Growth is not always a matter of volume. As companies seek to preserve their margins, guarantee the quality of service or strengthen their differentiation, some make the deliberate choice to restrict their customer base. A counter-intuitive strategy, often perceived as an elitist or risky, but which sometimes turns out to be formidably effective. Several major French players have bet on this selective approach, voluntarily reduce the number of customers,, To assert their positioning, improve their profitability and restore their dynamics.
Refocus your portfolio to regain control
In the 2010s, Air France deeply revised its commercial strategy on the Middle and long-haul. Rather than pursuing growth based on the multiplication of roads with low profitability, the group has removed ineffective links and focused on premium segments and high density hubs. This rationalization, engaged under the direction of Alexandre de Juniac and then accelerated by Benjamin Smith, aimed to reduce the number of customers that are not very contributors, for the benefit of a higher added value clientele. By voluntarily limiting access to certain non -profitable lines, the company was able to reallocate its resources to differentiating services: improvement in business classes, network optimization, upmarket of the digital offer.
The same logic guided Bouygues Telecom’s strategy during its repositioning in 2014. Faced with a price war launched by the arrival of Free, the company has given up part of its least profitable customer base. The group has chosen to get out of the volume race to favor loyalty, improvement of network quality and the development of convergent offers. The bet of commercial deceleration has been paid: profitability by customer has straightened, as is the perception of the brand to individuals and professionals.
Sort to preserve the customer experience
The selective approach is not limited to financial rationalization. It can also meet a perceived quality objective. In the fast food sector, Big Fernand voluntarily slowed down its franchise expansion after a first phase of rapid growth. By refusing to open new outlets in certain areas deemed incompatible with its image or sourcing requirements, the brand preferred to focus on a smaller but faithful customers. This choice made it possible to stabilize the production standards, to preserve the freshness of the products and to avoid a dilution of the initial promise.
Comparable reasoning was applied by the French Slip, which has chosen to restrict massive promotional operations and limit certain high volume acquisition campaigns. The company, positioned on the Made in France, oriented its growth towards a more balanced model, focusing on sales with a highest margin, a controlled renewal of collections and an individualized customer relationship. This voluntary sobriety has strengthened the image of the brand’s authenticity and consolidated its committed customer base.
Discard customers destructive of value
All companies cannot or must serve the entire market. In financial services, certain customers generate treatment costs higher than the revenues generated, especially when the interactions are frequent, complex or subject to litigation. MAIF has thus redefined its perimeter of acceptance for certain profiles with low profitability or high sinistrality, by favoring the members closest to its mutualist values. By assuming this repositioning, the insurer has strengthened his strategic coherence while mastering his technical costs.
On the online bank side, Boursorama has long played the volume card at all costs, before refocusing on active customers with high potential. The abolition of certain too expensive welcome offers and the rationalization of the price grid have made it possible to stabilize economic indicators, while improving the experience of the most committed customers. A targeted reduction in the portfolio can thus become an economic balance lever, provided you rely on specific data and a long -term vision.
Reduce to better serve strategic customers
Giving up part of the market also helps strengthen the relationship with strategic customers. In the industrial sector, Dassault Aviation has always adopted a strict selection logic. The company favors state and institutional customers, with long -term contracts where personalization, maintenance and technical support represent a significant part of value. This choice involves giving up more open tenders, but guarantees a lasting relationship of trust and better control of post-delivery costs.
At Hermès, the control of the distribution is based on a similar principle. Rather than meeting the massive demand from Asia or the Middle East by opening up more points of sale, the group voluntarily limits its volume of production and marketing. This elitist positioning does not target a clientele limited by chance, but a strategy of controlled scarcity, which consolidates both the prices, the desirability and the financial solidity of the group. Choosing customers then becomes a performance weapon.
Adapt the internal organization to a selective model
Voluntarily limiting its customer base often involves a transformation of internal structures, which are no longer dimensioned for volume but for requirement. At ACCOR, the upgrade operated on several of its brands required a complete revision of service protocols, team training and monitoring of satisfaction. The company has gradually reoriented its investments towards more selective segments, reducing the overall flow while strengthening expectations at each contact point. This reorganization is not based solely on the marketing strategy, but on a fine redefinition of performance standards.
In the council sector, Capgemini has operated on a similar switch to certain international markets by favoring contracts with high added value rather than the multiplication of fragmented interventions. This has led to an evolution of the operational model, with a rise in targeted skills, a finer allowance of resources and tighter management of margins by mission. Reducing your number of customers therefore requires complete operational alignment, where each process must be calibrated to serve fewer customers … but better.
