Client-Agency Relationship Management Tools

Having worked on both client and agency sides, I have been able to experience first hand the challenges that invariably arise over time.

While all professional party working relationships commence formalities through what should be a comprehensive, mutually agreed-upon service contract, incidences eventually arise that cause friction. As with all new relationships, tolerance and forgiveness are high at first, and any process-related shortcomings should be identified, recorded in the Campaign Review Document (or PIR) and used as a lesson for future performance improvement.

The value of making the time to conduct PIRs can't be overstated, for it is only through this process that both client and agency are able to step back from the heat of the work furnace and look at what worked, what didn't and what can be done better next time.

From experience, and leaving aside the highly subjective area of 'the creative', the 3 areas of the relationship that cause most angst and frustration are usually based around:

Briefing - the process (verbal vs written, reverse briefing), inconsistencies, lack of detail, unclear objectives;

Approvals/Sign-offs - the number of parties, time delays due to unavailability, 'new' requirements;

Timing - late/incomplete briefing, lack of reasonable priority management (everything is due tomorrow), continual changes post scheduled sign-off date.

Naturally, the above are expected to, and out of market pressures etc, do happen, from time to time. That's business.

However, when it becomes obvious that a trend is beginning to occur, and the expected exception is rapidly becoming the norm, it's time for strategic intervention.

That's where the Progress Through Partnership review comes in. And from experience, I have had to utilise this strategy as early as six months into a new working relationship as the challenges had continued to mount to such an extent that staff were already questioning their sanity! And nothing ruins a good relationship more than choosing to ignore issues and hoping they will simply go away.

Happily, the PTP saved the day on this occasion. Both parties had time to prepare for the PTP meeting, and as a result of using real examples, objectively and unemotionally, we were able to resolve some unproductive and frustrating process and attitudinal challenges and get back to working much better together.

Identify - Evaluate - Formulate - Implement - Measure - Review

The beauty of incorporating the Progress Through Partnership tactic as a key element of the client-agency relationship management process is that it provides a valuable roadmap of how today's strengths and weaknesses can be developed, redefined and built upon to ensure tomorrow's mutually rewarding success. It is much like a Scorecard, but it is done both ways, with objectivity through demonstrable examples the cornerstone of its effectiveness.

'Perfect' working relationships are as rare as hens teeth. In fact, the same can be said about all forms of relationships. However, there are always measures that can be taken to facilitate early identification of issues and implement corrective intervention before a relationship becomes toxic.

If you don't currently employ a mechanism such as the Progress Through Partnership review as part of your strategic business model, you may be jeopardising a potentially beneficial partnership based on something as subjective as one person's prejudices or misconceptions.

Time to get NUDE!

IT’S TIME TO GET N.U.D.E!

Not your average business catch-cry, admittedly, but then again, there’s nothing average about N.U.D.E. Marketing.

With over 50 years of marketing and business experience, N.U.D.E. can provide your business with solutions to issues ranging from improved marketing returns to increased employee productivity.

The N.U.D.E. brand came from listening carefully to what businesses constantly ask for -  solutions that are New Uncomplicated Different and Effective.  That’s what we provide. We achieve this by turning intelligence into relevance, for your business, your staff and your customers. We take a channel-neutral approach to finding solutions. After all, channel selection is only a relevant consideration once the audience has been identified, and digital delivery is not necessarily the answer to every communication task – the audience dictates the channel.

Kym McInerney has been managing director of several of Melbourne’s largest Customer Relationship Management agencies (CMC, Grey Direct & EWA) and has worked with businesses including Myer Grace Bros, Honda, Officeworks, Telstra, ANZ Bank, Integrated Packaging, Mobil, Ford, Sancella, Blood Bank, World Vision, TAC, OfficeLife, GN Netcom, McMillan Shakespeare, Roundhouse Entertainment, PROV, RACV, Heidelberg, Monash University, Reclink, Stem Cells Australia, Cenitex, GTAC and many more. His key strengths are strategic planning & facilitation, customer engagement and communications effectiveness audits, creative development and leadership/management coaching.

Kim Gasperino has extensive experience in retail and business marketing including customer segmentation, brand-building and customer communications. Kim also provides individualised programs designed to improve employee productivity. This experience has been gained over 20 years through working in and with businesses such as Target, CML corporate, Ford, Roundhouse Entertainment, EWA Australia, Cenitex, Reclink, MS Society, Ozchild, SANDS Australia and the Public Record Office of Victoria.

Services offered by N.U.D.E. Marketing:

·        Marketing effectiveness audits/review.

·        Customer segmentation analysis – strategy & development.

·        Business and Marketing Plan development.

·        New business pitch facilitation.

·        Brand and customer communications – development & execution.

·        Stakeholder/Staff communications.

·        Corporate memory documentation.

·        Leadership Coaching & process improvement facilitation for employees.

For further information or an initial 30-minute discussion on how N.U.D.E. Marketing can help your business prosper, contact Kym McInerney or Kim Gasperino on 03 9587 2404 or visit www.nudemarketing.com.au.

We look forward to helping you build your business.

Do expectations in CRM need changing?

The following information is taken from a report recently published by Salesstaff.com titled "100 Sales and Marketing Stats that will blow your mind".

I am not sure how wide a range of industries this covers and whether this figure encompasses high-consideration and low-consideration purchases, new sales and cross sales to existing customers, but assuming this is an average across all of these categories, it certainly flags some interesting points for discussion.

Pressure to perform and 'close' sales continues to escalate. It is simply the nature of business. The combination of technology and improved targeting opportunities has, for many businesses, increased the ability to attract more leads at a cheaper CPL than ever before. And predictive modelling based on past behaviour, life-stage, psycho-demographic profiling and propensity to purchase has certainly improved the ability for cross-selling.

Interestingly however, a widely-held belief and practice amongst many sales people I come across is based on the '3 strikes and out' philosophy where efforts and hopes are placed on the next prospect once the 3 attempts for a 'no sale' result have been made. Given the above figures, perhaps the expectations of businesses need revising.

Clearly, the strategy for high value/high consideration purchases warrants a more sustained effort, a range of strategies and a kit-bag of tactics before giving up, and it is assumed that the selling business clearly understands the metrics in terms of cost per lead (CPL) and cost per sale (CPS) so it knows when it really is time to lapse a prospect.

But I wonder - is it time for a paradigm shift in sales and CRM thinking? Does possessing the ability to so easily shop around, to be much more discerning, empower prospects to now demand more attention, more effort and more 'love' before committing their hard-earned money to a product or service? And if so, are all of your sales people really clear about the 'lead-sale-cross sell-retain' cycle and is this reflected in their targets?

Regardless of business size, having the right metrics in place is vital to gaining a clear understanding of what's working and what isn't. After all, if you can't benchmark it, you can't beat it!  

B2B, B2C social media insights

If you want to know some very interesting facts and figures about the usage and impact of the various B2B and B2C social media channels and SEO, have a look at the article that I came across on the CMO Network group on Linkedin titled '100 Sales & Marketing Stats that will Blow your Mind'.

One of the key statistics that stands out to me is the increase in the number of interactions reported between an initial brand touch and a sale - it might be back to the drawing board of expectation management for many businesses that still operate on the allowable of 3 or 4 contacts. 

There also appear to be many lost opportunities for gaining valuable client testimonials, largely based on the fact that most customers are not asked for them - and are yet willing to give them..

Very interesting insights here. Happy reading.

Ps. You will need to sign up to obtain the report and you can opt out of future contact - see the link below.

http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fokt%2Eto%2Fe7V9tV&urlhash=1i4p

Testing Times

When was the last time you DIDN'T open a plain faced envelope personally addressed to you?

Over the next few weeks, we will be running a series of effectiveness tests with a client to assess the reach and response impact of traditional mail vs email. This particular client is in the financial services industry.

Clearly, the cost of preparation and delivery favours the electronic version (Cell A). Both Cell B, the plain white envelope delivered via AusPost, and Cell A will each inform the recipient of the sending company - via the "From" & "Subject" fields in the email and the "If undeliverable..." address on the envelope. Importantly, the text and layout will be identical in the interests of ensuring there is only one variable between groups.

Whether there is any difference in the desired client-action rate based on the delivery method is yet to be seen. And the analysis of the customers that do respond should be able to provide some insight into whether there is any discernible difference between 'letter openers' and 'email readers'.

Although simplistic, this form of continual testing is important. The more we continue to learn about our clients' behaviour and the triggers that elicit that behaviour, the more likely we are to able to achieve better returns through improved CRM tactics - after all, CRM is actually a two-way street.

Forget price - what about real value?

We really do get it

"...and with your home loan, you can choose from our menu of convenient, time saving services that let you get on with living the style of life you want - More Play - Less Work".

I wonder why banks do not yet use non-financial services as a means of differentiating their products from competitors? Imagine being offered a home loan that included a monthly lawn mowing service, or fortnightly house cleaning, or ironing, or garden maintenance, or dog walking or......

Banks in Australia make lots of profit. LOTS. And they have business customers that provide all of the above services. With the ever-increasing pressure on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, it would make sense that lenders look to exploit this reality. Sure, there would undoubtedly be those who cry "But we are in the financial services industry and we would be placing our Brand reputation in the hands of service providers over whom we have little control". I hear you. But I also believe that the benefits of product and brand differentiation through adopting a lifestyle-appealing product would far outweigh the "outcry" of the occasional sloppy mow or ironing effort.

Same lending product. Same interest rate. More time to live your life. - I know which lender I'd choose.

  

So there's no better way. Are you sure?

While there is always a fair degree of consensus that the marketing offer your business makes is right on the money with your selected target market, how can you be absolutely sure that the message will achieve the desired behavioural action? Or that a slight change in language or offer won't elicit a better response?

You can't. And that is why there is always a role for testing in marketing.

The use of variable message streaming in marketing remains as important now as it has ever been. Particularly with the electronic message delivery options, which allow for relatively inexpensive content changes to be made, and rapid tracking and effectiveness measurement. The art of the 'control' and test groups has long been the domain of direct marketing practitioners, with offer/language/creative variables applied as part of the continuous improvement and learning method of CRM. But it appears to have become underutilised or perhaps undervalued as a tactic of late.

One variable only is critical.

All businesses and their marketing resources should be incorporating testing into most marketing campaigns, if for no other reason than to increase objectivity and continue to learn more precisely what resonates best with customers or prospects.

As a simple example, we found that direct mail signed off by a local store manager pulled a greater response than the same creative package signed off by the retail chain's National Marketing Manager. Now admittedly, this did involve additional costs and work in compiling and streaming 15 variables (the signatures/titles and contact details of the local store managers), but the cost was far outweighed by the lift in response and the retail chain learned a valuable lesson about 'localising' offers.

Remember, for testing to be robust, there should only ever be one variable between the control group and the test cell(s).

If you aren't incorporating testing into much of your marketing, you risk missing out on increased responses that could make the difference between making a loss or breaking even versus generating profit. There is no 'magic bullet'. There are no guarantees that the way you decide to tell your story is the best way.

Testing is and will always be a sound method of ensuring you don't lump all of your eggs into one basket, and it plays an important role in ensuring you gain valuable customer insight before committing large sums of money into a message that won't perform as well as you have planned.

Long live 'test & control'!