Industry - Financial Services

Results - Half of our client’s customers were pleased with the services provided. Surveys found that their managers were exceptional, but some customers felt their account people did not visit with them often enough.

While our client’s brand was very good, there was a perception that their credit card was expensive to the merchant. Merchants were more inclined to accept competitors’ cards, and too few merchants accepted the card outside the region.

Client Overview - Our client, established in South Africa in the 1960s, is the leading business expense management organization in the country. Our client delivers cost-effective, flexible systems for capturing and managing travel and entertainment expenses.

Reasons for using the Customer Relationship Auditing process – Our client needed to:

• Identify the gap between their vision and corporate and travel agents’ perceptions
• Determine the market’s perception of our client’s departmental and sales service levels
• Identify the service/delivery level shortcomings
• Identify competitor’s offerings to corporations and travel agents

Customer Relationship Auditing Findings - Forty-five interviews were conducted with many of our client’s top customers. They were chosen based on their value to the company; whether revenue was declining; or if there were known problems within the account. The interviews highlighted our client’s strengths, their account managers. However, the account managers were spending too little direct contact time with customers. Our client quickly implemented a restructuring within its account management team and gave them backup support. This immediately enabled them to see more clients more often.

Customer Relationship Auditing Impact – In one interview alone, it was discovered one key customer was in the process of switching to our client’s major competitor. Due to our fast turnaround time, our client was informed within twenty-four hours of the interview and the account was saved. This interview alone paid for the total engagement. Another interview showed situations where our client could enhance their services. This specific deliverable also justified the cost of the project.