Business Services Marketing Series

The setting

LEDGERLINE provides bookkeeping services to small businesses on monthly retainers. One long-standing client calls constantly, almost always about work that was delivered correctly, and the account team has started avoiding the phone.

Your role

You are to assume the role of an account associate at LEDGERLINE.

Your task

LEDGERLINE is a small bookkeeping firm with a team of four account staff serving local businesses on monthly retainers. One client, a dental practice that has been with the firm since it opened, is among its largest accounts. The practice manager calls several times a week, usually to question figures that turn out to be correct once they are explained.

Two of the account staff have started letting the calls go to voicemail, and one has asked not to work on the account at all. The managing partner values the relationship and the revenue, but can see the effect it is having on the team and on the time left for every other client.

The managing partner (judge) wants you to recommend what LEDGERLINE should do about this client. Explain how the firm should build and maintain relationships with its clients, describe how to handle a difficult client without losing them, discuss what customer relationship management means for a service business, explain the factors that build a lasting client base, and explain what positive client relations is worth to a firm that grows by referral.

Performance indicators

• Build and maintain relationships with customers.
• Handle difficult customers.
• Discuss the nature of customer relationship management.
• Explain key factors in building a clientele.
• Explain the nature of positive customer relations.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What would you say in the next call with this client?
2. 2.When, if ever, should a firm let a client go?

The setting

CLEARWAY IT monitors office networks overnight. When the service works, the client sees nothing at all, and renewal conversations have become difficult because clients ask what exactly they have been paying for.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a sales associate at CLEARWAY IT.

Your task

CLEARWAY IT monitors the computer networks of small offices overnight, catching and fixing problems before staff arrive in the morning. When the service works well, clients experience nothing at all: no outages, no slowdowns, no calls. Contracts renew each year, and the sales team handles each renewal conversation.

This year, several long-standing clients have asked some version of the same question at renewal: what exactly are we paying for? Two have not renewed. The sales manager believes the service has never been better and that the problem is entirely in how it is being sold.

The sales manager (judge) wants you to explain how CLEARWAY should sell a renewal. Explain what the selling function covers for a service like this, walk through the selling process as it applies to a renewal conversation, explain how to analyse the service to identify features and benefits a client can actually recognise, explain the part service plays in the selling relationship, and describe what service management should be doing to make the work visible.

Performance indicators

• Explain the nature and scope of the selling function.
• Explain the selling process.
• Analyze product information to identify product features and benefits.
• Explain the role of customer service as a component of selling relationships.
• Explain the nature and scope of the product/service management function.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What single piece of evidence would make the value obvious to a client?
2. 2.How is selling a renewal different from selling the first contract?

The setting

BRIGHTFOLD CLEANING has always believed its commercial clients come from word of mouth, and has built its marketing around that belief. A new intake form asking how each client heard about the company has produced answers that do not match the story the company tells itself.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing assistant at BRIGHTFOLD CLEANING.

Your task

BRIGHTFOLD CLEANING provides office cleaning to local businesses and has always told itself that most new clients come from recommendations. On that belief it has spent the past year on a referral programme that rewards existing clients for introducing new ones.

A new intake form now asks every new client how they first heard of the company. The early answers point somewhere quite different, and many clients have left the question blank. The owner is planning next year's marketing and does not want to repeat the same assumption without knowing whether it is true.

The owner (judge) wants you to recommend where BRIGHTFOLD should focus. Describe the need for marketing data before a budget is committed, identify the data the company should be monitoring for marketing decisions, explain the nature of marketing research at this scale, explain what genuinely builds a client base for a service business, and explain the role a situation analysis should play in the company's planning.

Performance indicators

• Describe the need for marketing data.
• Identify data monitored for marketing decision making.
• Explain the nature of marketing research.
• Explain key factors in building a clientele.
• Explain the role of situation analysis in the marketing planning process.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How would you fix the intake form so next year's answer is usable?
2. 2.What would you do about the referral programme in the meantime?

The setting

TIDEMARK DESIGN has charged the same monthly retainer since it opened, while what it costs to do the work has climbed steadily. The owner wants to raise the fee for every existing client at the same time.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate at TIDEMARK DESIGN.

Your task

TIDEMARK DESIGN is a small studio producing branding and marketing materials for local businesses on monthly retainers. It has charged the same fee since it opened several years ago, while the cost of staff, software and rent has risen steadily. The owner has decided the fee must go up and wants to change it for every client in the same month.

Several clients have been with TIDEMARK since the beginning and consider the relationship personal. Two of the larger clients recently asked for more work within their existing retainer. The owner is worried about how the news will land but is certain the studio cannot continue at the current fee.

The owner (judge) wants you to explain how TIDEMARK should handle the increase. Explain the nature and scope of the pricing function for a studio like this, describe the factors that should affect the decision, explain the role business ethics plays in changing a price on clients who did not expect it, explain what the company's selling policies should say about existing clients, and describe how the change should be interpreted to the clients themselves.

Performance indicators

• Explain the nature and scope of the pricing function.
• Explain factors affecting pricing decisions.
• Describe the role of business ethics in pricing.
• Explain company selling policies.
• Interpret business policies to customers/clients.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Should every client move to the new fee on the same date?
2. 2.What would you do if the largest client pushed back?