The positioning that moved the numbers.
Companies stuck in a commoditized, look-alike market. Each left a Strategic Guardrails workshop able to say who they are and why they're different, and the close rate, the rankings, and the growth followed.
A 15% close rate, rebuilt to over 75%.
The challenge
A principal-led model out of room to grow. Growth had stalled, every win took a Herculean custom effort, and in competitive finalist pitches the firm sounded like everyone else, closing only about 15% of the deals it chased.
What we did
Defined the right clients, then said no to the rest. Guardrails built a sharp ideal-customer profile and the "clients from heaven, clients from hell" filter, made front-end assessments mandatory, and shifted hiring from lone wolves to team players.
The result
Close rate from about 15% to over 75%, retention past 95%, then a Carlyle exit. EBS became the fastest-growing firm in its space, rebranded as Ascendent, and was acquired by The Carlyle Group as a platform investment.
Energy benchmarking · Solomon Associates
From scorekeeper to a record year, $7M then $10M.
The challenge
The gold-standard scorekeeper, but clients wanted more than a scorecard. Solomon led in benchmarking energy-operations performance, yet clients wanted help reaching better future performance and the model hadn't caught up.
What we did
Repositioned from benchmarking firm to data-driven consulting partner. The move stood on the three things only Solomon could combine: consultants who had run refineries worldwide, proprietary data from 85% of the world's refineries, and daily consulting expertise it had never charged for.
The result
A $7M engagement in Saudi Arabia, then $10M in Brazil, and a record year. Reframed as a consulting partner, Solomon landed its largest engagement ever, then a bigger one, and went on to the most profitable year in its history.
From $2M to $35M in average client size.
The challenge
Top-tier research, hidden behind an inconsistent brand. When Alison Moss joined her father's wealth advisory firm, the work was excellent but the messaging didn't reflect it, the business depended heavily on its founder, and every team member described the firm a different way.
What we did
One voice, and the discipline to say no to the wrong opportunities. Guardrails defined the ideal client, unified how everyone described the firm, and became a culture blueprint new hires learn on day one, in Houston or remote.
The result
Doubled assets under advisement; average client size grew from $2M to $35M. The firm went back to prospects who had once passed and won them over, and became a magnet for top talent and high-caliber families.
Every result on this page came out of the same room.
Oilfield services · Weatherford Well Services
Cut the pitch, lifted the close rate 60%.
The challenge
The pitch said too much, so deals slipped toward price. A complex offering left buyers struggling to grasp the value and salespeople struggling to sell it.
What we did
One message the whole team could deliver the same way. A Strategic Guardrails workshop cut to the core of what genuinely set the division apart and rebuilt the value proposition around it.
The result
Close rate up 60%, Division of the Year in year one. The sales conversation stopped defaulting to price.
A 70-year firm that grew 200% in key sectors.
The challenge
Excellent work, but clients couldn't sort them out. A successful 70-year-old architecture firm whose proposals sounded like everyone else's and whose logo blended into a sea of red and black boxes.
What we did
Made the brand an operating system, not a paint job. Guardrails gave the firm one shared lens and a real position, Transforming Business by Design, that every office could decide and behave by.
The result
The firm expanded 200% in key sectors. It earned a reputation for strategic thinking, not just design, and scaled without losing itself.
Energy services · Vault Pressure Control
A carve-out to top-ranked in about four months.
The challenge
A COVID-era carve-out that had to reinvent itself fast. The new company had to define what it stood for, separate from where it came from.
What we did
Reframed as pressure control, not "valves," with ~18 leaders aligned first. Guardrails came before branding: the team identified the customers worth keeping (and the ones to fire) and set one direction before a single asset was rebranded.
The result
Fully stood up and rebranded in about four months, with a clear destination. According to Bill Chiles, it soon ranked at the top of nearly every category in independent industry benchmarking.
Recognizable names, after the fog lifted.
For the first time ever, BKV was able to say here's who we are and here's what we do, in two or three sentences.
Becky EscottVP of Marketing, BKV Corporation (NYSE: BKV)
We weren't losing because the product wasn't good. We were losing because we couldn't say who we were for.
Amy ShepleyPresident, Birkman International
The same shift, across very different industries.
Aligned leadership on three growth pillars, and the discipline to walk away from low-margin work.
Unified a fragmented house of brands into one critical-event platform, acquired about two years later.
Reframed from a commodity tank maker into the fluid-separation category, and became the market-share leader.
Stopped selling plants and started selling time; the model scaled to new locations and profits grew.
Reframed from tickets and fares to certainty the moment a crisis hits.
Merged two oilfield-service companies into one brand named for its promise: always present.
Two days to the one position only you can own.
Every company above started where you are. Get a free teardown of your current positioning, then see the workshop.
Quotes and figures are drawn from client interviews for the forthcoming book Rethink Everything and from Pennebaker engagements.