You’ve spoken to your clients. You’ve collected hundreds or even thousands of individual data points rating the relationship between your organization and your customers. And now you are looking at a spreadsheet filled with open-ended commentary and quantitative scores rating service team members, detailing pain points, and reflecting on the overall relationship between your two organizations.
The most logical question is: What’s next?
Finding the answer to this question may seem overwhelming and you could be scratching your head wondering where to even start. It may help to begin by looking at the most fundamental questions that a client satisfaction study sets out to discover:
Discovering Who’s Happy (and Who’s Not)
While open-ended feedback is a critical component of a successful customer study, most executives still want to know the answer to the most essential reason for conducting client sat: What percentage of the client base is happy with the products and services they are receiving?
Whether you ask for a yes or no response or categorizing values on a numeric scale, a question in your survey should be designed to answer this very question. However, getting the percentage of satisfied clients isn’t necessarily the hard part; it’s understanding that number that can be more challenging.
Say 72% of your client base is satisfied. Is that good? Bad? How does it compare to your competitors? Is satisfaction increasing or decreasing compared to last year?
If you are using a third party to help conduct the study, they should be able to provide some benchmarking information for organizations like yours. However, in the absence of industry benchmarking data, tracking satisfaction over time may be the most useful way to apply context to your satisfaction score. Year-over-year trends can really help an organization understand how effective its service efforts and product enhancements are.
A negative score, one that is either lagging compared to the benchmark or trending downwards over time, is obviously cause for concern. The next step here should be to investigate further by looking at the scores and feedback for individual attributes to identify what aspect of your offering is troubling clients the most. It is also useful to look at these attributes even with a positive overall score, to fully get a sense of your clients’ feedback.
Diving deeper into the responses for individual questions is one way to get more granular with the data. Another is looking at each of your client’s individual responses. Doing this will allow you to understand which clients are satisfied, but more importantly, which are in danger of leaving. In our next blog post we will look at ways to analyze the data to discover which of your clients are “at risk”.
Imagine this: I want to measure people’s loyalty to you. I reach out to everyone you know – friends, family, co-workers, even the barista at the coffee shop you go to each morning. I give everyone a scale, say 0 being the least loyal and 10 being the most, and ask them to rate you. I tally up the results. Your friends’ loyalty score to you is a 7.6. I walk away and all you have in your hand is a number.
Maybe you like the number, maybe not. Does it feel right? What does that number indicate? What’s the context? How does one friend’s loyalty relate to another’s? Are they even thinking of loyalty in the same way?
Aren’t you and your relationships more than just a number?
In fact, you are. And so are companies. Consumers have more to say and more to share than just a number. While a Net Promoter Score® (NPS® ) measures the recommendability that exists between a provider and a consumer, it does not encompass true Voice of the Client feedback. It doesn’t unveil anything meaningful or usable about a company’s products, customer service, pricing, or any other incredibly important indicator of future sales. It also assumes all consumers have equal experiences from which to score. Where’s the detail? How can you grow and improve your company in the right places with one NPS® score?
A successful client satisfaction program gives you actionable results and allows you to isolate the motivators for future growth in client retention, i.e. the details and data that you can do something with. Through a successful client satisfaction program you can gather both quantitative and qualitative feedback directly from your customers, helping you understand your team and your business from many different angles. A robust client satisfaction program has context and detail. It allows for different lenses. It promotes conversation between you and your clients.
Don’t limit yourself or your company to one number. It just doesn’t feel right.
To investigate how full client satisfaction programs can help organizations, we will be using this blog to start the conversation about how successful programs are run. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for further posts about the subject!
Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter ScoreSM and Net Promoter SystemSM are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.
It’s not a new idea, that’s for sure. Listening to customers has been and continues to be a cornerstone of organizations. Getting feedback from current customers is a constant endeavor, and in this day in age when we are hypnotized by big data, sometimes the bigger picture can be blurred. It begs the question: is there a way to increase revenue by really listening to your customers? Yes, there is.
A successful client satisfaction program isn’t just about tallying up numbers, it is about listening to and learning from your customers.
A successful client satisfaction program gives your customers the opportunity to share unbiased, unfiltered feedback.
A successful client satisfaction program will provide the tools and analysis to help you secure relationships with your customer base, which in the end, helps you increase your bottom line.
There are a multitude of ways to gather feedback from a customer base, and before undertaking such a program it is important to know the ins and outs of what that research may look like. Over the next few weeks, Anova will be diving into the topic of client satisfaction more in-depth. We hope our education on the topic will help you:
Let your customers know you are listening and learning from them. It will pay off!
Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter ScoreSM and Net Promoter SystemSM are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.
Sales enablement is buzzing. But what exactly does sales enablement mean?
The word enable is a verb that means to give (someone or something) the authority or means to do something. Taken literally then, sales enablement means to give a salesperson or sales team the means to sell.
Yet regardless of how much content is created to support a sales process or how much product goes into a salesperson’s bag, understanding the buyer is undoubtedly a cornerstone to winning any deal. In fact, it is really the first step.
Mark Robarge, SVP Sales and Services at HubSpot, relates a sales opportunity to a conversation between a doctor and a patient. Robarge encourages sales leaders to ensure their sales reps have a level of knowledge about their prospects conducive to being able to consult and prescribe the best remedy. He says, “When you go in to see your doctor and she asks you about your symptoms, you tell her the truth. You trust that she can diagnose your problem and prescribe the right medication…You take the medication. It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing and prescribing.”
But where does sales enablement fit into this? The enabling of the sale – giving the means to do something – comes from sales training. And a focus on understanding the buyer should be at the beginning of training topics.
A successful salesperson already has this figured out. He or she begins every sales process by taking the time to understand the buyer and what the buyer is looking to achieve. Attributes such as building rapport, performing a thorough needs analysis, and taking a consultative approach prove to be tasks performed repeatedly by successful sales people. From there, the salesperson can engage the resources within his organization to support his sales process; from marketing materials to SMEs (subject matter experts) to product designers and beyond.
In today’s B2B selling landscape, sales engagements depend on personalization and customization. Teaching salespeople how to know the buyer and how to personalize the sales experience to the buyer’s specific situation is critical to sales enablement and will lead to more wins.
A recent Harvard Business Review study determined only 37% of salespeople are effective in doing the very thing are paid to do: sell. After observing 800 sales professionals in live sales settings, HBR categorized the personnel who were successful in completing a sale into three personas: Consultants, Closers, and Experts.
Consultants are salespeople adept at tailoring the presentation or sales pitch to the buyer’s needs. Closers are blessed with the gift of gab, and always have an answer for their customer’s toughest questions. The rarest type of effective sales personnel, the Expert, can make selling seem easy and consistently ranked near the top of their peer group in sales performance.
The same Harvard study concluded the remaining 63% of salespeople tended to not have any impact on a buyer’s decision, or worse, have their performance negatively impact the chance of making a successful sale.
Where do your salespeople rate? Do you have any Consultants, Closers or Experts? The numbers suggest there is a good probability some of your team is actually hurting your organization’s sales performance, and once you identify who needs additional training (hint: it’s probably the whole team) the question then becomes, “Where can our salespeople improve and how can they make those strides?”
In Anova’s research across a wide range of verticals, sales personnel generally rate higher in attributes such as responsiveness, preparedness, and product knowledge – things commonly referred to as true Sales 101 qualities. It is the more advanced skillset where many drop off and even less can consistently complete at a high performing level.
The ability to differentiate is consistently rated as the lowest-scoring attribute for salespeople in Anova studies, followed by the ability to customize a presentation and tailor a pitch to address a prospect’s unique needs. It seems like common sense: to win the deal you must connect the prospect’s needs to your offering and demonstrate how you are better than the competition. However, as the Harvard study shows, these skills are not mastered by the majority of salespeople.
If you are like any ambitious business leader, your 2017 sales goals have been set and you are relying on your top performers to get you there. But maybe it is time to think about the other 63%. How are you helping them raise their game and develop into a Consultant, Closer, or Expert? Feedback on where they can get better and how to improve could be the missing piece to the puzzle.
Spring training is over and now it is time for the season to begin. You go into the season feeling confident that you and your team have done everything you can to be ready. But surprises always happen. You win an unexpected game and lose against the worst team in the league. You face tough opponents with varying outcomes. The big question is “why?”
This doesn’t happen just on the baseball field. It happens every day in the sales field. Salespeople hear good and bad news all the time just like sports teams win and lose all the time.
While a coach may be asking, “Did we have the best pitcher for this game?” a sales manager may be asking, “Did our sales rep really understand what the prospect was looking for?” or “Were we really ready for that finals presentation?”
Understanding the real reasons a certain sales decision was made can be some of the best on-going sales training there is. And learning from both winning and losing situations give sales reps, teams, and managers the intel needed to prepare for the next competitive sales situation.
Win Loss research invites decision makers to give open and honest feedback about the sales engagement. It allows prospects to address many areas of the sales situation from what was most important, to the buyer’s mindset going into the sales process, to unvarnished feedback about the salesmanship demonstrated throughout the process. Sales reps and sales leaders can learn about the specific areas that need more work or training. Maybe it was the (lack of) product knowledge, maybe it was the pricing structure, or maybe even sluggish responsiveness.
When a Win Loss Analysis program is used on a routine basis, that is, when interviews are being conducted and analyzed week in and week out, sales leaders learn real-time. Corrections can be made, competitors can be better understood, and product positioning can be adjusted. In the moment sales training can happen within minutes, and on the flip side, successful sales reps can become examples of what’s winning and what’s working well in the field.
You can win more business with Win Loss Research. Understanding the outcome of the sales presentation and what went into the decision process can best prepare your sales team for the next big game. Win or lose, there’s always something to learn.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jamie Zielinski
Anova Consulting Group, LLC
(617) 731-1045
jamiez@anovaconsulting.com
Brookline, MASS. March 7, 2017 – Anova Consulting Group, a leading provider of Win Loss Analysis and Win Loss Research, client retention analysis to industry leading financial services, technology, and healthcare companies announced myView, a client dashboard powered by the firm’s proprietary software, Viewpoint.
myView is an innovative, client-facing portal that delivers real-time analytics, updates, and program management. The cloud-based platform allows Anova’s clients to track key statistics from their research programs and easily find and search through completed interview transcripts.
Andrew Cloutier, Partner at Anova, says, “One of our key initiatives in 2017 was enhancing our technology to improve our client experience. We knew we wanted to give our clients unparalleled access to their data and analytics. To deliver this, building out Viewpoint, our bedrock technology, was critical. We are thrilled that myView now allows our clients to sit in the driver’s seat and see what’s most important to them in the moment it means the most.”
The tools and analytics now available in myView complement Anova’s full reporting suite. Clients can leverage their programs’ completed in-depth transcripts both individually and in aggregate like never before. Access to program results 24/7 will help clients run their win / loss programs more seamlessly and efficiently, resulting in more competitive sales capabilities and increased win rates. myView also opens the door to the on-going project management of Anova’s research programs, putting the client and Anova’s service team on the same page.
“We are truly excited about the launch of myView. Our team has been working tirelessly on developing this technology for our clients. Now our customers have the flexibility to access, manage, and act on their data 24/7. We are committed to helping our clients win more business, and we see myView as a natural extension of that commitment. Our clients come first to us. We know myView will give our clients the support, flexibility, and data that is most relevant to them anytime it’s called on.” adds Rich Schroder, Founder and President of Anova.
Anova is actively meeting with its customers to demonstrate myView and teach clients about its comprehensive capabilities.
Established in 2005, Anova Consulting Group is a leading market research and consulting firm focused on Win Loss Analysis and client retention analysis. By helping its clients understand why they win, lose, and retain business, Anova provides strategic perspectives driving better decision making, product development, sales effectiveness, client service, and continuous improvement. Richard Schroder, Founder and President of Anova, is author of a Win Loss Analysis book titled From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call (McGraw-Hill), which details how learning from post-sale debriefing helps close more future sales.
William Shakespeare said it best over 400 years ago when he wrote one of the most iconic lines from Romeo and Juliet: “Parting is such sweet sorrow…”
Ending a relationship hurts. Shakespeare, no doubt, was not thinking about a business relationship when he penned one of the world’s most revered pieces of literature.
And yet, he certainly succeeded in capturing a shared sentiment when someone departs a relationship, especially a business one.
It’s always hard to see clients go. It is costly (you probably lost some reoccurring revenue) and hard to explain (what are you going to tell your boss or the salesperson that closed that account?). But truth be told, clients exiting relationships is part of the normal rhythm of business. Clients come and clients go.
The good news is: You’re not alone. We’ve all lost a client (or two) before.
The bad news is: They have already left and there is likely nothing you can do to get them back.
However, there is a silver lining. By learning the reasons behind why these clients departed, you can help preserve current relationships and retain your existing customers.
A Departed Client program’s purpose is to identify the real (and sometimes unexpected) reasons why clients are leaving. By learning from recently departed clients, you move from the “not knowing zone” to the “knowing zone”, and it is this learning that can help you prevent other clients from leaving too.
Engaging in a Departed Client program will allow your organization to:
One of the best things you can do when a client departs is to understand why they did. Not to get that specific client back, but to help your existing clients stay put.
Anova Consulting Group provides market research and consulting services to a broad range of 401(k) providers, investment managers, enterprise software companies, and human capital management firms. We are experiencing rapid growth and seek an exceptional individual to join our tight-knit team for a full-time market research position. Anova is based in Brookline, MA (accessible to MBTA C / Green Line and buses). Qualified candidates will have:
Primary responsibilities include:
Participating in design and administration of custom primary market research programs, including:
Managing client relationships on a day-to-day basis, including:
Send a resume to Jamie Zielinski at jamieZ@anovaconsulting.com. No phone calls please.
Established in 2005, Anova Consulting Group is a leading market research and consulting firm focused on Win Loss Analysis, Win Loss Research and client satisfaction analysis. By helping clients understand why they win, lose and retain business, Anova provides strategic perspectives to its clients, driving better decision-making, product development, sales effectiveness, client service, and continuous improvement.
The calendar has been flipped and the New Year has been rung in. Organizations are compiling year-end results and communicating what new business has been sold. New client logos are exciting to share with your team, and business hums as new accounts turn into uncharted, prosperous relationships. The possibilities of a new relationship are down-right thrilling!
But then there’s also the bad news. By now organizations are also learning about clients that have departed. Service heads and business leaders are feeling the pain from taking down client logos and facing lost re-occurring revenue.
Wondering what you can do to turn that hurt into a healthy revitalizer for your organization? The answer is Departed Client research and analysis.
Right now, the first quarter of the business year, is the most opportunistic time to learn from the clients who chose to part ways with your organization last year.
Think of it like an annual physical. It’s common knowledge that making your annual physical with your doctor is one of the best ways to keep your health on track and / or address any health-related vulnerabilities. The annual check-up can be your trusted source to find out if you need to worry about that ache in your knee or stiffness in your back. Why not do the same when it comes to keeping your clients’ health on track? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to learn what aches and pains your ex-clients felt that caused them to leave, since those same issues are probably plaguing and endangering the clients still with you?
There’s no better way to learn how to retain your existing clients than learning from recently departed clients. Through a Departed Client program your organization will find out the real (often unexpected) reasons why clients are leaving. Such a program allows organizations to hear about service gaps and disappointments, misaligned sales expectations, technology glitches, product limitations, and pricing issues – just to name a few. A well-executed program will also identify which competitors are being selected to replace your company and why.
Retaining your existing customers by learning from those that have already left is the next best thing you can do for the overall health of your organization. There’s a way to stop taking those logos down…it’s time to go see the doctor.
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