A Pre-emptive Strike against Customer Attrition
A $27 billion asset, 70-branch bank asked Dorsey & Company to investigate – and deliver solutions to overcome – growing rates of attrition among account holders.
The combination of our data analysis and survey research informed our strategic solution giving our client some very interesting capability to head off attrition – before the fact.
We were able to find customer behaviors that allowed the bank to identify likely defectors before they close accounts or defect entirely. The implementation of our strategic insight fit existing bank resources, product set and, crucially, also fit the bank’s ambition to grow deposits while achieving a lower cost of funds.
10 Steps; 1 Large Footprint
Dorsey & Company was engaged by a super-regional bank to aid in expanding its mortgage footprint beyond its traditional customer base, largely to low- and moderate-income customers.
Recognizing that the optimal solution to this universal banking issue must be tailored to the individual bank’s footprint, history, organizational structure, and product set, Dorsey & Company conducted a deep data drill: reviewing past performance and asking questions; analyzing the bank’s structure; conducting in-depth interviews with personnel from the presidential level to platform staff, and looking at the front and back end operations and staffing. Our analysis also included studying compensation plans, staffing, and other internal factors affecting production.
Our resulting 10-point plan included recommendations for marketing materials, goal setting, internal organization, and external partnerships. Our proposals were accepted completely and are currently in operation at the bank.
Dorsey & Company helps community bank increase reach and sales by uncovering new communication and sales channels at ½ the cost per sale of the program replaced
The intended outcomes of an engagement are often not the only benefit provided to our clients. A community bank engaged Dorsey & Company to help shift and grow its customer base. The marketing strategy we developed accounted for the marketplace and its drivers, the internal culture and resource constraints of the company, and the concerns of the compliance and risk management functions.
Our strategy quickly evolved around those critical pieces that many smaller institutions lack because of their size and entrepreneurial bent. In collaboration with top management, we developed a working positioning for the company in the community as the basis of a communication strategy to attract the intended target market. In addition, we recognized and executed against the strategic advantage the bank possessed by virtue of its intimate local trade areas around the branch offices.
Consequently, what we termed “Selling while you sleep” cost our client less than half as much per sale than the program it replaced – while opening commercial and consumer relationships and establishing channels of communications and referrals exclusive to our client.
Additional outcomes of this engagement included: successfully beginning the acquisition of a new target demographic; a clear strategic marketing platform for future efforts around the core brand; a local marketing approach; and, various programs that can be implemented repeatedly in the future to efficiently build banking relationships with new and existing customers.
Reach Desired Target; Take Care of Base
For a local community bank, Dorsey & Company was retained to support marketing efforts to extend beyond its traditional revenue stream and traditional customer base. The company has identified a need to lower its cost of funding and expand into younger demographic segments. Our repositioning and new market entry strategy recommendations identified all stages and guided the bank through the preparation and market roll-out of programs specifically directed to the desired segments without neglecting core, high-value current customers.
Dorsey & Company leads successful rebranding effort for an insurance company based on research and channel orientation
Dorsey & Company leads successful rebranding effort for insurance company based on research and channel orientation
Nationwide Insurance decided to change its brand from the ground up, including a full review of brand promises and look. Brand re-definition was established by Nationwide senior management in concert with advertising and graphics-design consultants. As this was being finalized, Dorsey & Company was engaged to communicate and realize the new brand amongst all stakeholders, both internal and external.
Included in our remit were:
- Definition of relevant stakeholder groups, including employees and external agents.
- Determination of effects of brand changes on all groups.
- Development and delivery of training for all groups, enabling them to live the brand and maximize brand value.
- Reconfiguration of marketing functions to facilitate testing and incorporate best marketing practices.
In short, our brief was to make the new brand a part of everyone’s daily work life and develop and install systems to ensure its enduring health as time went on.
To accomplish this, Dorsey & Company conducted research amongst all stakeholder groups to determine base understanding and readiness for change. Based on this, we produced a comprehensive set of materials covering issues such as:
- Branding in general. What is a brand? How does branding fit into corporate strategy? How does it affect tactics?
- Review of the current brand. Reasons for change.
- The new brand. Meaning, content and implications.
- What does the brand mean to each of us?
- What does the brand mean to our customers, and just who is MY customer and what is his/her current experience?
- What is needed to live the brand in my area?
- What will the implications be? Operational? Results?
These were delivered in a series of interactive workshops covering employees from the Vice-Chairman to Customer Service Representatives.
Based on these, comprehensive plans were developed and deployed to inculcate the brand at all levels and in every phase of operations and to measure results, both in terms of process and external results.
In addition, we worked with the Marketing Group to define new methods for product development, as well as testing of both products and promotions.
All these activities took place in cooperation with Nationwide staff and external agencies and branding consultants.
Because of the comprehensive research and planning that Dorsey & Company undertook, the new brand launch was seamless and received favorably across all channels and audiences.
1 Day, $1 million saved
For a leading super-regional national bank that employs one of the world’s top ad agencies, Campbell-Ewald, Dorsey & Company performed a one-day review of its marketing of a single product. That day we made recommendations that immediately saved the client $1 million dollars and helped them to improve sales the following year.
Dorsey & Company re-engineers marketing programs to deliver outstanding results without additional program expense
For a small savings and loan, Dorsey & Company reviewed a home-equity line-of-credit marketing plan that had already spent two-thirds of available budget with dismal results. Dorsey & Company recommendations for reallocation of the remaining one-third of the budget resulted in sales that exceeded those originally projected for the entire marketing plan.
A tactical and strategic review ensures that resources are aligned with objectives
Dorsey & Company helped a national financial service firm more appropriately quantify the size and potential of a new market. Seeing the limits of the new market, the company realigned its sales efforts, thus enabling the firm to continue to focus resources on stronger markets.
Through our tactical analysis, we recommended several changes in the approach to this market. Thus, the company was able to allocate fewer resources but still reach out to a new market – all without taking resources away from the established profitable market.