A 50-year family owned services business was at a critical stage with their largest customer. The multi-national retailer had been a key client for close to 20 years but was communicating a loss of trust in the relationship and discussing potential changes.
With an objective to first retain, and ideally grow with this customer a turnaround plan was put in place. The initial step was a formal meeting to clearly understand the customer’s concerns and requirements which included poor consistency of execution, poor communication of issues and specific regional performance issues. Following this meeting an internal data scan was undertaken. Hard number data was pulled from the company ERP system, employees were interviewed, and operational processes and instructions were reviewed.
Based on the external and internal scans a general plan was formulated which included addressing client specific training; detailed field instructions, regular reporting and analysis of high cost service calls, real-time communication of new issues and regular progress meetings.
The next formal meeting with the client was a brutally honest discussion with the customer regarding the company’s understanding of the issue, it’s current failings, and the general plan to improve the situation.
Over the next 6 months, the regional hot spots were brought in line with other regions and over a one-year period the entire organization’s delivery and communication model was sufficiently enhanced to secure a multi-year contract leading to sustainable annual revenue of 2.75 times the previous peak.
