Meet the Kalibrate team: Dave Huntoon, VP of Account Management for Retail

At Kalibrate, we believe our success is driven as much by our people as our technology. So, as part of our meet the team series, we’re showcasing some of the talent and expertise within the Kalibrate family. This installment features Dave Huntoon, VP of Account Management for Retail.

What’s your role at Kalibrate?

My role is the Vice President of Account Management for Kalibrate’s retail sector. I’m responsible for making sure that we do an effective job of meeting the needs of all our retail, restaurant, healthcare, banking and private equity clients. Much of the work my team does is in North America but we are increasingly involved in the rest of the world and have active projects in Latin America, Europe and Australia.

What does a typical day look like?

The vast majority of my time is spent with clients. This includes working with members of our consulting and modelling teams on projects to make sure that we are staying on schedule and participating in client meetings to gauge the status of projects. I also present regularly to our clients when we have reached significant milestones, providing results of, for example, a store performance analysis or a sales forecasting model.

I also manage a team of eight client-focused account managers, providing support and resources,and making sure that any questions they have are answered.

Another part of my role is working closely with our sales team on potential new engagements, which involves initial calls to find out what clients are looking for and then working with the team to work out the most time and cost-effective way that we can meet their needs.

Occasionally I attend conferences such as ICSC to network with existing clients and promote Kalibrate to prospective customers and host webinars to share our capabilities.

What do you love about your role?

In 1977 I got my first position in retail sales forecasting and have been working in the industry ever since. I love problem solving and working with clients in helping them to address issues or areas that are of concern to them and coming up with solutions. Examples of just some of the support services I offer includes determining where to open new stores and identifying what factors most influence sales. In providing this information I help clients to successfully run their businesses, which gives me great satisfaction.

We work with some extremely innovative companies and it’s always rewarding to see the small – or sometimes large – part we play in their continued success.

I also love interacting with the people at Kalibrate. I enjoy not just the camaraderie, but the professional collaboration that comes because of that.

Why did you choose to join Kalibrate?

I was a cofounder of a firm called Intalytics which was acquired by Kalibrate in 2021. The acquisition excited me as it meant the ability to collaborate with other specialists in the field to help build a business that would do an even more effective job of addressing the needs of our clients.

Alongside Intalytics, Kalibrate also acquired Trade Area Systems (TAS) and invested in eSite Analytics. I always had great respect for the teams and the solutions they deliver. Bringing all those people, their expertise, and their technology capabilities together under the Kalibrate banner is exciting for us on the account side as we can now help our clients answer more questions than ever before.

What do you think are the greatest challenges and opportunities for retail decision makers?

For retail over the last decade the biggest challenge has been the growth of e-commerce and the fact that has eroded away brick and mortar sales. The operators that have been successful are the ones that are either able to incorporate e-commerce into their business or those clients for whom e-commerce isn’t a relevant channel. A second challenge is the ongoing need to be as cost-efficient as possible to make sure that you can provide consumers great value at a good price.

As for healthcare, long term I would say it is the growth of omnichannel and providing customers with the ability to be diagnosed over the phone or over video chat for example. Short term, I would say the biggest challenge is finding professionals. In the dental, veterinary, pharmacy and optometry services fields there is a real shortage.