Case Studies:
Modus Operandi undertakes a diverse range of business development and change management projects drawing on its strengths in the following disciplines: marketing, sales, customer experience, revenue development and training. Here are just a few of the briefs that Modus Operandi has successfully handled:
Client: Jumeirah Carlton Tower and Lowndes Hotel London
Business Challenge: Increase sales efficiencies and success in a highly competitive 5* market place using existing resources and capabilities.
Background: The current sales team had no other sector sales experience and many had no formal sales training other than on the job training. The sales team covered several functions: corporate sales, group sales conference and banqueting and meetings and incentive travel.
The Brief: Develop bespoke sales development training and coaching programme that would increase sales conversion and revenue and drive incremental sales through pro-active selling techniques. To develop measurement and metrics to enable ongoing coaching. To develop the self confidence and sales capabilities of individuals and the team as a whole.
See Client Testimonial
Client: InterContinental Hotels Group
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Manchester Airport
Business Challenge: return on investment following an extensive refurbishment programme and a £4.4m investment.
Background: The hotel needed to win back old clients that it had lost to neighbouring competitors during the extensive refurbishment works. It also needed to attract a new and different business and leisure clientèle for the newly created Club floor and Club lounge.
The Brief: Develop a marketing, sales and PR plan to launch the new and existing facilities to the wider business and leisure community. Use strategic and tactical activities to change the business mix of the property to become more profitable and pay back the`
Results: Delivered and exceeded all marketing, sales and revenue targets within the first 3 months of re-launch. Recorded a substantial increase in incremental food and beverage revenue through tactical promotions. Extensive press and PR coverage.
See Client Testimonial
Client: InterContinental Hotels Group
Holiday Inn Fareham, Hampshire
Business Challenge: Hotel re-launch after total closure.
Background: The Holiday Inn Fareham had been closed for a year following a fire that devastated the premises.
The Brief: Develop a re-launch plan for the hotel in less than seven weeks that would win back local business and leisure customers and attract major media coverage and interest. Ensure that the property once again became the focus of the local community.
The Response: A marketing, sales and PR plan to ensure all objectives were met. Modus Operandi to project manage the launch team to ensure delivery of the plan on time and within budget.
The Results: Due to the unprecedented success of the marketing, sales and PR activity the hotel regained centre stage in the local business and leisure community. Following the launch all occupancy and revenue targets were met and exceeded.
See Client Testimonial
Client: Conrad Hotel, Chelsea Harbour, London
Business Challenge: Develop and train sales team to acquire new clients, retain existing and drive incremental and additional revenue while focusing on the customer experience.
Background: Conrad London is the only 5* ‘all suite’ property in Central London. It is situated in the prestigious location of Chelsea Harbour but faces stiff competition from more centrally located properties.
The Brief: To understand how the Sales team can improve their conversion of sales enquiries. To evaluate the current enquiry and follow-up process with respect to:
- People
- Process and procedures
- Systems
Client: Le Meridien U.K. & Ireland
Business Challenge - Business Development
- Full competitor review and analysis
- Review and audit of current central and hotel based marketing activity
- Make recommendations on structure of marketing department together with job profiles, roles and responsibilities
- Develop marketing strategy and plan for central and hotel based marketing activity
- Develop processes to maximise internal and third party communication opportunities
- Make recommendations on product developments
- Direct, review and manage all marketing activities for U.K. & Ireland
- Develop and launch marketing brand standards and best practises at a Marketing Conference
Client: InterContinental Hotels Group U.K. & Ireland
Business Challenge: Develop a Meetings Product to drive revenue and outperform the competition
Over a nine month period to manage and direct a cross functional project team incorporating sales, marketing, training, operations, IT, revenue, food and beverage and technical services.
The Brief: To implement consistent standards, best practices, process & procedures for:
- Sales and marketing
- Physical product
- Operations
- Measurement
- Management Information
All of the above to consolidate and support key selling messages across the portfolio of brands to drive revenue.
See Client Testimonial
Client: InterContinental Hotels Group U.K. & Ireland
The Brief: To review the central marketing team structure for U.K. & Ireland. To assess internal and external resources, skills and capabilities of the team. To make recommendations on:
- The structure
- Succession planning
- Training and development needs
Client: Chelsea Village Hotels, Stamford Bridge, London
To audit the sales and marketing functions focusing on structure and capability of staff, current processes and procedures and systems capability. To make recommendations to improve all of the above to more effectively develop and deliver effective sales and marketing and drive incremental revenue. Implementation of findings included:
- Departmental structure, job descriptions and personal profiles
- Full competitor analysis
- Customer Journeys defined by market segment
- Key selling points by segment
- Effective use of systems to measure and manage the business
- Systems business requirements specification
- Enquiry call handling brand standards and measurement
- Introduction of sales account management disciplines
- Effective selling courses
- Strategy and pricing reviews
- Review of all customer communication
- Sales conversion tracking and measurement
See Client Testimonial
Client: Chelsea Village Travel
Stage 1: To develop, manage and run a one day off-site programme to effectively ‘tease-out’ the 3-5 year business strategy
Stage 2: To write the strategy document and develop the Power Point slides for presentation and approval of the Chelsea PLC board.
Client: Chelsea Village Hotels, Stamford Bridge, London
Stage 1: To develop, manage and run a one day off-site programme to effectively ‘tease-out’ the 3-5 year business strategy
Stage 2: To write the strategy document and develop the Power Point slides for presentation and approval of the Chelsea PLC board.
Client: Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts
Background: Granada’s decision to sell off the Forte brand of hotels which included: Le Meridien, Posthouse, Heritage and Travelodge hotels either as individual enterprises resulted in the loss of several critical central support functions. Le Meridien needed to transition itself to a stand-alone company by replication many of the central functions within its new organisation, structure and resource capability
Modus Operandi was appointed to manage the Transition Project which effectively contained 27 sub-projects within one overall project. The project was time and budget critical requiring detailed project plans and progress review meetings with the Board of Directors and Board Sponsors. The Transition Project contained everything from setting up a new Central Reservations office and booking system to establishing a payroll, HR and accounts system, to managing internal and external communication requirements and expectations.
Client: Chelsea Football Club, Stamford Bridge, London
Business Challenge: Hospitality Sales & Marketing
Following the addition of a new ‘West Wing’ which increased hospitality capacity by 20% Modus Operandi were briefed to:
- Review current sales techniques
- Make recommendations on changes required to maximise sales and profit
- Make recommendations on systems and process changes required
Client: Six Continents Hotels, Europe.
Business Challenge: Tactical Revenue Development
Develop tactical revenue programmes to enable individual properties and the group as a whole to steal market share and outperform the competition. Use speed to market and third party relationships to gain longer term strategic advantage. Maximise and exploit tactical marketing, sales and revenue opportunities across all departments. To provide the necessary development and training of key personnel in a trial site prior to roll-out in EMEA. To complement other strategic development programmes on a regional and worldwide basis.
Client: Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India
To develop and run a 3 day strategic sales and marketing training programme in Delhi and Mumbai for senior managers of the leading hotel and restaurant groups.
See Client Testimonial
Non Hospitality Clients
Utilities
Client: npower (National Power), Worcester
Background: Since de-regulation, all utility companies have been encouraged to lose 20% of their existing base to competitors. Whilst npower had increased its acquisition activities with reasonable success, they were losing existing customers quicker than they could acquire new customers. npower were operating in a highly competitive and very noisy marketplace, customers were confused and there appeared to be very few clear messages to the customer base.
Business Challenge: Retention Marketing
- To review and audit the sales operation, billing & marketing processes for retention of customers.
- To make recommendations on process and procedure improvements and implement 10 quick wins to reduce the hemorrhaging of the existing customer base.
- To develop a strategic retention marketing plan and budget to re-position the business with its existing customer base.
- To make recommendations on an annual calendar of tactical marketing activity to form the basis of customer relationship management
See Client Testimonial
Financial Services
Client: Axa Insurance call centres in Morecambe and Darlington
Business Challenge: Improve motor and home insurance direct sell inbound conversion and outperform the competition
The Brief: Review the direct sales operation incorporating two call centres and over 300 staff to improve operational and sales efficiencies. Use the results and recommendations to implement change management.
Stage 1 - review resulted in change and improvement to the following areas:
- Customer Journey
- Telephony and Call Filters
- Recruitment policy
- Call Centre structure
- Sales Journey
- Call Guide (including training of new call guide, sales adviser tools and sales culture)
- Sales Adviser Tools
Stage 2 – Use existing resources to implement and drive change into the business. I directed a cross functional project team of underwriting, sales, marketing, regulatory, legal and IT to deliver a simplified and more efficient ‘customer focused’ telephone sales operation. To modify the systems capability to incorporate these changes using a graphical front end system that:
- Reduced length of time on call
- Increased conversion
- Empowered sales advisers to sell
- Enabled cross sell and up sell
- Enabled monitoring and measurement of performance
Features
- Instant system decline
- Underwriting decisions instant and system generated
- System generated features and benefits
- System generated competitor benefits analysis
- Dynamic price matrix
Results
- Conversion up from 15% to 28%
- Average transaction value increased by 2%
- Call time reduced by 14% on motor and 10% on home
- Daily reporting
- Training/induction reduced from 3 weeks to 2 weeks
See Client Testimonial
Internet Start Up
Client: The Edge
Business Challenge: Review the business opportunity for an internet start-up company.
- To review the business plan for an Internet start-up company
- To develop the strategic marketing plan for the start-up company
- To make recommendations on revenue generating activity
- To make recommendations on contingency activity
- To make recommendations on the required marketing structure to support the business and marketing plan.
Financial Services
Client: Axa Insurance, Aldgate
Business Challenge: Marketing Review
Background: The appointment of a new Marketing Director with a brief for change meant that the marketing team needed to adapt to new market developments and market demands.
The Brief: Modus Operandi to Project manage the transition to the new marketing structure ensuring a seamless handover of business critical projects within agreed time lines. Review the personnel within the new marketing structure. Assess their strengths, weaknesses skills and capabilities and make recommendations on their training and development needs.
Utilities
Client: npower
Business Challenge: Review and improve sales and marketing direct sell operation for ‘Safeguard’.
Background: npower marketed its ‘Safeguard’ warranty services but used Zurich warranty to deliver its direct sell and customer services operations.
The Brief: Review all direct sell and customer service activity and make recommendations on improvements for People, Process and Systems. Work with npower and Zurich to implement change management.
Professional Association
Client: Chartered Institute of Marketing
Business Challenge: Personal Branding and Professional Image Management within the workplace?
Background: The Chartered Institute of Marketing holds seminars on various marketing related subjects. Each seminar contributes towards the Continuous Professional Development of its’ members.
The Brief: An interactive presentation to educate members on the importance of Personal Branding within the workplace. All delegates, male and female, to have an understanding of the importance of
- First Impressions
- Visual, verbal and non verbal communication
- Grooming
- Personal branding and appearance management.
Higher Education
Client: Open University, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
Business Challenge: Create ‘a model’ of best practice for marketing that would change their perceived role within the University.
The Brief: Use change management to re-position marketing from passive order taking to analytical, strategic and directional in their influence.
The Response: Modus Operandi took an existing marketing challenge and used it as a practical case study and live marketing project, by creating a cross functional project team using existing resources. Our consultant (Ursuline) operated as an external part-time Project Manager breaking down the project into bite sized pieces. She worked with and alongside the team educating, coaching and training new skills and behaviours. The Project Team learned to work in a new consultative and supportive manner to achieve their goals and targets. The result was a very successful Business School marketing and business development project which has been the catalyst for change and paved the way for future success.
This is just one of many briefs Modus Operandi have completed for the Open University, other projects have included:
- Communications re-launch
- Development of a customer segmentation strategy.