Increasing Customer Retention

Challenge/Issue: A large multi-national high-tech company had hundreds of sales per day. They sold through a direct sales force, as well as numerous channel partners — both being widely geographically dispersed. They wanted to be sure they weren’t either losing customers or at risk of losing them. And, they wanted to continue to build their reputation as a word-class provider.

Approach: We performed monthly transactional telephone surveys, both domestically and internationally, for them. These focused on a variety of operational functions — including customer service and billing — that impacted the customer.

Results: Through our in-depth interviews, we found several customers with problems of which headquarters was totally unaware; we were able to alert people with the power to step in and clear up these difficulties, avoiding important client defections. Moreover, even satisfied customers were favorably impressed that our client cared enough to have these follow-up calls made by an unbiased, knowledgeable team. Our client’s customer retention scores, productivity, and profits have continued to increase annually.