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"Listening" Pays

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Today's Agenda

• Introductory Remarks

• Significant Findings

• Concluding Remarks

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Introductory Remarks

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Survey Objectives

• Exploring what C-suite luxury marketers and their brands are currently doing, if anything, to understand and serve their customers better by "listening" to them — either formally or informally

• To determine the impact, if any, on their businesses, brands, and staff of their "listening" to customers

• To determine what, if anything, the businesses changed as a result of their "listening" programs

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Significant Findings

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Respondents' Functions in the Company

Top C-suite functions 90%

Chief marketing officer 68%

Chief communications officer 48%

Chief executive officer 42%

Chief financial officer 24%

Chief operating officer 24%

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Company's/Organization's Customer Base

Both con-sumers and businesses:

60%

Only busi-

nesses:24%

Only con-sumers:

16%

All C-Suite Executives

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Company's/Organization's Use of a Formal Listening Program

Yes, use formal pro-

gram:25%

No, do not us formal program:

67%

Don't know:

7%

All C-Suite Executives

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Summary of 27 Listening Methods Company/Organization Potentially Uses By Category C-Suite

Executives and Have Formal

Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Staff personally interacting with customers 90 73

Researching customers' needs, preferences, etc. 88 64Company/organization employing digital tools 83 59

Using customer data to service them better 73 57

Educating/rewarding customers 71 66

Leveraging staff capabilities and knowledge 68 48

Channel integration 41 20

None of these 0 6

Average number of methods used 11 7

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Staff personally interacting with customers 90 73

Speaking with customers on the sales floor or at in-person/virtual events 66 53

Regular in-person or virtual meetings with customers for feedback on our brands, offerings, customer service, etc. 54 34

Mini surveys conducted by sales staff 44 19

We have a customer council or panel in place and meet with them regularly 34 9

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Researching customers' needs, preferences, etc. 88 64Quantitative survey research (online surveys,

mail surveys, phone surveys, personal interviews, etc.) 56 27Understanding customers' preferred types of communication (e.g., direct mail, email, phone, text, etc.) 56 44

Understanding customers' preferred place to receive communications -- home, office, or somewhere else 46 24Qualitative research (focus groups, think

tanks, etc.) 44 22Secondary research and analysis/conducting

case studies 39 19

Ethnographic research (online or offline) 15 6

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Company/organization employing digital tools 83 59Tracking social media with real time and more

aggressive responses to customer questions and issues through social media (e.g., Facebook, etc.) 66 31More aggressive outreach through social media to better understand customer perspectives 49 29

Have signed up with Google alerts to be notified whenever anything referencing our company or brand(s) is posted on the Web 37 36

Have an agreement with content aggregators/news tracking notification systems (Google, Radian6, etc.) to keep track of key issues/areas of thought leadership for our company and/or brands 22 4In-store interactive feedback technology (kiosks, apps) 20 6Have agreement with media aggregators (Radian6, etc.) to track on company's and/or brand's behalf 17 5

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Using customer data to service them better 73 57

Customized communications tailored to customers' historical buying habits 51 29

Segmentations based on historic purchases 49 22

Use historical spend data to cross-sell and up-sell 46 29Use historical data to migrate customers into

buying more deeply from the company 44 26

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Educating/rewarding customers 71 66

Educating best customers on trends 44 41

Special experiential/educational events (e.g., in-store, webinars, e-newsletters, etc.) 41 43

Rewarding customers for their suggestions or recommendations 41 17

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Leveraging staff capabilities and knowledge 68 48

Leveraging sales team as partners to better forecast customer preferences and market trends 56 27Staff's participating in key communities and

groups 46 33

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Detailed Listening Methods Company/Organization Uses (continued)

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%

C-Suite Executives and

NO Formal Listening Program

%Channel integration 41 20

Integrating all of our channels (e.g., Web, bricks and mortar, catalog, etc.) 41 20

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Impact of Company's/Organization's Formal Listening Program

We owe our success to our "listen-

ing pro-gram":

17%

It has had a major impact:

51%

It has had a minor

impact:29%

C-Suite Executives and Have Formal Listening Program

It has had no impact at all:

2%

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Representative "Successes" and "Major Impacts"

• "$2m in revenue for our clients on solely our programs, for example.”

• "…brought to our attention areas for consideration not previously considered.”

• "Clients express dissatisfaction with other similar vendors. That gives us the direction on how to improve their business lives.”

• "...helps us understand our clients' expectations and align our value signals to exceed them.”

• “"...our field sales reps make up the large majority of our listening program, the feedback impacts our marketing spend and product execution, without it profitability would be severely impacted."

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How Formal Listening Program's Results Are Distributed

C-Suite Executives and

Have Formal Listening Program

%A report to the C-Suite 51

A report to a number of departments or teams 39

Discussion(s) with the C-Suite 39

A report to the communications department or team 32Discussion(s) with the communications team 29

A report to the head of communications 27

Discussion(s) with the head of communications 22Other ways 17

The "listening program" results are not shared in any formal way 10

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Changes Made at Company/Organization Based on Formal Listening Program

Yes, changes have been

made:83%

No, changes have not been made:

12%

C-Suite Executives and Have Formal Listening Program

Don't know: 5%

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Representative Changes Made

• " ...able to refine our message and media channels based on industry input."

• "...always changing based on feedback. Customers pay the bills.”

• "Focus on top client needs, adjust to wants and preferences.”

• "improve the dialogue with the client on how they want to interact with us."

• "Now we listen more."

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Level of Optimism Looking 12 Months Out

Very opti-mistic:

46%

Somewhat op-timistic: 17%

C-Suite Executives and Have Formal Listening Program

Pessimistic: 0%

Optimistic:37%

Very opti-mistic:

34%

Somewhat optimistic:

19%

Optimistic:44%

C-Suite Executives and NO Formal Listening Program

Pessimistic: 2%

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Representative Reasons for Being Very Optimistic

• "Brand expansion into China and additional markets as well as mobile projects; funding has been secured and people, process and programs are a high priority."

• "I've pivoted our business model to capture emerging trends in branding and communications. Feel confident that this move has created new opportunities for new revenue streams."

• "Luxury on the rise; still best buyers increasing in numbers and spending more."

• "My industry has historically showed growth despite downturns in the economy. We have invested in improving our quality and we are receiving media attention recognizing our results."

• "We are a growing company in the Bay Area and our projections are all very positive for the upcoming 12 months. We are meeting and exceeding our goals."

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Concluding Remarks

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Concluding Remarks

• "Listening" to customers pays:

•Revenue-wise•Expense/efficiency-wise•Marketing-wise•Team-wise

• Formal "listening" programs are more beneficial than informal approaches

• Formal "listening" programs that report directly to the top C-suite execs on a regular basis are significantly more beneficial to the customers, the business, and the staff compared with "listening" programs delegated to other staff to lead and manage

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“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

— Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People