If you joined us on our recent coach forum with Louise Roberts and Chris Cummins, you’ll be aware of a new role for a familiar OTD face.
Dave Cosgrove has taken up a temporary position as our Account Operations Executive Manager and it’s all designed to delight our customers. We asked Chris to explain how the move came about.
“We recently held a meeting of our account managers and several key themes emerged,” says Chris.
“They included the need for new account managers, that our existing account managers are feeling overstretched and that many of our processes are unclear. At the same time, people aren’t always aware of what is available to offer our customers.”
It also became clear that we could be better at knowing where our business comes from, how we can add value to proposals and who our most important customers are.
Chris adds: “Our last two years have been our best ever and that business growth has led to more and more customers asking us for more and more things.
“There is communication from our customers all of the time now, so we need good, streamlined processes that are much more meaningful for coaches, customers and the business. We want everybody to be doing the right things at the right time without having to chase up!”
Enter Dave Cosgrove. He’s already begun looking at a six-step cycle to help us become more profitable and create an even better connection with our customers.
It includes a focus on:
- Initial enquiry. If we’re going to market to customers, we need to be clearer on where inbound enquiries are coming from.
- Meeting to assess needs. Very often a customer will state that they need training but we need to clarify that their desired outcomes are the most appropriate ones before diagnosing the need.
- Proposal. Many customers don’t want to receive a large presentation, so we need to be clearer about where a pitch, presentation or quotation is required.
- Project set-up. We’re trying to get much better at making sure the customer’s expectation is clear on the amount of work our coaches are doing and that they receive the level of service they deserve.
- Delivery. We are also looking at how we can be better at measuring and reporting the progress made.
- Programme feedback. We should be arranging meetings to discuss feedback, with more focus on sustainability.
