Case Studies

The brief: To change the perception of Cawleys within industry from “a skip provider” to “a one-stop shop for waste management”.

Our approach: Firstly we tackled the issue of who answered the phones & limited first line answering by trained staff. We then commenced with communicating their full service range across to their clients and potential clients by shouting about them in a newsletter. This had the dual purpose of upselling & cross selling to existing clients as well as cleansing their database. Potential clients could read case studies in the newsletter regarding the savings existing Cawleys customer's were making in relation to their waste management.

Cawleys Feedback: We couldn’t justify employing someone full time, so engaged The Customer Experience as our external marketing department. We’re now operating as more proactive sales people and acting faster on customer feedback. The Customer Experience promotes and sells our services within their network of contacts. They think outside of the box and are very clever when it comes to spotting opportunities for us.
Jon Cawley - Director

 

The brief: To optimise the website & set up a search engine marketing campaign

Our approach: We gave the brief to 3 different web specialists to enable us to make sure we chose the most suitable talent for the job. We worked with our client during the pitch process, and liaised closely with the successful agency to make sure that the strategy; a mix of optimisation, marketing and e-newsletter production was produced within the agreed timeline.

Tofte Manor Feedback: Kate & Sharron’s counsel is always there when I need it, which I find a huge source of support. I’ve been working with them on many aspects of my business – from producing my brochures to managing my launch event at Home House in London. Whether my needs are small or grand scale – everything is dealt with with the same degree of focus and attention to detail. A monthly meeting to brainstorm & keep everyone up to speed keeps it fresh. Everyone needs a Kate and Sharron.
Suzy Castleman - Owner

 

The brief: Eight weeks before the opening of the new IKEA store in Milton Keynes, IKEA needed to bring in extra help to turn the store opening into an ‘event’.

Our approach: We coordinated signage, film crews, posters, ‘meeters and greeters’ and spectacular visual displays for the crowd. The store opened on Boxing Day so we organised warm wraps and refreshments for customers outside in the queue, plus a birch log and saw for the opening ceremony – and everything else besides, including entertainment!

IKEA Feedback: The Customer Experience was our rock. They knew exactly who to contact, were clever with the budget and brought in the right people at the right price. This was much more cost-effective than a big agency would have been. We just told them what we needed and they got on and did it.
Ivan Brown - Marketing Manager

 

The brief: To raise the profile and increase turnover and profit

Our approach: To introduce a loyalty card which would provide e-mail addresses upon redemption for developing a database. Develop e-vouchers to target database. Take existing sponsorship opportunity to new levels to increase footfall. Incentivising the staff to upsell, especially focussing on short life products that were being wasted. Taking the staff on customer service training. Re-arranging the layout of the shop so that customers queue past the tempting cakes with the high profit margin whilst at their hungriest!

Brunches feedback: Kate and Sharron have made a huge impact not only with my staff but also in making me more aware of new products and service levels that need to be incorporated into the shop. They are making me re-think everything except my entire years marketing budget!
Stephen Matthews - MD

 

The brief: Promote Christmas Hampers

Our approach: We suggested introducing a Hamper named the Willen, which would contain locally sourced foodstuffs. A percentage of each hamper sold would be donated to Willen Hospice. This was newsworthy enough to secure plenty of press coverage. We then contacted another of our clients – Cawleys, who were looking to reduce the number of hard copies of their newsletter by asking their customers to commit to receiving it by email. We suggested that the ethical food company donate a Willen Hamper to Cawleys as a raffle prize to incentivise their customers to sign up to receive their newsletter by email, this would be in return for a piece on the ethical food company (who are a customer of Cawleys themselves) in the Cawleys newsletter, which reaches 7000 businesses. This was a very successful strategy for both companies.

The ethical food company feedback: Kate & Sharron were as enthused about our business as us, so that was a great start! They are both very creative, big picture thinkers and to see them in action in brainstorming sessions is a sight to behold! They quickly saw through to the heart of what we needed to do and it wasn’t long before we saw increased visits to our website – resulting in increased orders all round. We were also able to raise a substantial amount of money for Willen Hospice.
Ian Nutt - Director

 

The brief: To develop the company in order to present themselves as highly skilled engineers, who restore, develop & race classic cars worth millions of pounds. To confirm that their customer's cars are safe in their hands.

Our approach: Invest in some quality, arty photography. Create a stylish holding page for the website whilst in production. Design, build and write the copy for a website. Visualise and design a “flexible use” brochure folder capable of containing quotations, invoices & engine testing results as well as brochures. Re-draw the logo, organise new signage & suggest ways of improving the use of the showroom/reception area so that the company talents and truly divine cars were exposed to full effect. Stick to an extremely strict budget.

Stanton Motorsports Feedback: When you want something done ask a busy person. Or in this case persons. Since engaging the services of The Customer Experience, I’ve had to employ two extra engineers to cope with demand. The quantity of quality cars that enter our workshop has increased significantly now that we have raised the status of our profile and made everyone aware that we have the expertise and knowledge to do a first class job.
Steve Stanton – Proprietor

 

The brief: To demonstrate to the staff how they have the power to shape the customers' experience of Brunches.

Our approach: We divided the team into groups and spent time getting to know them, what motivated them, what de-motivated them and where they would like to see change. We then took them out to lunch for competitor analysis purposes looking at everything from the service to the camaraderie of the staff. We took them to establishments where the experience was exceptional, and where it was poor then made them question what factors influenced their judgement. An open and honest look into their own customer service delivery followed, resulting in the team drawing up between them a 10-point brand standard in how to deliver an exceptional Brunches experience.

Brunches Feedback: It’s exciting times! Kate and Sharron are making us challenge our actions and thought processes, as well as listening to the views and opinions of the team. The girls feel valued, appreciated and morale is high. What we’ve found interesting is the way that positivity breeds positivity. The girls are having new ideas on a daily basis and what’s great about Kate & Sharron is that they’re never too busy to listen and encourage.

Claire Barnes – Shop Manager

 

The brief: A solid reputation needed to be promoted to encourage new clients and to confirm existing brand awareness.

Our approach: Firstly we interviewed various web design companies in order to source a company that would understand and be able to work with Phillips Planning in constructing their first ever website. Whilst this work was progressing we were busy collating information from the team and editing it to form copy for a newsletter – something the company had found difficult to commit the time to. The newsletter is now a quarterly production and combined with their high search engine ranking, their profile has increased considerably.

Phillips Planning Feedback: As a result of both ongoing business from our existing clients and continued new enquiries, we had perhaps been guilty of failing to promote the firm as part of a regular and planned marketing campaign. As any Director of a small / medium sized company will no doubt agree, when the work is coming in and it’s all hands to the pump it can be the marketing side of things which is put on one side. However, understanding the importance of marketing even during successful periods we decided to speak to The Customer Experience about how they could help and take some of the responsibility for marketing away from our key staff. Since Kate and Sharron have been assisting we have produced two company newsletters, and have gone live with a very professional website as well as getting involved in regular business networking events and have even been mushroom picking in Woburn woods, although that’s another story! I would thoroughly recommend The Customer Experience if you need either a gentle nudge to get going and/or some professional input into your company marketing. They also bring great cakes to meetings!!
Paul Watson - Director

 

The brief: To grow the customer base & increase sales to specific local companies.

Our approach: We asked the sales team to get together and think of all the companies they wanted to do business with. We made them prioritise the list by creating a “Target top 20” obtaining the names of key decision makers. CMC are part of a hugely competitive market and needed a very creative approach when it came to marketing. We created two direct mail campaigns in the form of a witty postcard with original photography. Out of their Target top 20, the campaign secured one contract immediately and five promising to allow them to quote when their existing contract came up for renewal.

CMC Feedback: Kate and Sharron are great at making you think differently. There were various companies on our targeted list that we were extremely keen to conduct business with and we really wanted something that would make them sit up and take notice. The two postcard campaigns that they came up with were inspired – we loved them! It has really helped us develop our thinking as a company – we now have the confidence to send out toothpaste with the message “CMC make you smile.”
Alison Williams – Director