Case StudyWater Treatment ServicesFortune 500Commercial Strategy

Fortune 500 Water Treatment Provider Secures Competitiveness and Increases Annual Operating Income by 23%

A Fortune 500 water treatment service provider eliminates a crippling pricing gap — the root cause of losing 50% of their top accounts over two years — through deep win/loss analysis, targeted product reformulation, aggressive rationalization, and a new product launch incubation process.

Challenge — What Was Happening

The company had lost 50% of their top industrial water treatment accounts over two years and continued losing bids where competitors were undercutting them by 20–35% on annual cost-to-treat. Core products cost more than the competition's prices.

The team was bidding the most robust approach for every application, negotiating manpower reductions in the field — and still couldn't compete. Loss analysis, conducted by the bidding team, concluded: "They just didn't want the best" and "We got beat on price."

Growth stagnated, profitability eroded, and hiring and training halted.

Intervention — What We Did

Developed and implemented a new loss analysis process revealing multi-level stakeholder gaps, overdosing patterns, and product-fit mismatches the existing team had never surfaced
Guided innovation product reformulation to maintain IP, differentiation, and performance while reducing product cost by 70%
Conducted full product line rationalization — eliminating redundant products and raw materials
Trained Industry Technical Consultants and Product Applications teams in chemistry and applications
Developed a new product launch incubation process to drive NPI credibility and growth targets

Results Delivered

+23%

Operating Income · equivalent to funding 35–70 new headcount while maintaining OI year over year

No further account losses on price, bid format, or product selection

Won the largest refinery contract in company history

Won a 20+ year competitively held major refinery account

Penetrated 3 target corporate accounts

Product cost reduced 70% on 3 core offerings — Gross Margin expanded 70%, maintained 45%+ margin

Credibility Index (Actual NPI Sales / Planned NPI Sales): ~15% → 85–115%

Vitality Index (New Product Sales / Total Sales): <5% → 20%

Operating Income increased 23% — equivalent to funding 35–70 new headcount while maintaining OI YoY

Transferability

It doesn't matter if you're a large multi-national or a small regional company — the principle is the same. Listen to the customer, aggressively develop products and services to meet their needs, focus your product line and your people. Your shareholders and stakeholders will be happier, you'll have extra working capital to fund growth, and your customers will love the added support. We can help you deliver all of it.

Whether you're losing on price, losing accounts you can't explain, or watching growth stall — the root cause is rarely what the bidding team reports. An independent, structured win/loss process surfaces what internal analysis consistently misses: stakeholder misalignment, product-fit gaps, and avoidable cost disadvantages that can be corrected. Your competitive position deserves a second look.

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Is a pricing gap costing you accounts?

Independent commercial strategy and product competitiveness advisory for water treatment service providers. Win/loss analysis. Reformulation guidance. Product rationalization. No chemistry sold — no conflicts of interest.

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