Independent engagements for companies where something in the customer journey isn't working the way it should. I find out what's actually happening, help build the fix, and hand it to the people who will own it.
Where this usually starts
Activation stalls, renewals slip, customers go quiet after a strong start. The dashboards show it happening. They don't show the cause, and the theories in the room don't agree with each other.
The direction is clear enough. What's missing is a senior person who can turn it into a working system: the data, the logic, the tooling, the handoffs, and the people who have to run it once it's live.
It touches marketing, product, billing, and support at the same time, so each team owns a piece and the outcome belongs to nobody. That is usually where the fix has been stuck the longest.
“He was genuinely eager to understand client needs at a deep level: not just what was being asked for, but why, so he could ensure the team was delivering maximum value.”
Ways to work together
These are shapes, and they overlap. You don't need to pick the right one before we talk.
Solve something specific
You have a customer-growth problem and don't yet know why it's happening or what to do about it. I dig into the data, the customers, and the operating reality behind the numbers, through analysis, interviews, or focused working sessions, and come back with a clear view of what's going on and what's worth doing next.
Fits when the cause is unclear and the room has more theories than evidence.
Tell me what's going on →Build it with you
You know roughly what needs to change. What you need is someone who can connect the strategy to the build and stay through it. I work alongside your team to design and ship the actual system, whether that's a lifecycle program, a payment-recovery workflow, a pricing model, or the reporting that shows whether any of it is working. I don't stop at the recommendation.
Fits when the direction is set and the gap is senior hands to build it.
Tell me what's going on →Bring me inside
You have a customer-growth problem that's big enough, or cross-functional enough, to need someone embedded for a stretch. I join for a defined period, take ownership of the problem or share it with the person who already has it, and do the coordinating, deciding, and building it takes to move it across teams.
Fits when the work needs an owner across teams and nobody currently has the room.
Tell me what's going on →Most problems don't arrive labeled. If none of these fit, or you're not sure which one does, tell me what's going on and I'll tell you plainly whether I can help.
What this has looked like
These numbers come from roles where I owned the outcome as an employee, so I describe them as work I did rather than clients I served. The retention system has a full write-up on the Work page. The other two don't yet, and I'd rather say so than pad them. A pricing redesign with no headline number lives there too.
“Brian has a rare aptitude for understanding what the customer is going through every step of the way, and he uses that knowledge to make things better for digital customers. Brian also has a unique ability to work beyond his job description across company silos to achieve the best outcomes for the customer.”
Equifax · The Work Number
$6M+ in retention revenue influenced over 20 months
A manual retention email became an always-on lifecycle system for Verifier Services, coordinated through product, billing, and analytics without direct authority.
Read the full story →Equifax · Payment recovery
$250K recovered. Total monthly churn cut from roughly 5% to 4%.
Failed payments were causing avoidable churn and no recovery system existed. I built a dunning workflow from zero that caught accounts before they lapsed. The churn figure includes voluntary and involuntary churn.
U.S. Electrical Services
$30K → $5.6M in self-service revenue
A lifecycle program built from scratch across sales, eCommerce, and operations that moved inactive trade customers into digital ordering, over four years.
How I work
No two of these problems are the same, and I don't run them through a fixed method. A few things hold no matter what.
“Brian is that rare breed of person who is both analytical and empathetic. He is also curious, passionate, and adaptable. […] Brian's greatest asset is his adaptability.”
Get in touch
A few sentences is plenty: what's happening, what you've already tried, and what it costs if it stays this way. You don't need to know which kind of engagement you want. I read every message myself and reply personally.
Prefer email? brian@brianheying.com
Or find me on LinkedIn →
I'll read this myself and reply to your email. If it's easier to talk it through, my email is brian@brianheying.com.
In the meantime, the Work page has the full stories behind the numbers above →