Case Study
Win Loss Program Helps a Leading Financial Services Company Use Customer Insights to Win New Business
In an attempt to win clients back, a Financial Services Technology Company digs for rocks and finds gold.
Why not disclose the company name?
Many of our clients request anonymity since they find Primary Intelligence’s services to be such a competitive advantage. They are hesitant to publicly disclose to its competitors of the partnership. However, the contents of this report and the outcome the client realized are true.
In a nutshell
A major Financial Services Company needed to obtain more actionable information about their buyers’ needs in order to provide better guidance to the sales and service teams. Looking to optimize their win rate and increase revenue, they enlisted Primary Intelligence to conduct interviews and manage their Win Loss Analysis program. This Financial Services Company discovered understaffed teams and product inflexibility were working against them in winning and keeping clients. After discussions with their Primary Intelligence team, they created an easy procurement process, hired more employees, and reduced the sales rep/buyer ratio to personalize the relationships. Since implementing these actions, the sales reps are succeeding at meeting the buyers’ needs. More importantly, the company is building relationships with smaller banks and credit unions – an untapped reservoir of new opportunities.
"I was looking for a provider that could do both sales win loss and continue client loss. When I looked outside of the in-house solution, I just felt that Primary Intelligence was better placed and better positioned to do that.”
—Market Research Analyst, Financial Services Company
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The problem: Buyers favoring another provider's products and services
The Market Research Manager’s concerns grew when he discovered buyers were favoring another provider. In many cases, these long-term buyers had previously bought products and services from this Financial Services Company, representing a significant amount of revenue over the past 15 – 20 years.
“We want to increase win rates so we can increase organic growth because that's always very important… because if you have the same number coming in the front door as you have going out the back door, you've got nothing.”
—Market Research Manager, Financial Services Company
The solution: Hire a third-party provider to perform Win Loss Analysis
The Financial Services Company’s Market Research Manager moved the Win Loss program from in-house so they could focus on other projects. He brought in Primary Intelligence to find out why buyers were no longer purchasing products from them and the steps to take to recover these losses.
"The profiles are much higher quality in terms of insights. The way it is summed up on the executive page is much higher quality than what we had in-house."
—Market Research Manager, Financial Services Company
Insights: Inflexible in meeting banks' needs, difficult contract process, lapse in communication, and lack of customizable solutions
Through Primary Intelligence’s discovery sessions (post-sales debriefs), the Market Research Manager for this Financial Services Company unearthed deteriorating relationships and the company’s inability to be flexible and work with banks to meet business needs. Their contract renewal process was so difficult that one buyer hired a consultant to conduct the negotiations on behalf of the bank, and it still took a year to complete the process. Some buyers also complained about the complete lack of communication and long periods of not knowing who was responsible for the account. The manager also learned that although the ancillary products offered were considered excellent, smaller banks felt these products were far more robust than was needed.
“[Discovery sessions] have added some value to have the stakeholders get on the phone, talk about the feedback that was gathered, ask follow-up questions, and come out of there not only with a clear understanding of the outcome but also with some takeaways that can potentially be leveraged going forward. It's provided an increased value to the program.”
—Market Research Manager, Financial Services Company
Actions: Prepare flexible, effective proposals, improve the sales rep to buyer ratio, and offer customizable solutions
After analyzing buyer feedback and strategizing with the Primary Intelligence team, the Financial Services Company empowered the sales teams to meet their buyer’s unique business needs in their proposals. Additional full-time staff are being added to the team along with a plan to fix the existing “log-jam” of proposals in the queue. Changes to the coverage model for the sales team will help sales reps spend more time with buyers since they’ll have fewer accounts. The company is identifying smaller versions of the existing product that can be changed to meet the needs of smaller banks and credit unions.
“The data makes its way back to our top executive leadership. Our Chief Sales Officer gets it, our CEO gets it, our COO gets it, the leaders of our various businesses get it.”
—Market Research Manager, Financial Services Company
The Outcome: Salvaged existing relationships, discovered new market
Even though the odds seemed against this financial services company, they were able to make course corrections to salvage existing relationships and forge new ones with smaller banks and credit unions who felt that the company was “too big” to care about their business.