08 — Case study
Large accounts had built a stable business. That stability was also the risk: a meaningful share of revenue sat with too few customers. The next chapter was not “more leads.” It was where growth should come from — and why.
A Pune industrial packaging manufacturer supplying FMCG and pharmaceutical companies. The plant, the relationships and the quality bar were real assets. So was the quiet exposure that comes when a handful of buyers represent too much of the year.
Established customers paid the bills and shaped the calendar. Losing one, or seeing one squeeze price, would have been a strategic event, not a sales inconvenience. Opportunistic new logos would not fix that. The company needed a thesis for the next phase of the revenue base — adjacent, winnable, and a use of existing capability rather than a fantasy market.
Concentration is a strategy problem dressed as a sales problem. Generating more of the same kind of account can deepen the same risk. A manufacturer that is excellent for a few large buyers often looks busy and solvent right up to the quarter a buyer dual-sources, delays orders, or reopens price.
The questions were: which segments and applications play to this plant? Where is the advantage real? Where is competition a grind? Where will customers actually switch — and can existing lines, quality systems and relationships travel there without a second factory of capability?
We analysed the current book: customers, products, applications, revenue concentration. Then we scored adjacent segments on attractiveness, requirements, competitive intensity, fit with manufacturing capability, switching barriers, commercial potential, and whether existing infrastructure could be used rather than rebuilt.
We did not recommend expansion into every plausible market. We prioritised where existing strengths would travel. A phased diversification roadmap followed — what to pursue first, what to watch, and what to ignore — sequence, not a slogan about “new verticals.” Sales effort could then be pointed at a thesis instead of at whoever picked up the phone.
Management left with a path to broaden the revenue base and reduce concentration — a prioritised expansion thesis for where and why the company should grow next, instead of pursuing volume opportunistically.
Key outcome: A diversification thesis the plant could execute, not a generic lead-gen plan.