£12.2M in New Annual Revenue For a Heavy Air-Cargo Operator

The client operated in one of the most demanding corners of logistics, moving outsized and time-critical cargo for customers across aerospace and defence, energy, heavy industries and engineering, procurement and construction. Its operational capability was strong. Its commercial structure was not.

Business development ran separately in each region, with no shared methodology, no common view of the customer and no single owner of a global account. Opportunities surfaced through individual relationships rather than through a process, which made growth difficult to forecast and harder still to repeat.

For a business selling complex, high-value transportation services to major industrial and government customers, this fragmentation represented a structural constraint on growth. Without a unified commercial infrastructure, the company risked remaining a highly capable operator that competitors could nevertheless outsell.

We designed and delivered a long-term Client Growth Programme across three interconnected areas, moving from commercial structure to systems and then into active market execution.

1. 01

   Global sales infrastructure

   We began by assessing the strengths and constraints of the dispersed regional teams, then built the company's first global sales structure. A dedicated project team developed and deployed the methodology, governance and tooling for new business development, business intelligence, marketing, global account management and customer service. Team productivity increased by 50% following the restructuring and introduction of revised performance measures.

2. 02

   Customer relationship management

   We standardised sales, marketing and customer service methodologies around a single global CRM platform. Customer information and opportunity data that had previously sat within regional teams became accessible across the organisation, creating greater visibility of global accounts and helping shorten the journey from enquiry to proposal.

3. 03

   Business development strategy and execution

   We devised and led a sales and marketing programme focused on the industries where the client's heavy air-cargo capabilities provided the strongest commercial proposition. Global accounts were aligned with vertical strategies and supported through tactical account development, partnership building and direct engagement with prospective customers.

The programme also extended into international market development. Government trade missions, targeted country initiatives and diplomatic relationships were used selectively to create access in markets where conventional outreach alone would have been insufficient.

Within the first seven months, the programme had already begun converting the new commercial infrastructure into contracts.

The client closed a £547K contract with a new defence customer and entered fourteen preferred vendor agreements across EPC and heavy industries. It also secured preferred supplier status with the Australian Defence Force for air charter services, following engagement with a senior delegation and subsequent negotiations.

Internationally, commercial activity expanded into Turkey, India, China, the UAE, Australia and Israel, using a combination of UK government trade and industry resources, country-specific initiatives and diplomatic relationships to establish routes into these markets.

Across the engagement, new business revenue grew by 400%, generating £12.2 million in additional annual turnover. The programme opened 21 opportunity pipelines and secured 14 strategic partnerships and preferred supplier agreements.

More fundamentally, the client moved from fragmented regional selling to a repeatable global commercial model. Sales infrastructure, CRM, account management and market development became part of a connected system, giving the company a stronger platform for converting its specialist operational capability into international growth.