Find, Win, Keep and Grow

Its early Sunday morning, sitting at my favourite local Starbucks on the North Shore, enjoying a nice coffee.

I started to think about some of the tasks I have to plan for an upcoming session with a prospective client and I decided to share some high level concepts for a workshop referred to as "Find, Win, Keep and Grow".

My Background with White Boards

I love using white boards, and think that they can be one of the most effective tools to build trust and demonstrate knowledge of an industry, and both known (and unknown) challenges faced.

I remember a long time ago, working on a Core Banking System replacement project, for a large Financial Institution in Taipei, where we realized that there was huge opportunity to streamline the "New Account Opening" process.

However, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) with whom we were engaged, did not believe that the branches were including extra steps in the process, which made the client experience less than pleasant. Soon thereafter, we facilitated a workshop and used the white board to document the current process and identified several areas for process improvement and noted important new requirements for the project. The SME was astounded.

Later we learned that the bank found huge cost savings and increased value from the outcome of putting the customer experience first, in one of their most basic processes.

It was an incredible experience for me as well, where I learned not to underestimate the potential impact of small things.

But let's move on now and talk about helping our clients grow their business, whether it is B2B, B2C, or B2E (everyone) and how you can help prospective clients increase the lifetime value of their own customers.

Introducing the Find, Win, Keep and Grow Process

All companies are motivated to acquire new prospects, win business, retain those clients and ultimately increasing their lifetime value by introducing them to new products or services.

It is incredibly motivating and fulfilling for those of us in sales, when we are able to help our clients solve for one or all of the key steps in a customer lifecycle. But it can be difficult for us to see (and help the client) see the perverbial "forest through the trees".

During the early stages of building a relationship with a new client, I may introduce the client Project Sponsor to the concept of conducting a Find, Win, Keep and Grow workshop.

The basis premise for the workshop, is to host key SME's from Marketing, Sales and Customer Service and you will facilitate a Question & Answer session, where you are able to identify key goals, objectives, KPI's, obstacles, opportunities. This will ultimately create awareness where internal friction points may impact both the customer experience and customer lifetime value.

How to Run the Workshop

Conducting a "Find, Win, Keep and Grow" workshop, requires a fairly large meeting room and white board. I generally start the workshop by drawing out a grid, similar to what is in the picture below.

The key to ensuring a successful workshop, is the preparation for the actual workshop. You cannot "show-up and throw-up".

For me, preparation includes conducting interviews with key stakeholders from each distinct functional line-of-business. Confirmation of how they engage the client and their direct or indirect involvement in the customer journey; identification of their key goals, KPI's, obstacles, opportunities, and the business tools, applications that are used today.

During the actual workshop, it is critical to invite key SME's from each of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service business units, so that when you "fill in the blanks" on the white board, you are able to facilitate a deep conversation and ultimately an understanding of where internal friction points exist and/or are created for the customer.

The outcome of this workshop, should provide you with a vast quantity of insights and information. You should be able to quantify the impact of current challenges and this will help create a framework for the business case and validation if the client sees this as a priority.

What Happens Next?

In the next blog post, I will share some details on how to present a "Summary of Findings", with a call to action for the prospective client and how to gauge the client commitment to proceed.