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Rapier Group Case Study
Understanding customer expectations drives up sales
Situation
The leadership team of Rapier Group, an advertising agency, realised they didn’t understand the quality of their major account relationships, and this put over £25m of business at risk.
Rather than take a piecemeal approach, they decided to target their top 4 clients and undertake detailed research into all aspects of their relationship to identify performance gaps and areas of risk.
Our Task
We were asked to:
- Carry out detailed relationship research on 4 high value accounts. Due to the complex nature of these relationships, and the many individuals involved this would require a multi level approach.
- Present our findings to the leadership team and recommend action.
- Help the agency provide feedback to their clients.
Action We Took
- Led expectations based research on the 4 key accounts, interviewing a significant number of people from each the client, ensuring a high level of confidence in the results.
- The research identified the clients’ expectation of the agency service, measured the agency’s current performance against those expectations and identified gaps and weaknesses.
- Facilitated an executive workshop to feed back the results, help the agency understand the insight and then guide them through a plan of action for each account.
- Facilitated workshops between the agency and their clients, where they explained the process and shared their action plans to improve and strengthen the relationships.
Results
- 1 client relationship was working very, but 2 required work to address gaps between expectations and performance.
- The last relationship was failing, which the agency had not been aware of. Major corrective action was required, and a robust plan was created and shared with this account.
- All action plans were monitored, with our support, over 30 60 90 days, to ensure delivery on commitments.
- The project significantly improved operational performance.
- Client teams became more aligned and effective.
- This led to increased sales, profit and market share. The agency pitched a new £4m account, using this process as a competitive differentiator. It won the business.
- The MD said: “We wouldn’t have got through the challenges we faced without your help.”
Project take-away
The agency ‘s decision to embrace their customers’ feedback, and change their business to realign it more closely with their customers’ expectations, delivered excellent financial results and strengthened those relationships.