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M U L T I C H A N N E LCUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT2 9 T H J U N E 2 0 1 1 L O N D O N

directorsforumwww.customerengagementclub.com

For speaking opportunities at the Directors Forums contact Steve Hurst steve@ictcomms.comFor all other enquiries contact Chris Wood chris@ictcomms.com

Forums for 2011:· Multichannel Customer Engagement Directors Forum

29th June, London REGISTER· Technology & Cloud Solutions for Customer Engagement

27th September, London · Customer Engagement in Financial Services

13th October, London· Online, Social & Mobile Customer Engagement

10th November, London· Employee & Customer Engagement

8th December, London

Free to attend for :Customer Service Directors/Senior Management, Contact Centre Directors/SeniorManagement, HR Directors/Senior Management, Marketing Directors/SeniorManagement, Social Media Directors/Senior Management, CRM Directors/SeniorManagement and all others responsible for customer engagement and employeeengagement strategies and operations across all channels.

Service Providers & Vendors are welcome to attend upon payment of adelegate fee of £495+VAT (Fee includes lunch, all sessions, tea/coffee, delegatepack and networking function)

Directors ForumsA series of one day Directors Forums focusing on compelling businessissues and challenges which will help drive business performance andimprove customer and employee engagement. Each Forum agendaincludes; keynotes, case studies, independent insights, a panel debateand networking functions.

For more information go to:www.customerengagementclub.comor contact Chris Wood on: +44 (0) 1932 341828

4-6 Customers and their behaviour are changing and changing fast. They know farmore about the organisations who they deal with than ever before and they interact acrossthe channels of their choosing than ever before be they offline, online, social or mobile. DrNicola Millard reports on the rise and rise of the ‘autonomous customer’

7-9 A new managementdiscipline is emerging – one that isbased on the principles ofbehavioural economics. Thisapproach seeks to complementtraditional economic theory and fillsome of the gaps that are simplydown to the anomalies andemotions of being human says EdO’Boyle Global Practice Leader atGallup Consulting

10-11 The leading independent social and political research body YouGovrecently carried out some research, sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, intoUK attitudes towards social media. It used a relatively large sample size of4080 people, and the findings were illuminating. Dave Paulding of InteractiveIntelligence reports

19-22 The Customer EngagementClub’s latest live event had as itstheme ‘How the rules of B2BCustomer are changing’ anddelegates were able to feel forthemselves the winds of thatchange and learn how toimplement winning cross-channel B2B strategies togain competitiveadvantage. CustomerEngagement Clubeditorial director SteveHurst reports

23 Organisations need to deliver consistentcustomer experience across all channels, online,offline, social and mobile for competitiveadvantage. Customers have more power andincreasingly expect to be able to choose thechannels through which they do business with you.The key is to be relevant and to understand whatthe customer wants

14-16 Throughout history, game-changing breakthroughs have succeeded because theygive people what they want rather than what they expect – whether it’s First Direct with24x7 banking or the Sex Pistols with punk rock. Matt Manners believes we are experiencingjust such a breakthrough with customer engagement, innovation and advocacy. Here hetalks exclusively to Customer Engagement Club editorial director Steve Hurst

17-18 You never know where you'll meet your next customer. You could be on a plane,in line for coffee or leaving a meeting with another prospect. It starts with a simpleconversation. How you choose to begin the relationship with new contacts, and what youlearn about them, will have a direct impact on how well you stay connected with them and,ultimately, whether or not you bring them onboard as customers. mardevdm2 suggests fourkeys steps to onboarding success

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Customer Engagement magazine is published by the Customer EngagementClub, the organisers of the Customer Engagement Directors Forums.

To join the Club (free membership) and receive weekly Alerts, DigitalMagazines and Invitations to the Directors Forums go towww.customerengagementclub.com

Editorial Director: Steve Hurst steve@ictcomms.com Sales & Marketing Director: Chris Wood chris@ictcomms.comTel: +44 (0) 1932 341828Customer Engagement ©ICT Communications Ltd

In the land of the customer, a change is afoot. In fact, we seemto be changing a lot faster than the organisations that serve us.The extent to which our behaviour has shifted has beenexplored in recent research from BT and Avaya called ‘TheAutonomous Customer’.

This study by Davies/ Hickman surveyed 1000 customers inboth the US and the UK. It paints a portrait of a customer whohas become a “shopper swot”, who has become super-charged by their smart phone and who is loyal not to anyspecific brand but to companies that make it easy to dobusiness with them. In the transparent and data rich world ofthe internet, choice is the one thing that we often have toomuch of as customers. We are often exposed to a torrent of

data (both official and unofficial) on products, prices, opinionsand reputations. This can be bewildering to a brain which,when saturated with choice, tends to freeze. The Hoosiers putit well last year when they sang from the heart, “stop givingme choices”.

The inevitable result of this excess of data is a very naturalhuman reaction to ensure that we get the right thing for us –we seek advice. Despite being time and energy challenged aswell as being super sensitive to value for money (especially inthese tough economic times), we are spending time doing ourhomework to ensure that we make the right purchasingdecision. 86% of us agree that we plan and research most ofour major purchases.

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Customers and their behaviour are changing and changing fast. They know far more aboutthe organisations who they deal with than ever before and they interact across the channelsof their choosing more than ever before be they offline, online, social or mobile. Dr NicolaMillard reports on the rise and rise of the ‘autonomous customer’

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Online key starting pointClose on eight in ten (78%) of customers surveyedsaid that they started online (often with a searchengine rather than on any particular corporatewebsite) to do research about significantpurchases or to seek advice if they have aproblem. They also said that they enjoy it if theycan then serve themselves, as long it is easy to doso. This is because they felt that good self serviceputs them in control (58% agreed) and that no onetries to sell them anything (59% agreed).

However, the assumption that self service takescalls away from the contact centre was found tobe only partially true. 59% of customers said that,when they did eventually contact an organisation,they had more complex and emotive issues thanbefore. This can be a challenge for the contactcentre advisor, particularly when 79% ofcustomers say that they often know more about theproduct or problem than they do. The frequentcustomer comment is that they “get really nicepeople who can’t actually do anything for me!”.93% of us are more than happy to have their calltransferred to a person who can do something.The challenge for contact centres is that they aregetting less of the easy and transactional calls –because self service often filters them out – andmore of the challenging and incendiary stuff. Thismay mean less volume but more length and higher

“The scariest behaviours are beingexhibited by smart phone users. These

consumers are using the full power of adevice that has access to millions of apps,

knows where the user is and iscontinuously connected”

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expertise required. Rather than simply processing transactions,they need to be adding value to the customer – especiallysince 86% of customers agree that it is often the interactionwith the customer service person that determines whether theywill do business with the organisation again. This challengesthe notion of the multiskilled generalist advisor and also,potentially, blurs the conventional distinction between front andback office functions as well as between contact centre andbranch/store. The customer is actually looking to be speeddated with the right ‘networked expert’ to solve their problem,regardless of where that expert happens to be.

Smart phone customers scaryThe scariest behaviours, however, are being exhibited bysmart phone users. These consumers are using the full powerof a device that has access to millions of apps, knows wherethe user is and is continuously connected. From bar codescanning to using location based searches, these customersare being supercharged and are presenting some significantchallenges to organisations that dare to serve them!

Far from just relying on the power of the online world, thesecustomers are, counter intuitively, also calling contact centresmore than non smart phone customers. Smart phone customersare actually using all channels more and, as a consequence,are spotting discrepancies and inconsistencies betweenchannels easily. They are challenging the differences betweenwhat front line people say and what’s on the website (thesmart phone customer’s mantra is (as they wave their phoneunder the poor front line person’s nose) “well, that’s not what itsays on your website!!”) With smart phone penetration in theUK lurking at just under 50% currently, these are the prototypecustomers of the future – and we may have created a monster!

However, when it actually comes to proactively contactingcompanies for advice in the future, some distinctly unfuturisticchannels still seem to rule the roost – phone, email, internet,face-to-face and even post are ranked higher than the new,emerging channels such as webchat, video or forums.

Webchat is a channel that is gaining in popularity. There aretwo reasons for this: customers like it because they generallystart online and they don’t have to go and find a phone and aphone number to call on and organisations like it because theycan create efficiencies by assigning more than onesimultaneous webchat to a single advisor. Only 10% ofcustomers selected social media as a preferred channel forfuture contact with organisations (despite the hype). However,social media is a public and searchable channel. It can punchabove its weight in terms of reputation and virality, especiallyif one of the 10% of influential Twitterati (typically celebrities,politicians, business leaders or journalists with millions offollowers on Twitter) starts to talk about you behind your back.

It may not be the first place that customers go to let off steambut, especially if other channels fail them, it can be a verypublic airing of your companies’ failings. 83% of us are usingthese ratings and reviews to check the quality of products andservices online – whether it is making sure a hotel is right forus, a laptop is reliable or a bank account is offering a gooddeal.

Customers love helping each otherA more bizarre phenomenon is that customers are often willingto help other customers out on forums and social media sitessimply because they enjoy doing so. 37% of customerssurveyed said that they had posted reviews on websites suchas Amazon and Trip Advisor. We know from personalexperience on BT’s own forums that there are some verydedicated and enthusiastic problem solvers out there (one ofwhom has spent 76 days of his own time solving problems onour community boards). In circumstances like this, it is oftenbest for the organisation to simply get out of the way andlearn from their customers.

The contact centre can be a powerful tool for proactiveengagement on forums and social networks since they areoften in the best position to help the customer with their issue.However, social media issues require a fast response from anempowered person who can shift the conversation into a moreprivate channel like phone or email in order to get morepersonal details about the customer and the nature of theirissue. The contact centre advisor may also need to tap into thenetworked expertise within their organisation if they need toinvolve legal, PR or even the CEO’s office in solving thecustomer’s problem.

Connected customers require connected organisations torespond to their ever more complex needs. The challenge fororganisations is to ensure that they are easy to do businesswith across all channels and that their front line are equippedand empowered with the right ‘networked expertise’. Thisoften requires a shift away from a lot of the familiar models oftransactional service and into ‘service as unusual’ that movesin customer rather than corporate time.

Dr Nicola J Millard is Customer ExperienceFuturologist at BT and is a keynote speaker at theupcoming Multichannel Customer EngagementDirectors Forum on June 29.

Click here to register for this FREE event:

For more information go to:www.customerengagementclub.com

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“Connected customers require connected organisations to respond to their ever morecomplex needs. The challenge for organisations is to ensure that they are easy to do

business with across all channels”

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Our emotional, cognitive and perceptual processes place limitson how rationally we can view the world around us. Theselimits have a profound effect on the decisions we make andsubsequently on the way organisations need to think abouthow their employees and customers make decisions andultimately behave.

Leading behavioural economists such as Daniel Kahneman,Robert Shiller, Angus Deaton and Richard Thaler haveemphasised the interplay between rational, perceptual andemotional processes in human decision making and economicbehaviour, suggesting that the rational component mayaccount for only 30%.

There is plenty of evidence of this in B2C transactions – thedemand for aspirational brands, latest and greatestcommunications gadgetry and our willingness to paysubstantially more for the ‘right’ label. However, lessrecognised is the role of emotions in B2B relationships.It is commonly thought that B2B customers are exceptionallyrational, focusing predominantly on price, speed and

efficiency. Yet this assumption is probably completely anddangerously wrong. A recent Gallup study across thousands ofbusiness relationships showed only 22% of B2B customer to beengaged and only 13% to be fully engaged. This is becauseout of the companies studied, only very few actively focusedon engaging their B2B client relationships, assuming that theirclients’ priorities are price, speed and efficiency.

The truth is that B2B clients may in fact be even more open tobecoming engaged, simply due to the scale and risk that isassociated with a business purchase decision. A disappointingcoffee may cost you a few pounds and leave you craving astrong Americano but a corporate catering contract which failsto wow your guests has much further reaching implications –for you personally and for the business.

Emotional and rational satisfactionBusiness leaders and academics agree that while customersatisfaction may be a necessary foundation for building strongcustomer relationships, by itself it is a poor predictor of futurecustomer behaviour and financial performance. Our research

A new management discipline is emerging – one that is based on the principles ofbehavioural economics. This approach seeks to complement traditional economic theoryand fill some of the gaps that are simply down to the anomalies and emotions of beinghuman says Ed O’Boyle Global Practice Leader at Gallup Consulting

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suggests that customers who are satisfied fall into two distinctgroups; those that are emotionally satisfied and those who arerationally satisfied.

Emotionally satisfied customers have a strong emotionalattachment to the organisation whilst rationally satisfiedcustomers do not. Further, this research reveals that emotionallysatisfied customers deliver significantly enhanced value to theorganisation, for example they buy more products or servicesand stay longer with the business.

This emotional piece is a real differentiator in terms ofpredicting future customer behaviour. Simply put, customerswho are only rationally satisfied behave no differently thancustomers who are dissatisfied.

So what is the emotional piece? Certainly it has a lot to dowith relationships but whether in a B2C or B2B environment,customer engagement is built on four hierarchical needs. Thebaseline requirement is rational satisfaction, focusing onsatisfying the transactional aspects of the relationship – price,speed, efficiency.

Getting these transactional deliverables right is non-negotiable,literally they are the least you have to do. To take therelationship further and start building engagement, companiesmust instil a sense of confidence, demonstrate its integrity andcreate pride and passion around its brand and product orservice offering.

These four elements – confidence, integrity, price and passion -we call the customer engagement hierarchy, where eachelement represents a specific set of activities that meetcustomers’ emotional needs.

Trust is the keyBuilding confidence really comes down to whether the clientbelieves you to be trustworthy. Do you consistently deliver whatyou say you will do? The next step is around integrity andwhether clients feel they are treated the way they ought to be.According to The Ritz-Carlton’s CEO, Simon Cooper, ‘when itcomes to customers, feelings are facts’.

Can you be relied on to fix problems properly and quickly?Customer engagement describes the health of the relationshipbetween the client and the brand. Our research shows thatevery time you interact with a client they become a little moreor a little less engaged – they never stay the same. Therefore,contact initiated due to a problem if handled very well, canboost confidence. Interestingly, the pride element is less aboutyour company and more about what is says about the client. Does a partnership with Brand X say positive things about meand my role? Finally, passion – this is perhaps the hardestelement to envision in a B2B relationship – and whilst hard toachieve passionate customers are lifers, vocal advocates anddescribe their partnership with you as a perfect andirreplaceable fit.

Emotion the golden connectionThey are literally worth their weight in gold – a customer witha strong emotional connection to your company represents anaverage 23% premium in terms of profitability, revenue andrelationship growth over average customers according toGallup research.

So how do you create engagement in a B2B environment? Thisinvolves taking a disciplined approach to identify what exactlybuilds customer engagement whilst maintaining the brandpromise that made you attractive in the first place.

Passion is found when a brand is perfectlysuited for the customer. Passion is aboutbeing irreplaceable

There are five levels of customer engagement with a brand

Can’t imagine a world withoutPerfect company for people like me

Treats with respectFeel proud to be a customer

Fair resolution of any problemsAlways treats me fairly

Always delivers on promiseName I can always trust

Overall SatisfactionLikelihood to Continue

Likelihood to Recommend

Pride results when a brand is a publicexpression of who you are or who youwish to be

Integrity is about doing the rightthing. Mistakes happen in allcompanies, but the best companiesturn them into opportunities

Confidence is typically thefirst step in the developmentof Environmental Attachment

Rational Loyalty is thefoundation of CustomerEngagement

Passion

Pride

Rational Loyalty

Integrity

Confidence

Managing emotional connections

Brandpromise

Does itconnect?

Connect

Compelling

Credible

Passion

Confidence

Pride

Integrity

Brand engagementCustomer acquisition (”connecting”)

Customer engagementCustomer retention (”engaging”)

Brandexperience

Does itengage?

Brandrelationship

Building brand relationships

“Customers who are satisfied fall into two distinct groups; those that are emotionallysatisfied and those who are rationally satisfied. Emotionally satisfied customers have

a strong emotional attachment to the organisation whilst rationally satisfied customersdo not”

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The next step is about creating ‘impact’. Impact occurs when the B2B company, through its productsand services and depth of interaction with the customer, meaningfully and positively changes thecustomer’s business.

Impact sounds something like, ‘This company really knows and understands my business– my priorities and challenges and brings me credible ideas on how to achieve oraddress them. My relationship with them enables me to innovate, be moreefficient, manage costs and go after new business opportunities.’ Companieswho achieve this have moved from a transactional relationship – price basedsupplier – to engaged relationship – trusted advisor. This status distinctionprovides a “stickiness” that is difficult for competitors to duplicate, oftenbecause it is based on information that other providers will not have and itmore than offsets the value of any proposed transactional benefit – i.e. aprice reduction.”

Early warning signsGiven the long and sometimes inconsistent purchasing cycles in B2Brelationships and the multiple layers of customer stakeholders a B2Bcompany deals with, it is sometime easy to miss early warning signsregarding the status of a relationship. Without a disciplined andregular process for taking the temperature of relationships, problemscan be discovered only when the client has announced it is leavingor reducing the contract size.

Most critically these relationships have to be measured andmanaged locally. Evaluating the strength of a customer relationshipshould include evaluating how the relationship has evolved, viewsfrom the customer on the level and nature of the impact the B2Bcompany has delivered, an assessment of the performance of theteam members, opportunities to develop and improve, and thecustomers perception of your strengths and weaknesses.

Much of this information has to come directly from the client and wehave found even the most elusive and introverted contacts to beforthcoming if exploring how the strength of a business relationship canbe improved to their benefit.

Companies often promote their own customer-focus which does not alwaysfeel very authentic and can be incredibly irritating particularly if you haveexperienced a poorly resolved problem. However, the side-effect of a verydisciplined and local focus on engagement, where account by accountcompanies consider what needs to change is that companies do become trulymore customer-centric.

In every sense, one size does not fit all. Similarly, there is little sense in investingas much effort in engaging small companies with limited growth potential, asyour largest clients with huge opportunity to expand the relationship. The mostengaged clients we have studied are where the teams intentionally andproactively manage and prioritise their greatest growth and profit producingrelationships. That is the key to an impactful B2B customer engagement strategy.

Ed O’Boyle is a keynote speaker at the upcoming CustomerEngagement Club Multichannel Customer Engagement DirectorsForum in London on June 29.Click here to register for this FREE event:

For more information go to:www.customerengagementclub.com

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We know from Facebook itself that half the country -around 30 million people - have a presence on this leadingsocial media site. What the YouGov study revealed is thata third of users are likely or very likely to post theiropinions about a brand or company. 31% said they wouldpost positive comments, 32% said they would useFacebook for negative thoughts on a business.

That means there could be 10 million people ready to tellall their online friends something about your company,good or bad. That is a critical message for businesseseverywhere. As we have seen with the recent case of the

footballer and his super-injunction, once news gets into thesocial media then even the threat of legal process cannotprotect you. PR spin is definitely not going to help.

Must be taken seriouslyBusinesses have to take social media seriously. And theyshould: this is a direct line to what customers are thinking.No, it is not scientifically validated market research andyes, the respondents are a self-selecting vocal minority. Butit is a large minority – potentially a third of your customers– and it is immediate.

The leading independent social and political research body YouGov recentlycarried out some research, sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, into UKattitudes towards social media. It used a relatively large sample size of4080 people, and the findings were illuminating. Dave Paulding ofInteractive Intelligence reports

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You know instantly what they are thinking, because that ishow people use social media. Because friends andfollowers pick up on what is said, you can see how themarket responds. Is the compliment or complaint a trend ora one-off – social media can tell you, very quickly and atlow cost.

Going back to the very carefully validated sample in theYouGov study. 61% of respondents said that, if they wereguaranteed a quick response, they would considercommunicating with a brand or company using socialmedia instead of other, more traditional methods.Is your contact centre set up to monitor and respond tosocial media? There is no reason why it should not. The ITinvestment is small and, provided you have a flexible,unified communications platform, you should be able torespond on Facebook or Twitter with exactly the samedegree of accuracy, authority and control as answering acall or an email.

The study suggests that this is not yet happening. Of therespondents who had complained to a company usingsocial media, half had either never received a response orhad to wait more than 48 hours for a reply. In socialnetworking two days is an eternity.

One final fact from our YouGov study. In the key 25 to 34year old demographic, 60% of social media users saidthey are influenced by online comments about a brand orcompany, positive and negative. A large proportion of thecustomers deemed most valuable by the majority of brandswill be swayed, one way or the other, by what their friendsand peers are saying online.

Listen and learnIn a sense this is not new. Since the dawn of the market erapeople have been having conversations with their friends,in the pub or on the phone, in which they say “I bought anAcme Widgets gizmo and it’s broken down every time I tryto use it”, to which someone responds “I’ve never had aday’s trouble out of my trusty old Paragon Products tool”.But until now these conversations were ephemera. Whatsocial media does is make them tangible: they exist online,and smart companies can ‘listen in’ to these conversations,learn from them and react to them.

These are stark statistics: almost a third will comment onproducts, and almost two-thirds will take note of thosecomments. Companies and brands who are not monitoring

the online chatter onsocial media sites aremissing not just goodmarket feedback butcould overlook potentiallycritical threats to brandvalues.

It is not just a matter ofmonitoring the sites. Thecompany needs to have astrategy for intervention,too. There is a famous –and possibly apocryphal –story from the early days of Twitter. An American businesstraveller was stranded by the cancellation of his flight andfrustrated that the airline’s service desk was not provinghelpful he tweeted about the experience. A rival airlinepicked up the message, offered a seat on its next flight, gotthe traveller home and won a new and very loyal customer– who no doubt tweeted his satisfaction.

Trend spottingSorting out individual issues on Facebook or Twitter israrely going to be practical, although remember that thestudy suggested two-thirds of respondents would consider itrather than phoning or emailing a contact centre, if theythought it would work. But it is certainly the place to spottrends, and to get really early intelligence on an issuebefore it becomes a crisis.

I would suggest that the social media movement is verymuch a friend rather than a foe. But you do have to becommitted to it. While the technology may not requiremuch in the way of investment, you may have to dedicateyour best staff to it.

The unpredictability of social media means that anycomment you post could be read by one person or bymillions, so the integrity of your corporate identity iscaptured in every tweet or status update. The pace ofsocial networking means that you cannot insist on layers ofsign-off for every comment – you have to respond now.Get it right and your brand can go viral. Get it wrong – orjust be slow to respond – and you put a lot of business at risk.

Dave Paulding is Interactive Intelligence RegionalSales Director UK, Middle East & Africawww.inin.com

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• If a company wants to embrace customer engagement what do you think is their first step?

The most important first step is to let go. WhatI mean by that is stop trying to control whatyour customers say and think about you. Thefact is, you never had it in the first place. 95%of the time when your customers talk aboutyou, whether at home, in the workplace oronline, it will be directly linked to theexperience that you have delivered them.Have you positively or negatively surprisedthem? Maybe, just maybe, 5% of the time thetopic of conversation will be about that funkyadvert you’ve spent 70% of your budget onor that clever press release that some keyjournalists liked.

We live in the Recommendation Generation.Do you buy Gillette because they paid RogerFederer an exorbitant amount of money to bein a naff advert or because someone you trusttold you it gives you a close shave? Equally,would you recommend Gillette to a friendbecause Tiger Woods apparently uses it if ittook chunks out of your face? Look at anyreports on trusted sources of information, suchas Nielsen’s annual worldwide study. Threeyears ago personal recommendations toppedthe charts with a 70% score. Two years agothis had climbed to 90% - leaving traditionalmarketing techniques in its wake. £14 billionis spent on advertising each year in the UK, atechnique that received a trust score of 2%last year in research published by Satmetrix.2%!! We know CEO’s want a better returnthan that, which is why we think true customerengagement is such a game changer. If afraction of that £14bn was spent on a holistic

strategy that links experience andengagement to stimulate and influencecustomer recommendations, the impact wouldbe transformational? This is the marketingworld’s punk era. The people have the power,so you’d better start embracing it.

• So is this ‘marketing revolution’ taking place through social media?

Yes and no. Social media makes it easier tosee what’s happening and what people thinkabout you but it’s estimated that nine times asmany conversations take place offline asonline. So social media should be used totrigger offline conversations. However, peoplehave become transfixed on rushing tofacebook, twitter and linkedIn to have apresence. To be able to say ‘we’ve got asocial media strategy.’ But when they getthere, they just do exactly the same thing theyhave always done. Tell customers what tothink. No engagement whatsoever. It justbecomes another information feed theyadvertise or spam through. I believe manybusinesses are walking by unrivalledopportunities to capture the attention ofcustomers and harness the wisdom of themasses rather than the opinions of a few.

Focus groups should be dead as the dodo.Why should major business decisions bebased on feedback from 60 random peoplewhen it could be based on direct feedbackfrom 6,000, 60,000 or even 6,000,000customers? Your customers have a vestedinterest in you, part with their money on aregular basis and are the true experts onwhat they want to be delivered in return fortheir continuing loyalty. In a world where you

Throughout history, game-changing breakthroughs havesucceeded because they give people what they want rather thanwhat they expect – whether it’s First Direct with 24x7 banking orthe Sex Pistols with punk rock. Matt Manners believes we areexperiencing just such a breakthrough with customerengagement, innovation and advocacy. Here he talks exclusivelyto Customer Engagement Club editorial director Steve Hurst

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couldn’t afford to garner active feedback on a continuousbasis from 60,000 customers, the focus group had a place.But the world has moved on and it’s time to treat the customeras an insider.

• But what’s so revolutionary about canvassing customer opinion?

Nothing at all but closing the loop as part of an activeconversation that gives them a sense of purpose is what theytruly want – rather than what they expect. If businessesactually listen, it will help them create products/services thatpositively surprise their customers time and time again. Thepunk revolution wasn’t really fuelled by a desire to be anti-establishment; it was fuelled by a desire to be able to expressoneself in a new and liberating way. Like all breakthroughs, itwas blindingly simple. True customer engagement is just assimple. It puts the customer at the heart of your business, givesthem a privileged status, asks them for advice, then listens to itand acts upon it. No rocket science there – but stillrevolutionary thinking. If you then tell them how you are actingupon their feedback and reward their loyalty by giving themthe inside track as part of a systematic involvement process,you have the foundation for sustained success.

• If it is that easy, why aren’t companies embracing it?

Some are but only the true trailblazers. The rest are gettingcaught out by semantics. They confuse customer feedback withan annual satisfaction survey and closing the loop with a tellstyle newsletter. The reality is that many companies will bedoing most of the components needed but usually as disparate,disconnected initiatives. A loyalty scheme, a social mediastrategy, advertising, PR, market research etc. Our methodology,if embraced properly, sits at the heart of the business andbecomes the glue in these various initiatives – significantlyincreasing effectiveness. However, it also highlights anotherfundamental requirement for effective customer engagementi.e. that it spans different functions and budgets – marketing,brand, sales, research, customer experience, technology, thelist goes on. In the Recommendation Generation you fail toaddress these internal barriers at your peril.

• Why do you think customer engagementis so business critical?

You can’t fake engagement. You can’t cover up a poorcustomer experience with Tiger Woods and Thierry Henry.Customers are too savvy. And you can’t guarantee a new

product or service will succeed just because you’ve run somecustomer research. Our work launching products throughdirect customer engagement shows that customers always seepotential in a product that the product managers didn’t see ordidn’t uncover through limited pre-launch research. It makesno sense to run a survey and then make respondents feel thattheir valuable advice just disappears into a black hole. If sixmonths later they turn on the TV, receive a newsletter or walkpast a new product in store why should they make the link withquestions they were asked? More importantly why should theythen decide to buy the product? True customer engagementmakes these connections crystal clear for customers – on acontinuous basis so that not only have they already decided tobuy the product, they have also primed the market byrecommending it to their friends and colleagues.

The same approach works successfully for B2C, B2B and alsofor employee engagement. In fact, there is a good argumentfor it to be even more successful in the B2B world as the targetcommunities are often smaller and more inter-connected – theideal environment for personal recommendations to pay-off

• So what are the key benefits– where is the pay off?

It turbo-charges other marketing initiatives. By signposting tocustomers how they are connected, they can see that you havea clear strategy – with them at its heart! We just think thatsome of the budgets for ‘old marketing’ might want to beadjusted to reflect the needs and wants of theRecommendation Generation that we live in.

The benefits are considerable – and sustained. It depends onwhat is most critical for your business but by treating customersas a special insider adviser you can expect to: reduce churn,increase advocacy, build loyalty, de-risk future business andmarketing decisions, innovate and exceed their expectationsby delivering products and services that your customers wantrather than expect. If you do that, you will be a breakthroughbusiness and create an army of brand advocates thatrecommend you like crazy, reduce cost of customer acquisition,capture market share, drive revenue and ultimately profit.

Matt Manners is the managing director of OnvaConsulting a customer and employee engagementcompany that works with some of the world’sleading B2B and B2C brands. www.onva.co.uk

“Look at any reports on trusted sources of information, such as Nielsen’s annualworldwide study. Three years ago personal recommendations topped the charts witha 70% score. Two years ago this had climbed to 90% - leaving traditional marketing

techniques in its wake”

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The beauty of today's B2B marketing world is that the flight or coffee shopcould just as easily be Twitter, Facebook or some other marketing channel.However, the problem is it's difficult to keep the conversation going.

When and how should you reach out to new contacts, ask the next question,engage with their businesses or invite them to learn more about yours? Havingcomplete and current contact and behavioral data streamlines the process ofacquiring new customers.

Follow these steps to get that information, nurture those relationships and findcustomer onboarding success.

1. Take It SlowIf we have learned anything during the down economy, it's that it's abuyers' market.

Whether you sell cars or CRM systems, buyers are in control.The old method of pushing until they say yes is no longereffective - and for that matter, probably never was. Toestablish long-term customer relationships, youhave to take things one step at a time.

You never know where you'll meet your next customer. Youcould be on a plane, in line for coffee or leaving a meetingwith another prospect. It starts with a simple conversation.How you choose to begin the relationship with new contacts,and what you learn about them, will have a direct impact onhow well you stay connected with them and, ultimately,whether or not you bring them onboard as customers.mardevdm2 suggests four keys steps to onboarding success

“Whether yousell cars or CRM

systems, buyers are incontrol. The old method

of pushing until they say yes isno longer effective - and for

that matter, probably never was”

�

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For example, if you exchange business cards, swap emails orconnect with someone on LinkedIn, the first thing you should dois add that contact information to your marketing database.Note where and how you met the person, and any otherdetails about your conversation. At each future point ofcontact, you can learn a bit more about the company and theindividual.

The next stage in your engagement process could be to invitethose contacts to subscribe to your newsletter or blog. Whenthey respond, it's a good time to ask for another nugget or twoof information that helps you understand their needs and rolewithin the organisation.

It's important to remember that if your sales cycle is typically18 months, it's unrealistic to expect new online followers willbuy in 60 days. It all depends on where they are in the buyingcycle and the level of need they have that you can address.Successful relationships take time to build knowledge and trust,and customer relationships are no different.

2. Use Data WiselyAccording to research firm SiriusDecisions, companies couldrealise nearly 70 percent more revenue by simply havingbetter data.

Where to start? Evaluate what you already know and removethe dead weight. This may seem a never ending task to trulymaintain a current and accurate marketing database, butconsider the example in the chart below.

If the first record represents the data that was already in yourdatabase, you probably sent every corporate offer to John, justlike everybody else on the list. This becomes incrediblywasteful when you think about how many of your other entriesshare the same empty status. Once you partner with a datavendor that provides a current phone number, find out theadditional cost to acquire information, such as areas of thebusiness each record is responsible for - or better yet, thethings they have authority to purchase -and fill in the blanks.

This information can help you not only send more targetedcommunications, but also find a number of contacts who havesimilar profiles to the contacts who have already converted.Now your database becomes a prospect pool of valuablecontacts with a much higher probability of buying yourproducts.

Given that the average person changes jobs every three years,it is absolutely critical that you have a reliable and fresh sourceto update this data.

3. Contact Customers on Their TermsPeople tend to prefer different types of information and methodsof communication, depending on where they are in the buyingcycle for your product or service. Learning those preferencesearly can make a big difference in influencing their decision tocontinue the conversation with you. The key value your contactsreceive for sharing this information is that they'll get whateverthey need - information, support, etc.- when they need it tosupport purchase decisions. The value for your business is thatyou learn a little more about them at each point of contact.

For example, when new prospects respond to yourcommunications, they are most likely serious about buying theproduct—but whether they buy from you depends on how youtreat them. At each interaction, prospects are willing to provideanother piece of information - i.e., budget range, decisiontimeline, etc. - in exchange for seeing how your product cansolve their business problems. At that time, ask for theirpreferred method of contact, and respect that request as youcontinue the conversation.

4. Know When to Close the DealBecause there are so many ways prospects can findinformation about your company and products withoutspeaking to you, it's important that each digital interactionprovides value for your business and for the prospect. Don't befooled and think it's a done deal because a prospect isengaged with your brand online. Remember, that prospectcould have had similar experiences with your competitors andonly now be ready to evaluate options and make a purchasedecision.

By the time you have filled in the most important blanks in yourrecords, and conducted a valuable dialogue, you should knowwhether contacts are ready to take your call when you contactthem directly. Use the data you collected during yourconversation, online and off, to know when to ask for the order.

Invite customers alongBringing new customers onboard seems like a complexprocess, with so many technologies and media formatsavailable. However, success comes with using the most relevantchannels and frequency to reach the prospects in your targetmarket. That starts with a data-driven profile that is enhancedwith insight and behavior throughout your conversation.

Consider the value of 100 new prospects with completecontact information, online behavior and communicationpreference data to support your sales calls. Compare that to500 new names in your database that lack those marketinginsights. The value spectrum seems obvious.www.mardevdm2.com

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“Don't be fooled and think it's a done deal because a prospect is engaged withyour brand online. Remember, that prospect could have had similar experiences

with your competitors”

customerengagement

R E P O R T

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The Customer Engagement Club’s latest live event had as

its theme ‘How the rules of B2B Customer are changing’

and delegates were able to feel for themselves the winds

of that change and learn how to implement winning

cross-channel B2B strategies to gain competitive

advantage. Customer Engagement Club editorial

director Steve Hurst reports �

Stev

e H

urst

Our latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum held inLondon at Gallup Consulting’s prestigious headquartersoverlooking the Thames was a real ‘Eye opener’. The Forumfocussed on B2B Customer Engagement and how the rules ofthat engagement are changing - and one of the key catalystsfor that change is coming from the B2C engagement piece. Delegates were treated to a world class line up of speakerskicking off with a pivotal keynote from Peter Flade seniormanaging partner at Gallup Consulting. Peter focussed on theemotional side of customer engagement and how we arehuman beings first and customers second. Pride of association,intimacy and passion were all key words in Peter’s enthrallingkeynote which stressed the need for organisations to engagetheir B2B customers to become trusted advisors throughreliability and credibility.

Peter’s stance was reinforcedby Dorothea Gosling, directorof marketing andcommunications of CSC who gaveexamples of building engagement inlarge B2B accounts giving examples ofglobal relationships. Dorothea again stressedhow intimacy is key in these large B2B relationshipsand how important it is to understand the businessyou are dealing with and bring added value to therelationship. Dorothea spoke of ‘engagementbeyond satisfaction’ and how building a genuinerapport and understanding of the client will paydividends long term.

No need to google itNext up was a marked change of pace and stylewith an entertaining and illuminating presentationfrom Richard Robinson, industry head of B2Bmarketing at Google. Richard drew parallelsbetween B2C and B2B customer engagement andhow proliferation of channels via the internet andsocial and mobile media are blurring the linesbetween B2B and B2C and changing the rules ofengagement.

Richard has some telling stats to back up his argument,including the huge consumption of video by B2B buyersthrough the likes of You Tube and the fact that almost half ofB2B queries come via mobile devices. He talked about howtechnology can become a ‘virtuous circle’ opening up channelsof communication and forging closer relationships.

Next up was Conrad Simpson territory manager UK andIreland for Interactive Intelligence who focussed on cross

channel communications as the key to successful B2BCustomer Engagement. Once again Conrad drewon the similarities between B2B and B2Cengagement being facilitated and encouraged bythe proliferation of channels being use bycustomers both at work and at play. Making allthese channels available – with the customer incharge of the channel of delivery – is key tosuccess as a lack of consistency across thesechannels is damaging to relationships andcan have a terminal effect.

The rules they are a changin’After lunch an hour long panel debatelooked at how the rules of B2Bengagement are changing and whatorganisations need to do to adoptsuccessful customer engagement

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�

strategies – themorning presenters

along with afternoonpresenter Parin

Mody, global director forbusiness development at

mardevdm2 were kept busy with aroster of questions from the floor andthemes that emerged illustrated just howimportant personal relationships are inthe B2B space notwithstanding all thetechnology and the channels. Peopleultimately buy from people and that’s anarea where B2B relationships can carrymuch higher stakes than in B2C.

Our next case study was from theCarbon Trust. Realising the potential ofoffshore wind and marine energy is oneof the biggest challenges facing theworld today and Simeen Kadi,group head of marketing at theorganisation gave afascinating account of

how the organisation used multi-channels toengage engineers from around theworld in a competition to findsolutions to the challenges ofdelivering these renewablesources effectively.Engagement was verymuch the theme ofthis presentationand core to thesubject of the wholeDirectors Forum.

Parin Mody of mardevdm2focussed his attentions on B2Bmarketers and the challenges theyface as revenue contributors trackingwhere revenues come from across amultitude of channels. Parin revealed howby using demand generation best practicesand by monitoring digital behaviour analyticaldata and attribution models marketers are nowable to gather a level of marketing intelligence thatshows channel-specific return on investment.

Last but by no means least came Anthony Thomson,chairman of the new Metro Bank , the first HighStreet bank in the UK for 150 years and whose

mantra is placing customer service excellence at the heart of itscustomer engagement strategy - both B2B and B2C. MetroBank launched last summer and is already making the bankingsector stand up and take notice. Anthony did not disappoint,enthralling the delegates with how the bank is using customercommitment as a key competitive differentiator in a sector thatis not universally known for putting its customers first. A fittingend to a great day universally enjoyed by delegates whoreport back they found it of immense value in helping formulatewinning B2B customer engagement strategies.

The Customer Engagement Club has a compellingroster of Directors Forum for 2011. Our next eventis on June 29 in London, focusing on the challengesand the solutions to Multichannel CustomerEngagement.

Click here to register for this FREE event:

For more details of the speaker line up go towww.customerengagementclub.com

customerengagement

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Keynote: How companies can shift from“price to advice” and build a sustainablecompetitive advantage in B2B markets.Peter Flade, Senior Managing Partner,Gallup Consulting

Case study - CSC:Building engagement inlarge B2B accountsDorothea Gosling, Director, Marketing &Communications, CSC

CSC’s journey of evolving a major global accountrelationship from a focus on satisfaction to client engagement.

How the rules of B2B marketing arechangingRichard Robinson, Industry Head of B2BMarketing, Google

Richard Robinson reveals the three shifts for the 'New DigitalImperative for Marketing' leading brands and businesses toensure a successful outcome and how social media and the useof video are playing their parts in changing the rules of B2Bengagement.

Robinson says business success is now centred on:understanding where your customers are;delivering messages tothe right point of the buying cycle;changing strategies toincorporate digital values as a main focus. The first shift is'research to real time' insight. The second shift is 'creative tocontent'. The third and final shift is known as 'push and pull'.

These three shifts will help deliver competitive advantage in thelong term. B2B marketing is changing, and with this change,alterations must be made to stay in the game.

B2B Customer Engagement – Why CrossChannel Communication is the KeyConrad Simpson, Territory Manager UK & NI ,Interactive Intelligence

Conrad will examine how organisations in the B2B space canprovide multiple ways for customers to easily communicate?Given that it’s never been more important to be transparent incommunication with customers - providing multiple methods forcustomers to easily communicate directly with you is critical.

Case study - Carbon Trust: Driving B2Bengagement and action in the networkedage to solve one of the biggestchallenges of our timeSimeen Kadi, Group Head of Marketing,Carbon Trust

Realising the potential of offshore wind and marine energy isprobably one of the biggest engineering challenges the worldfaces today and my case study gives a brief insight into how amulti-channel approach including Twitter, Linkedin, partnershipand affinity marketing, face-to-face engagement and traditionalmedia brought engineers from around the world excited andfocussed on meeting this challenge.

The hidden value of the marketingbudgetParin Mody, Global Director, BusinessDevelopment, mardevdm2

As B2B marketers are now tasked with being revenuecontributors, they must overcome the challenge of tracking wherethe revenue comes from as they invest their budget acrossmultiple marketing channels. In this session, Mody reveals how,using demand generation best practices and by monitoringdigital behaviour, analytical data, and attribution models,marketers are now able to gather a level of marketingintelligence that shows channel-specific ROI.

Case study, Metro Bank: How MetroBank is placing customer serviceexcellence at the heart of its B2Bengagement strategyAnthony Thomson, co-founder and Chairman ofMetro Bank

Anthony Thomson, Chairman of Metro Bank Metro Banklaunched in the UK last summer with customer focus and serviceexcellence at the very core of its business strategy.ChairmanAnthony Thomson tells us how the bank is using customercommitment as a key competitive differentiator in a sector that isnot universally known for putting its customers first.

REVIEW: B2B Directors Forum: 11th May 2011

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Organisations need to deliver consistent customerexperience across all channels, online, offline, social andmobile for competitive advantage. Customers have morepower and increasingly expect to be able to choose thechannels through which they do business with you. Thekey is to be relevant and to understand what thecustomer wants

Our customers are operating across an ever widening range ofchannels and as organisations we need to be making ourproducts and services available across those channels. Weneed to be where our customers are and provide them with aseamless customer experience.

The Multichannel Customer Engagement Directors Forum willexamine the continuing proliferation of channels to market andprovide winning customer engagement strategies fororganisations who want to successfully engage their customersacross those channels, offline, online, social and mobile.

Multichannel Customer Engagement Directors Forum:29th June 2011, London

Delegates will learn:• How to deliver consistent delivery of customer service across all

channels, online, offline, social and mobile for competitive advantage• How world class organisations are implementing successful

multichannel customer engagement strategies• How to gain a single view of customers across all channels and

gain greater long term customer loyalty• Where social and mobile channels can best be integrated into an

overall customer engagement offering• How to quantify the business benefits that accrue from an

effective multichannel customer engagement strategy• How to differentiate your organisation from the others through an

engagement culture that links employees directly to customers

Click here to register for this FREE event:

For more details of the speaker line contact: Steve Hurst steve@ictcomms.comFor all other enquiries contact Chris Wood chris@ictcomms.com

P R E V I E W

Offline, online, social, mobile – why weneed to be where our customers are

FREE TO ATTEND FORSENIOR CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTAND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

customerengagement

Date: Wednesday 29th June, 2011Time: 9:00am – 5:00pmVenue: Gallup Consulting, The Adelphi,

1-11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HS

Speakers include:Case study: BSkyB: Wendy Schratz,Director of e-experience, BSkyBPaul Blunden, CEO, Foviance, publishers ofthe Multichannel Customer Engagement ReportMarcus Hickman, Executive Research, Director at CCAEd O'Boyle, Global Practice Leader, Gallup ConsultingDr Nicola J. Millard, Customer Experience,Futurologist, BTAnthony Monger, Digital Marketing & LoyaltyConsultant, Grass Roots Paul Turner, International Director, SatmetrixMike Murphy, Head of Business Development,Interactive Intelligence