From the first email to a decision you can defend internally
An engagement is five steps. Four of them ask almost nothing of you, and the fifth is where the work turns into something.
Five steps, and only two of them draw on your time
- 1
The first email
You write a few lines about what you sell and which question is pressing. I reply with what data is needed and what the analysis will be able to answer. No presentation, no sales meeting.
Takes you ten minutes
- 2
The data extract
You export order history, marketing spend and cost structure from your own systems. It needs neither a data warehouse nor new integrations — the reports from the webshop and the accounts are enough.
Typically half a day at your end
- 3
The analysis
I work through concentration, cohorts, cost per new customer and customer economics. Along the way I come back if the numbers point somewhere other than the hypothesis you started with. That happens more often than you would think.
Two to four weeks with no draw on you
- 4
The decision brief
You get an amount, a priority or a stop — with the range the conclusion rests on and the assumptions behind it. You are taken through it, so you can defend it internally without me in the room.
A meeting of ninety minutes
- 5
The follow-up
The forecast is set up as scenarios, and expected is held against actual on a running basis. That way the deviation shows while there is still time to act, rather than once the quarter has closed.
Monthly or quarterly, if you want it
Three exports from your systems are enough to get started
You need neither a data warehouse nor new integrations. What is needed is already in the webshop and the accounts.
Order history
Orders with date, customer id, SKUs and amounts. Ideally three years back, so the cohorts can be followed.
Marketing spend
Spend per channel per month for the same period. The export from the platforms is enough.
Cost structure
Contribution margin per product or category, plus the fixed costs the channel has to carry.
What the engagement can look like
Single brand engagement
The full Growth Route from analysis through budget and must win battles to scored initiatives and regular follow-up.
Project engagement
One defined question worked through, with strategic recommendations you can act on straight away.
Ongoing advisory
Monthly status meetings and quarterly workshops, where the analyses turn into concrete actions.
When it does not make sense
The analysis is not an answer to everything. There are three situations where I will say so straight away rather than take the job.
Too few orders
Cohorts need enough customers per year for differences to be more than noise. Below a few hundred orders a year they say very little.
No access to contribution margin
Without purchase prices or contribution margin, the customer economics cannot be calculated. Then it stops at revenue, and that is not enough.
You want a dashboard
I do not build ongoing reporting. I answer a question so you can make a decision. Those are two different things.
The first step is a short email
Write what you sell and which question is pressing. Then I will come back with what the analysis will be able to answer.