Case Studies

For a leading IT Outsourcing provider, getting business had been easy – great references, a ‘can’t be matched’ price and well documented capabilities. When the market tanked, however, all new deals went with it. The key question on everyone’s mind was – how could we change our strategy to turn crisis into opportunity?

We looked at all kinds of data, trends, competitive information and played with numbers. But the path became clearer as we conducted many in depth 1:1 interviews with the customers. The customers spelled out not only how the IT Outsourcing provider should reposition, but help lay out a rich and detailed blueprint – What they were still investing in and why. Who should we include on sales calls and why; what should they touch on and why that colorful Pentagon on slide 5 made no sense; why we were referencing all the wrong customers.

As the changes went into effect, sales jumped exponentially – leading to conversion of 3 Fortune 100 clients in the next 6 months.

A leading Financial Services Software company was bleeding banks from their business division. Customer engagement was at an all time low. The team was already over loaded and working full blast. What could we do to stem attrition?

We identified issues through net promoter and sales team feedback. We conducted in depth, multi hour phone and on site interviews with customers. Customers welcomed a renewed focus on improving their experience and were eager to talk. We learnt what would have the most impact right then. How we could come up with some quick wins to prove our stake in the game. What would get them to renew. Where we had lost credibility.

We planned and implemented in parallel, getting feedback where we could. The result – won back 25% of business unit revenue by reversing decisions by banks to move away. Made customer engagement process into a differentiator in the market to win deals.

A leading Telecom provider was looking at expanding their cloud based offerings. All trends pointed to major growth in a new business area. Competitors were moving in. Venture investment was flowing. There were several new technologies were ripening to disrupt the market.

Initial market analysis all pointed to significant growth. Numbers pointed to a huge upside if positioning was correct. The picture was all rosy till we spoke to customers. The small businesses being targeted were not ready for the new technology. They preferred the reassurance of familiar ‘advisors’ and physical, on premise availability of the software.

We held back till we had the right solution ready. A few months later, the market leader in that field, who had invested millions into a cloud based offering came to the same conclusion, talking about their own on-premise offering.

A Financial Services Software company was doing product design right –actively soliciting product ideas and enhancement requests from banks (their customers). But over the years, changing internal priorities and pressing goals had made the list grow and congeal.

Customers were constantly asking for the status of their requests, some made years ago. There was resentment against the product team for not delivering. The team was overloaded with releases and the enhancement requests dangled over their heads, creating additional stress.

We started by re-prioritizing the list with the product team. Then reached out to each customer for feedback and prioritization. Over long and detailed conversations we were able to prune the list down to a high-impact, manageable level. Customer engagement sky-rocketed.

For B2B companies, quick implementation and effective adoption are keys to getting customers to the promised riches.  For a B2B Financial Services software firm, the implementation was taking more than a year.  The implementation team was overloaded and under pressure while sales and marketing wanted quicker ROI and reference-able customers.

We started with a brainstorming session with a cross functional team to quickly uncover issues. We talked to customers about how to increase adoption. We mapped the customer journey. We then conducted direct, un- biased 1:1 conversations with all involved in the implementation process.  This led to a list of quick changes and longer term solutions. We made the case for resources to help us build tools.

The result was an increase in implementation capacity from 6 to 40 over a year, and quicker ROI for the customers.