Delivering the Kalibrate Standard: Grant Irving

In this blog series, we take a closer look at how our team supports our clients in achieving their strategic objectives. In some organizations, it might be going ‘above and beyond’ to get the job done – but we just call it ‘the Kalibrate Standard’.

This edition features Grant Irving, Vice President of Sales.

Tell us a little about your role.

I’m in business development at Kalibrate, focusing on bringing on new partners to the company. My job is all about identifying great brands that could benefit from what we do, figuring out who the right people are to connect with, and crafting the messaging that will resonate with them.

A big part of my role is understanding a company’s challenges and putting myself in their shoes. I want to know what’s keeping them up at night and how we can help solve those problems. Building that trust doesn’t happen overnight—it’s often a long process that can take years. But when it clicks, and we create a partnership that drives real value, it’s incredibly rewarding.

How does your role interact with the rest of the team?

I work closely with different teams across Kalibrate—sales, marketing, and our analytics experts—to tailor solutions for potential clients. My role is all about opening doors, but once we establish a relationship, it takes a whole team to make sure we’re delivering what the client really needs.

There’s also a lot of internal collaboration around strategy. Every potential client has unique challenges, so we work together to refine our approach and ensure we’re offering the best insights.

What types of problems are the clients you work with trying to solve?

Kalibrate is well known for site selection, revenue forecasting, market optimization, and understanding cannibalization effects. But every client has different challenges, and their needs change over time.

Some brands want to grow aggressively, while others are trying to exit certain markets strategically. Leadership changes can bring a completely new direction, and they need data to guide those decisions. Others want to understand how their customer base is evolving—are they reaching their ideal audience, or are they at risk of losing customers due to pricing or competition?

It’s not always just about real estate teams, either. Marketing and operations teams also need insights, and we help tie everything together to create a holistic strategy.

Give us an example of a particularly challenging client question.

One of the biggest challenges we see is when a brand is trying to pivot its strategy. Maybe they’re shifting focus to a different type of consumer or experimenting with a new store format. They need to know if the data supports that move, but it’s not as simple as plugging numbers into a model—there’s a lot of nuance.

For example, a brand might ask: “If we change our pricing, how will that impact our customer base? Are we at risk in certain markets more than others?” Another might be looking to close locations but doesn’t want to lose customers in the process. The easy answer is to close the least profitable stores, but a smarter approach considers long-term customer retention and market dynamics.

And how did you solve that?

It always comes down to data—but not just any data. We combine different sources, from mobility insights to consumer demographics, to paint a clear picture. For a company looking to shift strategy, we can track real-time consumer behavior and test different scenarios to predict how changes might play out.

When a brand wants to optimize its network, we don’t just look at profit and loss statements. Instead, we analyze trade areas, customer movement, and competitive landscapes to identify the best path forward. It’s not just about what’s happening today, but where the market is headed.

Where do you see the future of location intelligence evolving?

Everyone’s talking about AI and machine learning, and while those are exciting developments, they don’t solve everything on their own. Businesses are testing out DIY data solutions, but many are realizing that technology alone isn’t enough—they need real expertise to turn that data into actionable insights.

I think we’ll see a wave of companies pulling data in-house, followed by a shift back to expert-driven insights when they realize they still need guidance. New datasets are emerging all the time, from better international data to advancements in urban density tracking. But at the end of the day, having more data isn’t the goal—it’s about knowing how to use it effectively.

At Kalibrate, we’re rolling out new tools to help businesses make real-time, data-driven decisions. We’re developing dynamic market optimization tools that let brands run different scenarios and adjust their strategy on the fly within our KLI platform. And later this year, we’ll be offering a way for clients to build their own models within KLI, combining their insights with ours to make smarter decisions.

The industry is moving fast, and we’re making sure our clients stay ahead of the curve.