Benfield Consulting conducts a variety of projects involving the “front door” of the enterprise.  The firm specializes in marketing and sales consulting for distributors and manufacturers.  The firm targets mid-level and large companies who have a desire to maximize profits over volume driven strategies.  

The typical functional areas targeted by the firm include:
• Pricing Strategy and Pricing System Design
• Sales Force Restructuring and Redesign
• Channel Strategy and Channel Management
• Marketing through Distributors
• Product Management and Product Development
• Service Research, Service Management and Fee Basing Services
• Strategic Marketing Growth and Planning
• Activity Costing and Activity Management

Here are sample projects done by the firm.

Representative Projects

Pricing Audit
A distributor in the 50 million to 100 million sales range hired Benfield Consulting to review their pricing.  We found the company had no segmented pricing, few cost recovery efforts and no pricing based on activity profits of customers.  We developed activity approximations and found close to 50% of the profits were being drained by small customers.

Based on our recommendations, the company instituted segmented pricing, cost recovery efforts and substantially raised prices on small customers.  One year later the profit increase, in operating profit dollars, was 30 percent while sales were slightly over the previous year.

Sales Audit
A distributor over 100 million dollars in revenues hired Benfield Consulting for a sales audit.  Our investigation of the sales force found an approximate overcapacity of 35% in outside sales personnel.  We helped the client rearrange territories, understand where to downsize capacity, and how to support the objectives of the firm with compensation and MBO’s.   A year later, the client had closed the capacity gap saving well into six figures in expenses.  They had initiated new objectives and compensation and sales were slightly above prior year.

Research
Benfield Consulting conducted research for Industrial Wholesalers and their manufacturers on the effects of U.S. Manufacturing moving offshore. (Research entitled The China Syndrome)  The research identified 10 industries that counted for 75% of the customer base loss and pinpointed the recovery strategies for the distribution base.  The research was sold to numerous wholesalers and presented to three industrial associations.

Pricing Implementation
Benfield Consulting held seminars and conducted a pricing audit for an international distributor/manufacturer over $1 billion in sales.  We worked on a pricing implementation for over a year and the client reported a substantial rebound in their profits (over 30%) with much due to pricing gain.