Investors In Feedback: Case Studies

Here are some case studies on how using the ‘Investors in Feedback’ processes have boosted clients’ businesses: These case studies have been gathered over a number of years, and have all been put together confidentially, so we cannot share the names of the companies.

Case Study 1

• A wholesaling company in the southwest was experiencing a 25% sales decline due to increased competition, particularly based on price.  We started working with them, and listening very closely to the customers, using the great or poor score.
• This told us very clearly that, although price was very important to customers, the greater issues were those of effective area management, easy returns, guaranteed delivery times, and preferred supplier payment terms.
• Using the IIF System, we help them revamp the entire salesforce, the way the whole sales force interacted with the customers in their regular meetings, the way the back office supported the sales force and did deals with customers based on volume and payment terms.
• We continued to monitor customer feedback on a monthly basis for this client, using the IIF methodology.
• We also trained the whole team from managing director to office junior in the systems, and continue to do so.  We also continue to work with their management through quarterly coaching and training
• The net result of our interaction was that the 25% sales decline was turned into a 30% sales growth in under a year, and growth has continued ever since.

Case Study 2

• We have worked with a small accountancy business in the south of England who were struggling to compete in their marketing with the large accountancy businesses.  They had a lot of small clients who were quite time consuming and costly to manage, but didn’t have very many large clients.  And they wanted to get more of these.
• We conducted an in-depth feedback exercise with the majority of their clients using the IIF system, and found out that this the business was a world class professional practice: their clients love them!
• Using this knowledge, we devised a straightforward business plan aimed at building the business by up to 20 per cent per year through referrals alone.
• We based this around continual feedback and a simple but powerful referral system
• This has had the net result of growing the business by 12 per cent per year, whilst at the same time reducing marketing costs to virtually nil.

Case Study 3

• We work with a medium sized hotel in the home counties to help them improve their customer experience and build more repeat sales, up sales, cross sales, reputation and referrals
• We conducted an in-depth IIF feedback exercise with all the staff, and from this put together a powerful plan to realign the whole operations and marketing of the business around generating the above results.
• We trained all the staff in the IIF methods, and put a telephone feedback system in place for every guest when they left, run by an apprentice (who we recruited for them).
• We also put in place an IIF customer loyalty club to which guests were invited to join once they had stayed in the hotel and had a wonderful experience: over 90% of these loyal and delighted customers were pleased to join this club, which offered them repeat visits at exceptional rates, priority booking at the busiest times, primary invites to all special events, and special offers with local businesses.
• This was combined with an IIF marketing offer which has to remain confidential!
• The guests who were not so delighted were contacted by a member of the management of who then invited them back at a special rate to prove they could get it right going forward.
• The net result of all this activity (which continues to this day) has been a huge increase in repeat business, a net increase in average room rate, a huge decrease in marketing costs, and a huge increase in number and quality of reviews on sites such as Google places and  trip advisor.
• In the first year, this hotel, with 58 bedrooms, increased net profit by over £200,000

Case Study 4

• A medium sized Solicitor Practice in the South of the UK
• We worked for a while with this medium sized Solicitors, who were keen to improve their customer experience, reduce customer churn, and deal with the new threats imposed by deregulation in the market more effectively
• After a customer and staff in depth IIF feedback exercise, we put forward a plan for them to get these results using the IIF system
• They have successfully use this system going forward in their business, with very hands off support from us
• One thing that stands out in this case study was that while we were doing the customer feedback, we came across a large customer who would normally spend is circa £100,000 per year with our client.  This customer was very annoyed at a recent deal that had been messed up by our client.  By conducting the feedback, using empathic listening techniques (as we always do), we were able to turn this client around from being very irate to being willing to talk with the senior partner about resolving the problem
• The senior partner phoned very quickly, resolved the problem excellently (with our coaching), and saved this customer from leaving them
• This illustrates the power of the feedback system we use: it normally pays for itself many times over immediately during its use, let alone the significant value that it gives for the long-term health and prosperity of the business

Case Study 5

• We worked closely with a pub restaurant in Somerset over a number of years
• When our clients to this business on, it was on the verge of bankruptcy and taking under £1000 per week
• We put the IIF systems into the business, with them, alongside a refurbishment and menu redesign, and sales increased by over 830% in under a year
• The system consisted of: redesigning the staff contracts and training, training everyone in the IIF systems, introducing a simple feedback process (which has now been taken up by the British institute of Innkeeping), holding weekly go the extra inch sessions, and thereby creating a culture of excellence driven through systems and processes rather than personalities
• The Pub then went on to win a national award one year later.

Case Study 6

• We worked with a recruitment company to help them reduce marketing costs by improving their customer experience and thereby improving customer retention and referral rates
• We started by doing an in depth IIF customer and staff feedback exercise (which continues to this day)
• We then helps them redesign all of their systems and processes around the IIF model
• This was then reinforced through training and continual measurement
• And the net result has been to increase their repeat sales percentage by 34% in about six months whilst at the same time reducing their marketing spend by around 80 per cent

Case Study 7

• We worked with a specialist insurance company in the UK to help them improve their customer experience, referrals and repeat sales
• Again, we started with the IIF feedback, training and processes
• By putting one simple change into the business (publishing all feedback, good and bad, in a new website, ongoing, with the comments from the senior managers…  Almost like creating their own trip advisor style site full of relevant keywords), traffic to their website from Google increased by over 100 per cent

Case Study 8

• We worked with a the Financial Services Company to help them increase cross sales and up sales
• As usual, we started by doing IIF feedback, listening, and investigation
• We propose to a simple and powerful redesign of the whole business model, based on the desired result of increasing cross sales and up sales significantly
• Although they did not take on all of the proposals we suggested, they did change the whole feedback system in the way proposed and structured for them: this had the net result of reducing their feedback costs by over 70% whilst at the same time increasing cross sales through this avenue by over 20%
• A very successful intervention!