Based in Tampa, Florida, Vista Grande is an insights-driven consultancy advising some of the world's leading companies on sales and marketing strategies. The company’s experience spans industries, channels, brick & mortar and eCommerce, for clients large and small. We recently met with Russ Onish, president (pictured at left), to learn more about the company.
Please tell us about your company’s key service offerings.
Our flagship service, which launched our company, is Category Choice Architecture®. It’s an analytic framework powered by a proprietary shopping simulation that integrates shopper segmentation, the path to purchase, and decision trees into a holistic framework. This forward-looking methodology helps our clients create innovative category management strategies grounded in shoppers' emerging needs.
Of the services you offer, is there one in particular that is still emerging, and you feel holds the most unfulfilled promise? If so, why and how do you see it evolving / helping your clients in the future?
We have recently complemented Category Choice Architecture® with Shopper Stream™, which provides our clients with rich qualitative insights about the shopping experience via self-directed videos and in-store surveys. The initial engagements indicate that this service holds tremendous promise, especially as we integrate AI capabilities into the analysis of video transcriptions to access deeper human insights thematically.
Tell us a bit about how you decided to form your company and how you went about growing it in its early stages.
I’ve worked as a manufacturer, retailer, research supplier, and consultant. Early in my career, I had the opportunity to engage deeply in the Category Management practice and, I guess, have never looked back since. Soon after, I became more aware of the opportunities to understand the role that shopping plays in the health of the CPG ecosystem.
Starting Vista Grande was a natural expression of my experience, client service orientation, creativity, and innovative spirit. When I did it, many people thought I was brave to take such a big risk. I can’t imagine not having done it and wish I had done it when I was a little younger (although it may not have panned out so well).
I had strong ideas about the type of work I wanted to do and innovative methods to deliver on this vision. However, I did not have a business plan or any employees. I also had no clients or capital access other than personal savings.
I’ve been amazed at the high caliber talent I’ve been able to add to our firm over a seven-year period. It’s been a constant balancing act of growing our topline and then hiring the staff we need to support the higher level of business. I’ve been juggling this every quarter in every year and somehow managed to keep us afloat, growing, and profitable with amazing clients and a talented and motivated team. What could be better than that?
What surprised you most about being an entrepreneur?
I’m amazed that we have entered a market with billion-dollar competitors and more than held our own on competitive RFPs. I think our clients appreciate working with a team that is so experienced, motivated, and client-oriented, so much so that our diminutive size doesn’t seem to be an issue.
What is your biggest pain point currently? How are you working to fix it?
As a boot-strapped small business with a track record of strong growth, our biggest pain point is managing our cash flow as many of the companies in our industry have master services agreements with extended payment terms. This worsens yearly, creating downside effects and unintended consequences for the companies who initiated these policies.
What are the most common problems that brands bring to your door?
How do I improve the relevance of our brand or category among younger shoppers?
How do we reverse long-term negative trends for our brand or category?
What should our portfolio or category look like in the future and how do we get there from here?
For several years now research companies have realized they can’t simply deliver insights but need to consult closely with clients to help them implement and communicate insights across their corporations to have a real impact. How are you going about this?
Close consultation with clients is baked into our DNA. Many of our company executives, including me, have client-side experience; we’ve worked in similar roles and know what our clients need to engage their cross-functional colleagues and persuade their retailer customers. As a former consultant, I intentionally started a firm grounded in market research that can consult from an insight perspective.
How do you see the role of the research methods that you employ changing as data streams continue to proliferate and analytics becomes more sophisticated?
We’re leveraging AI to cost-effectively scale our operations to enhance quality, speed to insights, and remain cost competitive.