turned to L.E.K. Consulting to help them better understand their consultant and customer base using advanced analytics and identify key growth opportunities to support a sale.

Approach and recommendations

First, we developed an in-depth overview of the current and future states of the BPC and nutrition markets, including market size and growth, and a map of the competitive landscape, highlighting points of differentiation.

We then used advanced analytic tools and techniques to segment the client’s representatives and analyze each group’s performance, including the ability of its seller base to cross-sell, which uncovered a key growth opportunity for the client. We also leveraged Experian Mosaic data (a household-based consumer lifestyle segmentation system) to identify the client’s top consultant and customer profiles, identified key U.S. regions for additional growth, and sized up the opportunity. Finally, we found key international markets with excellent growth potential for the client’s expansion.

Results

Our work enabled the client to uncover an overlooked sales growth opportunity that provided a road map to double the company’s revenue. We identified top consultant and customer profiles, allowing the company to understand and specifically target key demographics and regions. The analytical tools and templates shared during the project, including new key productivity metrics, were presented at the company’s global training conference and have continued to help the company effectively measure performance.

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