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Score Points with Customers; Get Better Information

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Sarah Eaton.

Scoring_points BeTuitive's publishing team members share their thoughts on the executive summary for "Scoring Points: How Tesco Is Winning Customer Loyalty" by Clive Humby and Terry Hunt with Tim Phillips:

Kevin Grant

I felt this book summary was of reinforcement than an innovative piece.  The summary had a strong narrative approach with the beginning, middle, end and the trouble along the way.  In working with the analytical side of electronic publishing, the approach to conducting a rewards Clubcard initiative aligned strongly with our practices at BeTuitive.  A paramount practice at BeTuitive is creating value from the data we collect with our various B2B and B2C campaigns.  The RFV analysis (observing customers buying patterns in Recency, Frequency and Value) is along the lines of our Business Intelligence analysis.  Collecting large amounts of data, organizing it into valuable clusters and making informed strategic decisions is a marketing practice that worked well for Tesco.  This summary reinforces the “mindreader” approach marketers and public relations specialists strive for in generating valuable results.

Jeff Sanchez

Scoring Points describes a successful marketing initiative based on loyalty using the Tesco Clubcard as a case study. Although this particular summary is very retail specific, it gives an in-depth look at the triumph of this Clubcard, how to launch such a plan and the data received from this initiative. Tesco recognized the needs of their customers and continue to expand this plan as buying needs change, such as their Internet grocery shopping and changing offers for their customers.

Joanna McKeon

Scoring Points was an eye-opening summary for me.  As a former retail associate, I am overly familiar with pitching the customer benefits of loyalty programs, but never before had I considered the magnitude of the program’s benefits on the side of the retailer.  This summary follows the story of Tesco, the United Kingdom’s most successful grocery retailer, and their path to becoming the “undisputed leader” of Great Britain’s grocery chain.  After introducing the Clubcard loyalty program, Tesco quickly benefited.  To me, the most outstanding profit came in the form of analysis.  The information gained from a loyalty program like Tesco’s is invaluable.  For example, they were able to add over 7,000 local products by learning where shoppers preferred locally produced alternatives.  Specific knowledge like this ultimately provided a win-win situation for Tesco.  Customers were happy and Tesco was better off for it, always looking for new opportunities to expand and improve.

Kathryn Regina

Even though the phrase “customer loyalty” is used in the subhead of this summary, it’s basically just about retailer discount cards.  But even though it’s mostly geared to commodity-based retailers, it does have some concepts that could be valuable to any business. What I found most interesting was that loyalty programs make it possible to gather specific information about customers and give you the ability to mass-customize marketing communications, analyze buying behavior, customize offers and track overall trends. In fact, a loyalty program may not even increase “loyalty” per se. But by tracking customer data, loyalty programs can increase sales and streamline marketing. Electronic publications offer some of the same advantages. It’s always interesting when marketing does something different than what it seems like it’s meant to do. Sneaky marketing.

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PROBLEM: So many great business books. So little time. SOLUTION: Read Less. Learn More. Subscribe to Soundview Executive Book Summaries!

December 18, 2007 in Brand enhancement, Building Customer Intuition, Corporate newsletter, Educating Clients, email tracking, Freelance newsletter, how to publish and promote online, how to write a newsletter, Interactive Marketing, Newsletter complete outsourcing, newsletter layout, Newsletter ROI, Newsletter solution, outsource magazine, prospect newsletter, sample newsletter, self publish, Thought leadership newsletter, writing magazine | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Blockbuster Teams

Posted on December 06, 2007 by Kathryn Regina.

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According to the book Blockbusters, it’s a company’s innovative product—not it’s price point, customer service or depreciation schedule—that creates value for customers. To discover the key practices required for developing “blockbuster” products, authors Gary S. Lynn, Ph.D. and Richard R. Reilly, Ph.D., conducted a two year study of “blockbuster” product development teams. Here’s what we thought of their findings:

 

Kathy:

Out of the five “best practices” for new product development, I thought the most interesting one was that successful teams always have senior management that is “intimately involved” with the project. This seems to run contrary to most management situations. It also raises the question as to how these managers have time to be both teammates and management. Nevertheless, the authors insist that “coming up with the ‘big idea’ is only the beginning,” and that when management merely pops in once in a while to check in on things it’s not only unhelpful, it often results in “hit and run” accidents. The authors observed that in successful teams, senior management played one of three roles: project leader, technical guru or coach.

Jeff:

The authors’ observation that successful teams were “not especially concerned about building friendships or even insisting that everyone like each other,” adds a harsh robotic-like element to what is otherwise a set of reasonable best practices. However, upon closer examination it seems like what the authors really observed from the successful teams was that friendships aren’t all that’s needed for a strong team, and that strong teams can exist even if not everyone gets along. That’s a lot different than saying that in order to be successful you have to be unconcerned about building friendships. Because that just sounds creepy, to be honest.

Kevin:

Keep it open.  Keep it clear.  Keep it consistent.  That seems to be the lesson from the book summary, “Blockbusters,”  which identifies the five necessary steps to lead a product development team.  When I say keep it open, I mean lines of communication, ideas and focus must be open to all possibilities.  It never serves people well to be forced down one unwavering path.  It is important to be clear about what your product is, what the competition provides, who your audience is and who your competitors are.  A clear idea of this allows the unique and alluring elements of your product strategy to flourish.  Lastly, maintaining consistent communication and problem-solving techniques between developers, managers and decision makers discourages the occurrence of mistakes, unfavorable relationships and unwanted surprises.

Joanna:

By reading specific accounts of real-life company sagas, it becomes clear that Lynn and Reilly's "5 keys to developing great new products" are vital steps to becoming successful.  The summary highlights Iomega's trip to success and teaches the reader that all 5 rules (Commitment of Senior Management, Clear and Stable Vision, Improvisation, Information Exchange, and Collaboration Under Pressure) are not simply step-by-step suggestions.  Rather, all 5 must be used tgether from start to finish in a balanced collaberation between all departments of the company.

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December 6, 2007 in award winning design, award winning magazine, award winning newsletter, Blogs, build credibility, business credibility, Business editorial, business magazine, Business Marketing, Business newsletter, Business publications, company magazine, company newsletter, Company newsletters, Company publication, corporate magazine, Corporate newsletter, Corporate publications | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack