A profit hunt is a 6- to 12-month initiative focused on identifying and understanding a company's key drivers of profitability, and then designing and achieving quick-hit profit improvements. Typically, more than half the profit uplift comes from revenue increases. The remainder comes from reducing both internal costs and supplier costs.

Bain has worked with hundreds of clients to find and exploit new sources of profit. Our focus on large opportunities that can be implemented quickly differentiates our approach. Within weeks of starting a profit hunt, joint client and Bain teams are piloting and rolling out improvements, and seeing very rapid gains to the bottom line.

We generate ideas by brainstorming, identifying best practices, benchmarking against companies in the client's industry and similar industries, and drawing on our own profit-hunt experience. After prioritizing ideas with most profit potential and practicality, we help implement profitability programs like new product launches, head-count reduction, and improvements to pricing and purchasing.

To find out more about Bain's work in this capability area, please contact the practice.