Situation

A global, $1 billion B2B engineering services company learned of an alarming downward trend in their customer loyalty.  Their base of loyal customers had been falling steadily in recent years, declining to below 50% in 2009.  Furthermore, what was once an uncontested market was quickly becoming populated with competitive options, making loyalty a high priority imperative.  In the face of these challenging market conditions, they set out on a corporate-wide, mission-critical initiative to improve loyalty results. 

An internal scan of the loyalty results revealed a complex set of loyalty drivers, including customers’ service experience, brand strength, perceived value, and ease of transacting business.  It became clear that a transformational change effort had to be undertaken – spanning global regions, business units and functions.  Market Strategy Group was engaged to help guide and program manage this large scale effort.

Solution

Market Strategy Group orchestrated a series of global summits, first to rally key leaders, and then to secure buy-in from progressively broader circles within top management. During the 16 elapsed weeks, we also served as coaches for several working teams that were chartered to redesign each aspect of the customer experience, and to architect a future state in which our client could attract and retain loyal customers.  We helped to uncover opportunity areas across the business, from employee training to re-designing the buying experience, and from new business models to refreshed business policies and practices.

Outcome

Market Strategy Group developed a clear vision and prescriptive road-map to reverse declining customer loyalty trends through revamped customer experience processes.  This roadmap allowed our client to maintain a defensible position against competitive threats and continue to retain a dominant market share.