TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ...................................................................................................3 Study Methodology......................................................................................4 Results............................................................................................................4 The Ingredients for Making Engagement...................................................6 Defining The Elements.................................................................................7 Consistency............................................................................................7 Effort.......................................................................................................7 Trust........................................................................................................8 Offer .......................................................................................................9 Care........................................................................................................10 Genuine .................................................................................................10 What Can Companies Do to Create High Levels of Engagement and Love?......................................................11 About the 2010 Most Engaged Customers Study.....................................14 About PeopleMetrics....................................................................................14

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INTRODUCTION
Customer churn is the nemesis of growth. Nowhere is this truer than in the business-to-business world where the cost of securing and launching a brand new account far exceeds that of extending and expanding existing relationships. Customer turnover comes in a few unappetizing flavors. Total Customer Churn occurs when an account goes from some healthy revenue number to zero seemingly overnight. Many companies experience a wake up situation that shocked them into taking a more systematic approach to capturing and taking action on client feedback. For example, somebody receives a phone call from a top tier account during which the key contact informs them that they are taking their business elsewhere. Why? Because they have experienced indifferent service, unfair billing practices, unreliable or poor quality service or insufficient value. There is another more subtle class of turnover that starts off slowly, with a gradual reduction in billings and services. Some businesses overlook the drip in the leaky bucket until it is all but empty. How can companies protect themselves from customer churn of either variety? The answer is in emotional engagement. After all, business is personal. If your clients are not emotionally connected to your firm, your people, and your services, you cannot expect to grow them. The 2010 Most Engaged Customers study is the first of its kind to look at Customer Engagement in the business-to-business space. Our goals with this research effort in 2010 were to identify: How engaged business decision-makers, influencers, and day-to-day contacts are with their providers across a variety of sectors including: Accounting & Tax, Telecommunications & Data, IT Consulting, Insurance, Management Consulting, Legal Services, HR Consulting and Payroll, and Marketing and Advertising services How Engagement drives share of budget and spend The elements that most impact Engagement, and how they compare with the factors that create Engagement with consumers A roadmap that any business-to-business organization can follow to create higher levels of emotional attachment and Engagement with its clients

If your clients are not emotionally connected to your firm, your people, and your services, you cannot expect to grow them.

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STUDY METHODOLOGY
Partnering with Toluna, an online panel sample company, PeopleMetrics 2010 Most Engaged Customers study captured diverse views from clients in the business-to-business space. Respondents provided employment status and, if employed, their role in making purchase decisions for their company. Those considered decision-makers, influencers, and/or the day-to-day contact for partners offering accounting and tax, insurance, telecommunications, IT consulting, and other professional services were invited to continue with the B2B portion of the survey. Overall, we received 2,370 responses from this business-to-business community.

RESULTS: ITS TOUGHER TO ENGAGE A CLIENT THAN IT IS TO ENGAGE A CUSTOMER

Fewer than half of business-to-business customers in our study are engaged with their providers (45%). This level is six points lower than the average level of Engagement seen amongst customers across a variety of business-toconsumer sectors (51%) such as Retail, Luxury, Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Wireless, and Cable/Satellite TV providers. Throughout this paper we use the terms Client/Customer Engagement and Client/Customer Love interchangeably Engagement/Love refers to the emotional attachment that a customer has to a company Engagement/Love is assessed using a validated, comprehensive measure that links to financial performance The calculation is based upon individual customer responses to four questions: (1) Retention: Given the choice I would do business with [Company] again. (2) Effort: I would go out of my own way to do business with [Company] again in the future. (3) Advocacy: I would recommend [Company] to a colleague or business partner.
Figure 1. Overall B2B Agree/Strongly Agree Scores For the Four Elements of Customer Engagement

(4) Passion: I love doing business with [Company].

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Of the four elements that make up the Customer Engagement Index (Figure 1), Effort and Passion appear to be the hardest to achieve. First, clients are less inclined to agree that they would go out of their way to do business with a provider in the future put their neck on the line to recommend them to a new employer or present the firm as a preferred partner than they are to continue to do business if it is easy to do so. However, Effort is a measure of the strength of the relationship the stickiness quotient if you will as is Passion. Without strong agreement on these two elements, companies are in danger of their best clients going elsewhere.

THOSE WHO SELECT YOU LOVE YOU MORE

Engagement varies by role. Decision-makers are more engaged with their B2B partners than influencers or day-to-day contacts who are not responsible for making the vendor selection. 57% of decision-makers are fully engaged or engaged compared to 38% and 39% of influencers and day to-day contacts, respectively (Figure 2). This may sound like good business practice. After all why not expend all of your energies on engaging the person who holds the purse strings? We disagree for two reasons. First, todays day-to-day contacts and influencers may be tomorrows decision-makers. Second, and potentially more importantly, the sphere of a contacts influence can spread well beyond the organization within which they are employed. Professional networking organizations and groups provide a venue for people to share their experiences and opinions about their business partnerships. Even those who arent making the purchase decisions for their organizations have a voice that is being heard. Why Focus on Engaging Clients? Clients who are Fully Engaged with a particular provider allocate significantly more of their budget to that firm than do those who are Actively Disengaged. On average, Engaged Clients allocate half of their overall budget to a given provider versus less than one third for Actively Disengaged clients. Three times as many Fully Engaged clients allocate 100% of their budget to a given provider versus those who are Actively Disengaged. Over half of Actively Disengaged Clients spend less than 25% of their budget with the firm that lost their Engagement.
Figure 2. Percentage in Engagement Segment by Decision-Making Role

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THE INGREDIENTS OF ENGAGEMENT

PeopleMetrics research into consumer and business-to-business Engagement has revealed six common dimensions that together create high levels of emotional attachment or engagement. All elements need to be present to create superior results for both consumer and business-tobusiness companies. From top to bottom, these six elements are defined as follows: 1. The Offer: Products, services, or experiences that consumers want & businesses say add value 2. Care: A company culture that cares for and values customers and the businesses they serve 3. Consistency: Excellent service at every touch point and from every contact in the company 4. Trust: If something goes wrong, the customer or client have faith the company will make it right 5. Effort: Employees who exert extra effort and go above and beyond for customers and clients 6. Genuine: Authentic interactions with real people However, the order of impact of these dimensions varies depending upon whether the customer is investing in a business or consumer experience.

The foundation of solid engagement for consumers is more functional in nature and relates to the strength of the offer products, services, and/or experiences that the customer really desires. In business-to-business situations, the emotional elements come into play earlier. Consistency, Employee Effort, and Trust are the top three elements driving business-to-business Customer Engagement.

The foundation of solid engagement for consumers is more functional in nature relating to the strength of the offer...in business-to-business relationships emotional elements come into play earlier on.

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DEFINING THE ELEMENTS

Factor and regression analyses were applied to the survey data in order to assist us in further defining each of the six dimensions for business-to-business customers. The goal here is to help put these dimensions in behavioral terms thus making it easy for leaders, account managers, and client-facing staff to improve their Engagement. This following section is dedicated to further defining these six elements.

CONSISTENCY
They always provide excellent service regardless of who I am working with. For business customers, Consistency is king. These individuals are looking to work with organizations that get it right each and every time regardless of who is representing the firm. Across projects and service lines, clients expect: 1. High Quality Deliverables: Clients are looking for the final product to be of exceptional quality. Depending upon the industry this may mean: accuracy, value-add recommendations, and/or reliability of products and services. However your industry defines quality; all employees must understand its definition & know how to deliver it. 2. Honoring Promises: Ensuring that all people do what they say they will each and every time is essential to delivering consistent service across touch points. Clients want to be able to trust that regardless of who is involved, the vendor will followthrough on promises and agreed next steps. 3. Frequent Communications and Check-ins: Project and account communications are critical to building a consistent experience for a firms clients and customers. This means regular in-person and/or telephone check-ins. This ensures that all are on the same page when it comes to knowing what is happening. Consistency is the friend (or foe) of a firms brand promise. In a professional services environment, your brand is your people. A common commitment to, and consistent delivery against, the firms customer promise is essential to building high levels of Customer Engagement. Hiring, training, and rewards processes have to support this consistent brand promise.

For professional services firms your brand is your people. A common commitment to, and consistent delivery against, the firms customer promise is essential to building high levels of Customer Engagement.

EFFORT
One employee went out of their way to come into an audit midway through and work with us until the problem was resolved.

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The second most important element driving Engagement of business customers is Effort. Among the Fully Engaged clients included in our research, countless of them spoke of employees who had wowed

Employee Effort comes down to Employee Engagement. Companies that are able to engage their talent are not coincidentally better able to engage their clients.

them by working long hours, weekends, and holidays to meet deadlines and ensure all goals were being met. Effort boils down to three key elements: 1. Proactive Advice, Expertise, and Guidance: Clients experience effort when their team members offer something unexpected a piece of industry news, trend data, or observation that add value to the business beyond the scope of the current work. 2. Understanding the Clients Unique Culture: Employees who make an effort to understand how work gets done within their clients own company show a higher level of effort and commitment than those who simply deliver what is contracted. Adapting and responding to different communication styles & ways of working, thus becoming seamless with the clients business and culture, is one way high performing companies are demonstrating Effort. 3. A Positive Attitude towards the Organization for which He or She Works: This factor is strongly related to Employee Engagement. Clients see when employees are disengaged and often hear it too. This is a detractor of client Engagement and perceptions of Effort.

TRUST
We had major billing issues. The rep brought in a PowerPoint presentation and demonstrated how we could save thousands of dollars by combining our services, and got us credits for prior months, saving us a ton of money. Not only did he listen to our needs, he did research on our business to see what we needed. The third element impacting Engagement of clients and customers in business-to-business situations is Trust. Ultimately, Trust can be built or destroyed by how well a company responds to problems or issues. Notwithstanding, other elements support the development of client Trust, specifically: 1. Fair and Transparent Billing Practices: Organizations that make their fee structures difficult to understand give the impression that they are trying to deceive the client, potentially conning them into paying more than they should. Furthermore, professional services firms that aggressively track scope creep and charge for every change can do themselves a disservice when it comes to building client Trust and maintaining strong relationships for the long-haul.

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2. Credible People: Next on the list of elements impacting Trust is credibility of the talent that is supporting the account. Clients need to feel confident that they are working with experts who will not make rookie mistakes. 3. Disciplined Follow-Up after Meetings and Phone Calls: Finally, communication is essential to building and maintaining this factor. Following-up after meetings and phone calls should be a regular practice as it is a behavior that can make (or break) client confidence. Documenting conversations, decisions and responsibilities for next steps means that everybody is on the same page and expectations are managed and met. Failing to manage/meet expectations erodes Trust & makes it difficult to rebuild.

THE OFFER
Overall they offer excellent legal work. Responsive, knowledgeable, very well rounded. As noted previously, The Offer is the foundation for Engagement in the consumer world. While not sufficient to create superior levels of Engagement on its own, products, services, and experiences people want is what starts the engine. In business-to-business situations, on the other hand, this element is further down in the list of important elements. And the definition of The Offer is vastly different. Clients and customers who are purchasing and engaging with business-to-business providers want three things when it comes to The Offer: 1. Responsive Service: A clients perception of The Offer starts with service responsiveness, typically during the initial sales process. By engaging with a sales person who is exceptionally responsive, the prospect receives the impression that The Offer from this company includes a high level of client service. 2. Solutions Tailored to the Clients Business Issues/Needs: Next is the impression that the organization you are dealing with is willing and able to tailor what they are delivering to meet the unique needs of your business. A canned approach rarely results in high Client or Customer Engagement. 3. Demonstrable Industry Expertise: Finally, demonstrating industry expertise is essential to conveying the strength of what is being offered. Knowing the issues that the industry is experiencing and are on the horizon affects value perceptions. Being able to speak the customers language also enhances the perception that the organization understands the clients business environment. It is a requirement that The Offer (products, solutions, services) will reduce challenges and/or make the company more successful in the world it inhabits.

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CARE
They took extra time explaining everything, made me feel that my business was as important to them as it is to me. Care is the fifth step in the roadmap to business-to-business Customer Engagement. This is demonstrated both functionally and emotionally by organizations doing the following three things: 1. Make Invoices Clear: Too often invoices are provider-centric rather than client-centric, including codes and descriptions that might make sense to the receivables person within your organization but could be foreign to the payee. A simple invoice written in client language speaks volumes about how much the organization cares for its customers and clients. Furthermore, clear invoicing helps with the Trust element referenced earlier. 2. Get to Know Clients as People: This is a truly emotional driver. Clients and customers who feel that their contacts care enough to ask them questions and remember details about their personal lives tend to feel positive and engaged. 3. Stay Connected to the Clients Business: Showing that you take time to learn about a clients business by staying abreast of their company news and changes is a key ingredient in helping clients to feel cared for.

GENUINE
I just like how friendly and personable he is...They are friendly and honest. Finally, Client Engagement is gained and sustained through solid relationships. Companies that encourage people to be themselves, thereby creating relationships with their clients, score better. These companies customers tell us that the people they work with are: 1. Fun to Work With: All business and no play can interfere with perceptions of genuine and authentic service. Clients are looking to have some light relief, and working with a team that is fun and approachable can help. 2. Considered Friends: The most Engaged clients are those who consider their contacts to be friends. They feel this when they get advice or guidance from their contact that is clearly in their best interests and not necessarily purely in the interests of the partner organization. 3. Genuinely Interested in their Personal and Business Success: Showing an interest in the business and the clients personal success is a key part of being genuine. Asking questions, following company news, and reaching out to check in on how things are

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going personally and professionally are all behaviors that encourage the perception of a relationship founded on honesty and genuine care. There is no question that business is personal. If your people can connect with clients and customers in a genuine, authentic, honest way the relationships will be stronger and last longer.

WHAT CAN COMPANIES DO TO CREATE HIGH LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT & LOVE?

The 2010 Most Engaged Customers study revealed that business-to-business companies that embrace Customer Engagement are more likely to win and grow, even in difficult economic times. Their customers are more likely to recommend them and spend more of their allocated budget with them. A corporate focus on Client or Customer Engagement, therefore, is not just the job of marketing or customer service but that of the C-suite. Customer Engagement is a continuous strategy that needs to be ingrained wide and deep, not a discrete event. This years study also revealed that there are six avenues by which business-to-business companies can increase Customer Engagement. To achieve true Customer Engagement, all of these dimensions must be present. The following steps highlight actions that can be taken to increase positive scores for the six dimensions: 1. Measure to Ensure Consistency: A consistently excellent experience across individuals is essential to creating Customer Engagement. One poor experience can alter a customers view for years into the future. Each and every client-facing employee needs to deliver the same exceptional quality of deliverables. They need to do what they say they will and they need to communicate with their customers and clients on a regular basis. How do you know if your organization is consistently delivering against your brand promise? One answer is in feedback and measurement. A real-time, enterprise-wide customer feedback program will ensure that you are keeping your finger on the pulse of the experience your clients and customers are having, and that you are able to intervene with agility and impact if and when consistency falls short. Make sure the results from your feedback program are available to account managers and customer facing staff and are not the exclusive domain of market research or strategy departments. 2. Engage your People so they Give Extra Effort: Engaged employees go above and beyond for clients. Engaged employees get to know their clients culture and way of working and readily adapt to this. They also take extra time to share information, advice, or expertise that is beyond the scope of the current agreement. Disengaged employees do the opposite. If you dont know how engaged your people are, or why

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they are or are not, you are managing in the dark. A formal Employee Engagement program will allow you to identify the areas in need of fixing. Before doing this, though, you must be prepared to make changes to increase Engagement, and by extension, see more employees doing more for your customers and clients on a regular basis. We recommend including in all of our B2B transactional customer surveys Did anyone at [ABC] go above and beyond to meet your needs? Please provide their name and a description of what they did. By then sharing this positive feedback directly with the employees who generated it, resulting levels of Employee Engagement, and consequently Customer Engagement, have risen for many of our clients. This system is what makes great service contagious. 3. Build Trust: Customers trust organizations with open communications. This starts with fair and transparent billing practices. Do your fee structures and/or pricing models make sense to your customers? Can they easily see what they are being charged and why? Next, Trust depends upon the credibility and expertise of your people. Are your people the best in the market place? Can your clients trust them to make them look good? And, finally, do you have service standards around following up with customers after meetings and phone calls, and, especially after problems have occurred? Without these practices, this all important dimension of Trust will suffer. 4. Deliver a Compelling Offer: In the business-to-business space perceptions of The Offer, that which your clients are paying for, starts with sales process. After all, everything communicates, and the level of responsiveness, industry expertise, and ability to tailor to a clients situation is essential to the decision to buy or not to buy. Are you offering your customers and prospects asolution that meets their unique business needs? Does your solution speak to specific industry issues and language? What is unique and differentiating about your solution? 5. Show You Care by Thinking about Your Clients: It seems simple and yet many, many organizations arent able to act in ways that make the customer feel cared for. One element of Care is relatively simple to fix the clarity and ease of understanding of bills. If your bills are confusing, difficult to analyze, and add administrative burden to your clients, you are implying a lack of care. How clear are your invoices? Furthermore, do you stay on top of your clients business and know things about them as people? Taking the time to get to know the things that matter to your clients is a clear indication of the degree to which you care about them. Is customer-centricity a true business strategy or just a buzz word in your organization? Can you identify the employees in your organization who really care for their customers and clients? If so, what do they do, how, and why? A Brand Ambassador program is a good way to start. Using customer feedback you will be able to identify which of your employees are delivering exceptional levels of service and care to their clients. Recognize them, learn from them, and train and hire more of them.

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6. Encourage your People to be Real with Customers Regardless of Role: Dont limit your employees by scripts or messaging that will interfere with their ability to be who they are. Your customers and clients need to experience them as real, genuine people. If you hire with emotional intelligence in mind, you should feel comfortable allowing employees to be themselves with your customers and clients. The above steps can help companies across business-to-business sectors realize stronger and more profitable relationships with their customers. Finally, a systematic approach to managing Customer Engagement is essential for success. Winning firms are capturing and taking action on customer feedback through an ongoing Customer Engagement Management program. By so doing, they are able to engender a consistent culture of customer-centricity, build trust through responsive and exceptional service recovery, and empower employees across the enterprise to own the customer experience. We know that Customer Engagement doesnt just happen. And we know that it is rare that a great offer alone will generate consistent levels of emotional attachment, even love, to your company and brand. You have to manage the process of Customer Engagement. Customer Engagement Management (CEM) is a consistent and systematic approach to measuring customer experiences. Here are some highlights of a successful CEM program: Enterprise-Wide Access: Everyone who is responsible for customers within the organization should have access to their feedback. Accountability for Taking Action: Specific customer feedback should be assigned to individuals within the organization to promote follow-up actions. Real-Time Information: Customer feedback should be available in real-time, seconds after feedback has been provided. Transactional Customer Feedback: Leading organizations obtain brief feedback from customers after specific transactions or experiences to help build consistency in the customers experience of the company. Action Oriented Questions: Powerful feedback must drive specific actions employees can take to strengthen emotional bonds with customers. Demonstrate care for your customers time - do not burden them with survey questions if you will not take action on their answers. For more information on implementing a CEM program within your organization, please contact Frank Rowe at 215.979.8038.

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ABOUT THE 2010 MOST ENGAGED CUSTOMERS STUDY

In June 2010, PeopleMetrics conducted the Most Engaged Customers (MEC) Business-toBusiness study, the first of its kind to examine Engagement in B2B relationships. Partnering with Toluna, an online panel sample company, PeopleMetrics received 2,370 responses from the B2B community. Respondents included decision-makers, influencers and/or day-to-day contacts for partners offering accounting and tax, insurance, telecommunications, IT consulting, and other professional services.

ABOUT PEOPLEMETRICS
PeopleMetrics is a leading research and technology firm that helps companies engage customers and employees to drive bottom line results. Our solutions support the success of managers by providing continuous feedback from stakeholders and guidance on the best actions to take in response to specific comments. Since our inception in 2000, PeopleMetrics thought leadership, exceptional client service, and easy-to-use technology has helped hundreds of clients generate remarkable results. For more information about PeopleMetrics services please contact info@peoplemetrics.com or frank.rowe@peoplemetrics.com.

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