The Henley Centre for Customer Management

Transcription

1 Henley Business School The Henley Centre for Customer Management Maximising value through relationships

2 Contacts To discuss the work of the Henley Centre for Customer Management and the opportunity to participate in the next year of the programme, please contact:- Professor Moira Clark on +44 (0) or by to: Tony Harrington on +44 (0) or by to:

3 With today s tough economic climate, it is more important than ever that we retain and develop our existing customers, as well as continue to attract new ones. In our increasingly multichannel world where social media is becoming a powerful influencer, the provision of a memorable and excellent customer experience distinguishes winning organisations. Introduction The term customer experience refers to everything the customer perceives, interprets, and experiences while interacting with a company. Such interactions include the presence of any company message social media, website, s, business cards, signage - the sales presentation - the way the telephone is answered - post-visit contact - refreshments that are offered - the neatness and cleanliness of the office - in short everything that the company or the people in the company say, show, or tell. It s what the customer takes away from any interaction with your company - even if you are unaware of it. Therefore your messages and planned customer experiences have to be very intentional so that the desired results are achieved. Social media lets users build relationships of trust over time through viral videos, blogs and social networks (communities of common interests). In these networks, users get their information from one another, not from mainstream media, institutions, organisations or businesses. Social media and social networking are here to stay, and their function will continue to evolve and influence the way business is conducted through, for example:- the emergence of new social media-enabled business models. the ability to increase the stickiness of relationships by improving loyalty through customer engagement. the use of communities to improve innovation by providing quick feedback on products and services. Henley s Centre for Customer Management was established to work with organisations to promote customer focus and service excellence best practice that develops memorable customer experiences. It does this by observing practice in leading companies and synthesising this into useful knowledge that helps members to improve their own customer management and customer service plans and implementations. At the commencement of each year s programme, these member organisations, working together with experienced management researchers from the Centre, discuss the critical issues facing them in the customer management area, and define the questions to which they seek practical answers. These questions are then collated and analysed and used to develop a programme of workshops and associated research projects. 1

4 Typical questions (from 2011) include: 1. How can collaborative innovation and co-creation create value for stakeholders? 2. How can agent-customer interaction be optimised to improve the customer experience? In particular, what is best practice for the use of homeworking agents? 3. What motivates participants in online communities? 4. What constitutes best practice in handling online customer feedback? 5. How have online social networks affected segmentation strategies? The workshop programme provides members with the opportunity to hear from leading academics and industry practitioners about subjects that align with their interests. For the research agenda, Henley Centre for Customer Management researchers examine all existing research in the relevant area, delivering to the members a succinct and valuable review of the current state of knowledge in the field. They then go on to examine, often by exemplar case study, the best practice in the She has worked extensively in the area of culture and climate, its impact on retention and loyalty and the critical linkages between employee behaviour and customer retention. She has researched and published widely on the subject of Customer Management, Relationship Marketing, Customer Experience and Service Excellence and is a frequent keynote speaker at many public and in-company seminars and conferences around the world The Centre is now inviting members to participate in the 2012 programme. Centre membership typically consists of representatives of between 10 and 15 organisations, many of them leaders in their sector. The annual fee for membership of the Centre is 10,500 plus VAT and benefits of membership include involvement in the research programme, early access to the results, access to the members-only website, reports and papers and attendance for up to 3 delegates at the programme of hands-on workshops. You can find more information about the Centre below or by visiting our web site at Please read on and find out more about this rewarding and challenging opportunity. subject, pushing knowledge beyond what is published. In this way, members gain access to new thinking, new models and new processes. The Director of The Henley Centre for Customer Management is Moira Clark who is Professor of Strategic Marketing at Henley Business School and Head of Marketing and Reputation. Moira is a leading expert in the area of Strategic Customer Management. Her main area of research and consulting is in Customer Management, Social Networking, Client Retention and Internal Marketing. 2

5 The Centre brings together business practitioners, industry thought-leaders and experts/academics to help organisations to tackle their challenges; and the ongoing programme of workshops and highly focused research projects illuminate their strategies. Objectives The Henley Centre for Customer Management has the following objectives To promote and encourage excellence in customer management. To advance knowledge in customer management across the value creation process. To provide analysis of current, and developing approaches to customer management in a highly practical way. To understand how customer management can reshape employee, customer and supplier relationships. The Centre will achieve its objectives by giving its members: Practical and time-saving reviews of customer management through regular reports and papers. A clear understanding of best practice in customer management from rigorous original research into exemplar companies. In-depth networking opportunities with other leading companies through a series of hands-on workshops and member open days. Sustainable competitive advantage through practical guidance towards implementation of customer management in the member company. Member Benefits Membership offers the following benefits: Networking with thought-leaders in Customer Management. Opportunities to discuss with other business practitioners their approaches and solutions to current issues. Sharing of best practice and benchmarking. Participation in working groups and member open days. Input to the definition of research objectives and priorities and access to the resulting reports on research carried out on behalf of the Centre. Members will benefit from first mover advantage from the research outputs as the results are kept confidential to the membership for a period of six months. Access to the members website can be found at ( where member company profiles are displayed and a range of research and resource materials are made available publicly. In addition, a member s only section gives access to an event calendar, a download section where presentations and research reports for the current and previous years can be found, and a member discussion forum is also provided. 10% reduction on Open Executive Programmes (booked through the Centre). The annual programme also provides a number of PR opportunities for members. Articles and other publications based on the findings of the research programme will be produced by the research directors and nominated co- authors. Where possible and appropriate, member organisations will be mentioned. When research results are made public, members will have the opportunity to attend any press briefing organised to accompany the release. Throughout the year, the Centre director and other researchers make presentations on the subject of Customer Management. Where possible and appropriate, the Centre and its current members will be mentioned. 3

6 Activities Each year, member organisations are entitled to places at each of the following events and activities (different people may attend if preferred): A programme of one-day workshops (see below). For each workshop, members are entitled to three places. An annual conference (Planned for Thursday 18th October, 2012). For this event, members are entitled to one free place and attract a preferential discount for additional places. Additional guests are welcome at workshops and the annual conference (a charge will be made). Centre membership typically consists of representatives of between 10 and 15 organisations, each a leader in their sector. Working together with experienced management researchers from the Henley Centre for Customer Management, these companies discuss the critical issues facing them in the customer management area, and define the questions to which they seek practical answers. Using the agreed research agenda, Henley Centre researchers examine all existing research in the relevant area, delivering to the members a succinct and valuable review of the current state of knowledge in the field. They then go on to examine, often by exemplar case study, the best practice in the subject, pushing knowledge beyond what is published. In this way, members gain access to new thinking, new models and new processes Workshop Programme The workshop programme is designed to provide the opportunity for members to be involved in the research programme and also to be updated on relevant issues of interest to them. Centre meetings will typically include expert presentations, practitioner briefings and working sessions. This year, we are introducing a change to the schedule as a result of feedback from our members. Historically, we have provided a programme of 5 workshops for members. The opening inaugural workshop when member issues are discussed, a catch-up workshop for new members or new delegates from existing members, two interim workshops and a final workshop where research results are presented. In the last two years we have introduced a change to this programme that we hope to continue in We will continue to hold the inaugural workshop, the catch-up workshop and the final workshop at Henley. In addition we will provide three additional workshops that are planned to be off-site meetings, each hosted by a member. On the member days, the host member will organise up to half of the programme and this will give them the opportunity to showcase their approach to customer service. The centre will then organise the remainder of the day and invite guest speakers who will address themes from member suggestions building on the morning s programme. 4

7 The planned schedule is as follows: Inaugural workshop (March 8th, 2012) Review of the centre and results to date Guest speakers, industry and academic Member profiling Members input to research programme New Member workshop (April 26th, 2012) This workshop is targeted at new members or new representatives of existing members. The day is spent on a review of prior years research output to bring all attendees up-to-date with the work of the centre. Attendees will also have the opportunity to try out some of the tools and techniques developed by the centre. Member visit / workshop (May 24th, 2012) Opportunity for a member to host a visit Guest speakers, industry and academic Update on the research programme Member visit / workshop (July 12th, 2012) Opportunity for a member to host a visit Guest speakers, industry and academic Update on the research programme Member visit / workshop (September 13th, 2012) Opportunity for a member to host a visit Guest speakers, industry and academic Update on the research programme Conclusion of Programme (November 22nd, 2012) Overview of the 2012 programme Guest speakers, industry and academic Results of the research programme Members initial input for

8 Illustrations of some of our Research Reports The Planned Research Programme for 2012 The Henley Centre for Customer Management operates on a continuing basis, with each phase of research leading to the next. However, Centre members will have the opportunity to have their views and priorities taken into account when finalising the plan at the inaugural workshop. The research programme will commence following the inaugural meeting with research interviews targeted for completion by November 2012 so that results can be presented at the last workshop of the year. Final reports will be published to members as soon as possible thereafter. History Professor Moira Clark has led our highly successful research forum since Firstly, at the Cranfield School of Management and more recently at the Henley Business School where she is Professor of Strategic Marketing. As a result, she brings with her a wealth of experience and the results of nine years of research projects into Customer Management practices. Many of our reports and a full history of our research projects (examples of recent research projects are shown below) can be viewed on the relevant page of our website at Examples of past Research Projects The Customer Experience Managing the customer experience is becoming a major preoccupation for many organisations today. Recent research has shown that customers are becoming increasingly demanding and sophisticated. The increasing levels of marketing literate customers means that companies have to work harder to acquire, retain and develop long-term relationships with them. Of course the question is how can companies do this? The process starts with companies building more effective mechanisms to capture customer feedback and using this information to develop products and services and to understand how customers want to do business. Developing a Social Media Strategy Social media is a mix of psychology, sociology and technology offering great opportunities as well as challenges to businesses in today s fast moving environment. This report examines the rise of social media and its potential business impact while exploring best practice in developing effective social media strategies. The review begins with a consideration of what constitutes social media and social networking before going on to consider the influences that motivate people to engage in social media. This research includes an extensive literature review of both academic and practitioner sources in order to identify best practice for developing effective social media strategies. 6

9 Culture and climate Assessing an organisation s climate considers the practices, procedures and rewards systems in an organisation, or in other words, the way we do things around here. This research built on prior years results and a number of organisations were assessed. The results were compared to exemplar best practice companies so that areas for improvement were identified and a number of new techniques for analysis of the results were introduced. Customer Insight in Inbound Call Centres This research builds on the earlier Henley report how companies use customer insight to drive customer acquisition, retention and development by concentrating on one aspect of the customer insight framework, namely how customer insight is actioned through the customer service function. The purpose of this project therefore was to investigate how companies use customer insight in inbound service call centres to cross-sell, up-sell and retain customers. CSR and the Customer Experience This project involved an extensive review of academic research, as well as corporate, governmental and institutional literature on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility. It developed a working definition of CSR and discussed a number of topics including whether there is a positive link between corporate financial performance and corporate social performance and how CSR activities can impact on customer experience. Multichannel Customer Experience This report studies best practice in crafting and profiting from the multichannel customer experience, through in-depth study of major multichannel projects at First Direct, IBM, BT Global Services and General Motors Europe. Findings were also informed by interviews with boutique hotel chain Eton Collection; DVLA; UK Trade and Investment; a high street retailer; and a financial services company. Online Customer Experience Exploring perceptions of the perfect online customer experience through interviewing business-toconsumer and business-to-business customers about the nature of their perfect online customer experience. Complaints Management 2.0 This report examines customer complaint management practices in an era where customers expect instant action from companies and, if service does not meet their expectations, they do not hesitate to voice their disappointment in both public and private arenas. This research includes an extensive literature review of both academic and practitioner sources in order to identify best practice for complaint management in the business to consumer environment. How Can Suppliers Enable and Support their Clients Sustainability initiatives This research study aims to provide insights into how suppliers can enable and support their clients sustainability initiatives most effectively, in a business-to-business context. A detailed review of recent articles on the subject of sustainability, from academic and practitioner journals, was undertaken. A qualitative research approach was followed: eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews were carried out with senior managers from three different organisations. CRM for B2G organizations Some members felt that most marketing models, concepts and frameworks are developed with commercial organisations in mind. However, governmental organisations have very specific needs, processes (e.g., procurement) and gatekeepers that do not strictly fit the existing models. Consequently, managers working in a B2G environment have to try and contextualise such models to their working reality, themselves. This research was instigated to identify and summarise B2G- specific models and to assess how existing models have been adapted to the B2G reality Best Practice in Managing Relationships with Outsource Partners The goal of this research was to deliver an up-to-date literature review and provide case studies of 2-3 best practice organisations looking at how organisations measure value, measure success and provide the ability to flex the contract to both sides advantage. 7

10 2011 Research Projects The results of our research projects in 2011 will become publicly available in the second half of The topics chosen are outlined below:- Collaborative Innovation This project explores how value can be created jointly for firms and their stakeholders through collaborative innovation and co-creation with these stakeholders. Homeworking This research project develops an initial view of the important factors to consider when looking at a homeworking project. It provides examples of successful homeworking initiatives and seeks to identify both positive and negative factors from the perspective of the agent and to highlight differences between the US and the UK markets. Social Segmentation This research project assesses the impact of online social networks on traditional market segmentation strategies and emerging new segments and practices. Handling Online Customer Feedback This project extends earlier research and looks at Best Practise in handling eword of Mouth feedback from customers. Understanding the value created by on-line communities This project explores the motives of active participants in firm-hosted brand communities and identifies critical success factors for having an engaging brand community. Members Advisory Council In 2011, we invited members to volunteer to represent their fellow members at meetings of the advisory council. The council met three times during the year to provide feedback on planned research projects and workshop content. They also gave us feedback on the overall programme for the year. This was very helpful in ensuring that the centre was providing appropriate content to the membership and we plan to repeat the process in

11 Centre people Director Moira Clark is Professor of Strategic Marketing at Henley Business School, Head of Marketing and Reputation as well as Director of The Henley Centre for Customer Management. She also serves as a consultant to a number of leading UK and European companies. Moira is a leading expert in the area of Strategic Customer Management: Her main area of research and consulting is in Customer Management, Social Networking, Client Retention and Internal Marketing. She has worked extensively in the area of culture and climate, its impact on retention and loyalty and the critical linkages between employee behaviour and customer retention. She has published widely on the subjects of Customer Management, Relationship Marketing, customer experience and service excellence. Publications include for example, the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Management Reviews and the Journal of Relationship Marketing. She is also co-author of Relationship Marketing for Competitive Advantage, Winning and Keeping Customers and Relationship Marketing: Strategy and Implementation. Her book Business Success through Service Excellence examines the crucial factors needed to achieve and maintain service excellence. Moira is a frequent keynote speaker at many public and in-company seminars and conferences around the world. Moira joined Henley from Cranfield School of Management in Prior to her academic career, Moira was an international marketing consultant based in Munich where she was involved with a wide range of industries including service industries, consumer and industrial goods manufacturers. She has also worked as a marketing director for an international health food manufacturer and as a marketing manager for the toiletries subsidiary of Dunhill International. Assistant Director Tony Harrington is Assistant Director for the Henley Centre for Customer Management. Tony has 30 years experience in the IT industry and spent some 15 years specialising in Sales and Marketing to the Financial Services Industry. In 2001, he left Unisys Ltd where he was Financial Services Sector Marketing Director for the UK and Continental Europe and founded 4Fold Marketing Services Ltd to provide business-tobusiness marketing services to his clients. These range from event management to marketing plan development and facilitated client discovery workshops, all with a strong customer focus. He has worked as Assistant Director for the Henley Centre for Customer Management since it started operations in He has previously worked with Professor Moira Clark as a visiting fellow at the Cranfield CRM Research Forum and was also involved with the Sunday Times Customer Experience Awards programme as a judge. A graduate of Imperial College, he is married with three children, a cat and a dog. 9

12 Researchers Dr. Anne Dibley is Programme Director for the corporate MSc in Strategic Marketing Leadership, (current participants on this programme are from Deutsche Telekom and ING) and is a Lecturer in Marketing at Henley Business School. After graduating in Modern Languages from Cambridge in 1987, Anne gained several years experience working in the field of international marketing and branding. She was international brand manager for Conqueror business stationery, and then Project Director at The Added Value Company, a leading international marketing agency, where her clients ranged from Mars Petcare to PPP Healthcare. Anne went on to become the Course Director for the international marketing programme at the University of Greenwich, and then a Teaching Fellow at Cranfield School of Management, where she completed her PhD in Anne s PhD thesis explored the link between personal values and brand choices among children in the UK and Spain, using in-depth, qualitative research techniques. Her work gave rise to the publication of conference papers, and articles in practitioner magazines and academic journals. Anne enjoys researching and analysing both business-to-business and businessto consumer marketing issues, to help companies face today s complex challenges. Anne s research projects for the Henley Centre for Customer Management include studies focusing on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and how to manage outsourcing relationships. Anne speaks French and Spanish, as well as basic Portuguese. Dr Susan Rose is an Associate Professor in Marketing Management at Henley Business School. She is an experienced educator and marketer teaching strategic marketing, marketing planning, brand management, consumer behaviour and research methods on both MBA, MSc and Executive Education programmes. For several years she was part of the Henley MBA management team and as such gained valuable experience in postgraduate education. Susan is now the Deputy Head of the School of Marketing and Reputation as well as an active researcher in both the Henley Centre for Customer Management and the John Madejski Centre for Reputation. Susan is a certified business coach working with managers to support their personal and career development. Dr Neil Hair is an Assistant Professor of Marketing from the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York in the United States. He holds Chartered Marketer Status from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a PhD from Cranfield as well as degrees from Sheffield and Cardiff Business Schools. His research and consulting activities are cutting edge, recent projects include understanding perceptions of advertising and customer value in popular online social networks like myspace and facebook, personal branding in virtual space, and virtual ethnography in popular worlds such as Second Life. He is also passionate about his role as a facilitator having recently won RIT s highest teaching award for new faculty in and RIT s highest teaching award for online learning in He has been awarded several research grants for pursuing pedagogy research. One such interest involves teaching the world s first programme on the commercialization of Second Life. 10

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14 The Henley Centre for Customer Management is supported by members representing a diverse range of organisations. Henley Centre for Customer Management For more information, please contact: Moira Clark Henley Business School Greenlands Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire, RG9 3AU Or contact Assistant Director Tony Harrington tony_harrington@btinternet.com Tel (0) Or visit our website at: 12