Sales and marketing leaders are asking themselves how to effectively compete and grow their business in a connected society where traditional business value drivers have become a commodity.
Insights2020 is a global initiative focused on uncovering the drivers of customer-centric growth and helping leaders:
- Define the role of insights & analytics in driving business strategy and growth
- Build and organize the function for success
- Emulate the leadership competencies and behaviors of over-performing organizations
4. THE CONVERGENCE OF SALES & MARKETING #ConnectIn16
Strategy - Segmentation
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Strategy - Purposeful Positioning
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Structure- Marketing Organization
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Capability – Masters of Marketing in a Digital Age
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Valuation – Brand & Marketing Mix Valuation
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Welcome to the connected society
212 Billion
Sensor enabled
devices
2008 2015 2020
7
Billion
25
Billion
50
Billion
Connected devices
!
Connected
Society
Data People
Process Devices
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Traditional value drivers no longer provide
competitive advantage
1900 -
1960
1960 -
1990
1990 -
2010
2010 -
PRESENT
Age of
Manufacturing
Age of
Distribution
Age of
Information
Technology
Age of the
Connected
Customer
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Everybody talks about Customer Centricity
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HOW
to achieve
Customer
Centricity?
WHAT
are the drivers
of Customer
Centricity?
Insights2020 Focus
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The Insights2020 Coalition
Founding Partners Advisory Board
Keith Weed
Unilever
Sir Martin Sorrell
WPP
Diego Scotti
Verizon
Tony Fagan
Google
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60 Markets
337 Vision Interviews
10,495 Survey Respondents
• LinkedIn Behavioral Analysis
• Wharton Crowd Sourcing
• 8 Global research teams
• Cross-industry, Cross-function
Largest and most global I&A study ever conducted
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Overperformers vs Underperformers
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Key dimensions of Customer-Centric growth
CUSTOMER
CENTRIC
GROWTH
TOTAL
EXPERIENCE
INSIGHTS
ENGINE
CUSTOMER
OBSESSION
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Key dimensions of Customer-Centric growth
1. Purpose-led
2. Data-driven customization
3. Touch point consistencyCUSTOMER
CENTRIC
GROWTH
TOTAL
EXPERIENCE
INSIGHTS
ENGINE
CUSTOMER
OBSESSION
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Link everything to a
clear brand purpose
Driver 1. Purpose-led
80%
32%
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Creating experiences based
on data driven insights
Driver 2. Data-driven customization
32%
73%
31%
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I&A to drive consistency
across all touch points
Driver 3. Touch point consistency
32%
64%
29%
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Key dimensions of Customer-Centric growth
4. Embraced by all
5. Leadership priority
6. Collaboration
7. Experimentation
CUSTOMER
CENTRIC
GROWTH
TOTAL
EXPERIENCE
INSIGHTS
ENGINE
CUSTOMER
OBSESSION
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Customer Centricity
is fully embraced by
all functions
Driver 4. Embraced by all
79%
13%
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Customer Centricity
is a top priority for
leaders
Driver 5. Leadership priority
91%
48%
Incentives are
based on customer
related KPIs
45%
24%
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Work closely with
customers
Driver 6. Collaboration
72%
45%
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Embracing risk and
experimentation
Driver 7. Experimentation
40%
13%
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Key dimensions of Customer-Centric growth
8. Leading role of I&A
9. Unlocking the power of data
10. Critical capabilitiesCUSTOMER
CENTRIC
GROWTH
TOTAL
EXPERIENCE
INSIGHTS
ENGINE
CUSTOMER
OBSESSION
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I&A leading the
business
Driver 8. Leading role of I&A
51%
18%
I&A reports into
the CEO
29%
12%
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Linking different data
sources to distil
insights
Driver 9. Unlocking the Power of Data
67%
34%
THE ECONOMIC GRAPH
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Business Sense
Driver 10. Critical capabilities
75%
50%
‘Wholebrain’
thinking
71%
42%
Storytelling
61%
37%
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NOW what?
Focus on products
and services
Focus on Total
Experience
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NOW what?
Focus on detail
of data
Focus on actionability
of data
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NOW what?
Deliver to customers Co-create and innovate
with customers
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45%
53%
61%
+8%
+2%
+3%
Supporting scorecard – Illustrative Numbers
• Leading role of I&A
• Unlocking the power of data
• Critical Capabilities
Insights Engine
Revenue Growth
Potential
+2.8%
73%
49%
53%
+2%
+5%
+3%
+9%
-6%
-2%
-9%
-6%
-2%
SCORE
GAP vs
BENCHMARK AMBITION
GAP vs
BENCHMARK AMBITION
+3%
-7%
SCORE
GAP vs
BENCHMARK AMBITION
+5%
63%
75%
61%
34%
+5%
+3%
+4%
+6%-2%
• Embraced by all
• Leadership priority
• Collaboration
• Experimentation
Customer Obsession
Total Experience
• Purpose-led
• Data-driven customization
• Touch point consistency
SCORE
34. 76%
Lorum ipsum dolor
THE CONVERGENCE OF SALES & MARKETING #ConnectIn16
Mission:
Connect the world’s professionals to
make them more productive and successful
#1 Value:
Our Members Come First
35. 76%
Lorum ipsum dolor
THE CONVERGENCE OF SALES & MARKETING #ConnectIn16
LinkedIn is Uniquely
Positioned To Help Drive
Customer-Centric Growth
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Growth requires personalized experience at scale
ORGANIC / SPONSORED
CONTENT
The most effective platform for
marketers to engage with
professionals
Content Marketing
SALES NAVIGATOR
Empower your sales teams
with social intelligence and content
to share
Social Selling
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Growth requires alignment on brand purpose
PUBLISHING PLATFORM
Empower your leaders to
communicate directly with
key stakeholders, employees,
and prospective talent
Thought Leadership
ELEVATE
Leverage your employees’ collective
influence
to share content
that is “on brand”
Employee Activation
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Overperformers leverage the multiplication effect to drive growth
More likely to be
over-performers
LI Sales Navigator
(Social Selling)
LI Marketing Solutions
(Brand Activation)
8X
More likely to
be over-
performer
3x
Leveraging LinkedIn for
Marketing OR Sales
Leveraging LinkedIn for
Marketing AND Sales
Notas del editor
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
As the introduction film just showed: We live in a connected society – by 2020 there will be an estimated 50 billion connected devices in the world – that is an average of 7 per person! Also an estimated 212 billion sensor-enabled devices. Just think about that number for a second. All the data-points we can leverage for insights!
It’s hard to imagine the possibilities for the ocean of behavioral data these devices will provide; but this does mean we will (finally) have the data available to figure out much better what customers want, it will allow us to better understand our customers and become much more Customer Centric.
But not only we now CAN be more customer centric, we also MUST become more customer centric, because traditional business value drivers don’t cut it anymore. Anyone can produce quality products, manufacturing doesn’t provide a (sustainable) competitive advantage anymore (Ford, Sony). And with the rise of connected devices, transparency of the digital world and commoditization of information and data, the real (future) source of competitive lies in truly understanding the needs of customers and serving them in a fast, transparent and credible way (Amazon). And in being truly customer centric.
And yes, everybody has been talking about it for decades, and it is getting even more attention recently in publications.
And more specifically, these are the two questions Insights2020 will answer:
WHAT are the drivers of Customer Centricity? And HOW to achieve Customer Centricity?
…and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners
ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research
ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US.
Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network
Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies
Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
Insights2020 is a combination of qualitative (331 vision interviews) and quantitative surveys. As well as distilling learning from behavioral data, for which we were able to use the LinkedIn database, and crowdsourcing which we did in collaboration with an expert pool from Whar6ton University. And of course we did quite a lot of desk research to make sure that we are building on all the knowledge and learning that was already available.
Throughout our analysis, we looked at what overperforming and what underperforming companies do. We compare the scores of companies that grow faster and outperform their competitors in terms of business growth, to those companies that lag behind in terms of growth; the underperformers
So, ‘What ARE the drivers of Customer Centricity?
Well, our study uncovered 10 key drivers of Customer Centricity, clustered in 3 dimensions. We have used the 66 variables in the I2020 data to identify which drivers contribute most to Business Growth; Customer-centric business growth. By doing this, we can quantify the impact of drivers. Three distinct dimensions came out, each with consisting of specific drivers.
First of all, an external dimension: delivering a Total Experience to Customers. 3x more (85% vs 29%)
The second is the internal, the organizational dimension: Customer Obsession. 4x more (87% vs 22%)
The third dimension is about the Strategic Leverage of Insights and Analytics, and the Insights Engine. 4x more (51% vs 12%)
We will now zoom in on each of the 3 dimensions to understand in more detail WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this, step by step. We will illustrate each element with a case study example to bring it to life.
Let’s look at WHAT overperformers do to create Total Experience and HOW they achieve it, step by step.
Purpose-led
Data-driven customization
Touch point consistency.
Overperformers link everything they do to a clear brand purpose, very significantly more so than underperformers: 80% vs 32%.
Brand Purpose serves as a North Star, guiding all decision. Brand Purpose gives crystal clear direction on what you stand for towards customers, consumers, employees and other stakeholders.
Our brand positioning / purpose is based on customer needs (91% vs 56%)
The 2nd driver in creating a total experience for the customer is data-driven customization. Insights 2020 found that overperformers are much more likely to create experiences based on data-driven insights (73% vs 31%).
Overperformers also use Insights & Analytics to build personalized offerings compared to underperformers. (64% vs 28%)
Overperformers use I&A to drive consistency across all touch points (64% vs 29%). With the number of channels and touch points exploding, the need to create consistency for customers is all the more important.
Let’s move on the more internal focused dimension of Customer Centric Growth. WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this:
Embraced by all
Leadership priority
Collaboration
Experimentation
It starts with everyone focusing on the customer at all levels and across all functions and even through external partners. At overperforming organizations, Customer Centricity is fully embraced by all functions. This is the driver that contributes to customer centricity, more than any other one, sets winners apart from losers: 79% vs 13%.
At overperformers, Customer Centricity is top priority for leaders (91% vs 48%)
These organization have their leaders truly leading customer centricity from the front. They don’t just talk the talk of CC, they also walk the talk by basing incentives on Customer-related KPIs (45% vs 24%)
Interestingly, leaders of CC companies are often more likely to engage with and share content on social platforms like LinkedIn. They are reading and sharing content that is focused on their customer, leading from the top.
Sir Richard Branson is an influencer on LinkedIn and uses social media to engage directly with Virgin customers, combining a customer-centric approach with a strong brand purpose. Branson was the first influencer to reach over 1 million followers on LinkedIn and continues to highlight entrepreneurial tips and focus on leadership, management and the customer.
Overperformers work more closely with customers (72% vs 45%).
High customer-centric companies describe their companies as highly collaborative (52% vs 5%)
We also found that employees of truly CC companies are also more connected on the LinkedIn platform.
23% more connections
25% more connections outside their own company
20% more connections in their own function
23% more connections outside of their own function
Overperformers embrace risk and experimentation (40% vs 13%). This driver of a Customer Obsessive culture goes further than just managing risks, but embraces risk-taking and a test-and-learn mentality.
At LinkedIn, 2 of our values speak to this idea: “taking intelligent risks” and “acting like an owner.”
Let’s move to the last dimension of Customer Centric Growth: the Insights Engine. Again, we will talk about WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this:
- Leading role of I&A
- Unlocking the power of data
- Critical capabilities
I&A helps to lead the business significantly more often at overperformers (51% vs 18%). In this context we talk about the concept of I&A, not necessarily the I&A function. I&A leading the business means I&A are infused in all business decisions, and the I&A function has matured into a true business partner with a seat at the (board) table.
For example at overperformers I&A reports more often into the CEO (29% vs 12%), giving I&A a seat at the board table and the ability to be part of decision making.
Also Underperformers often have separate ‘Insights’ and ‘Analytics’ teams, within different departments. Also, I&A reports into Marketing more often, making I&A more of a ‘marketing services’ team.
It is critical to organize for a Single Version of the Truth in your company. This does not mean that The Insights folk have all the databases centralized, but that there is a clear Insights Guardian role. Because the risk with all these data in the hands of so many people and functions is clearly that the data can start to live a life on their own and the wrong conclusions are drawn.
Let’s look at some obvious and not-so-obvious examples of companies where I&A is leading the business. Leading can be explained in different ways.
At Unilever, no major decisions are taken without Stan (Global CMI) is either pulled into the room or consulted. CMI does not have an actual seat at the board table (reporting into the CMO), but is treated as of it it does. On regional and local level CMI does not report into Marketing, but into the GM to act as a true business partner. Unilever CMI mission is ‘inspire and provoke to enable transformational action’
At overperformers, the I&A function reports into the CEO (29% vs 12%). Although relatively low absolute number of companies where this is the case, we do see a clear trend that this is changing.
Overperformers are linking different data sources to distil insights, in twice as many of the cases as their underperforming peers (67% vs 34%)
Overperformers are thinking about how to use and leverage data from various data sets in a holistic way. An example of unlocking the power of data stems from LinkedIn’s mission to help professionals be more productive and successful by building the economic graph, a digital map the global economy to connect talent with opportunity at massive scale on behalf of our members.
Three interesting data points: I&A within overperformers have a strong sense of the business (75% vs 50%) are Coming up with more creative solutions (Wholebrain) (69% vs 42%), apply Storytelling (60% vs 36%) to maximize their impact
Each of you will be at different stages in your journey. And you will all define your own CC ambition, but before we go there are three things you could take out action immediately.
The customer is not static and your proposition will always be a part of a bigger experience. Winners look at the Customer through the lens of the Total Customer Experience Journey. It is not about your product or service but about the difference, be it big or small, that you make in the day or the life of your customer. Never forget that
Secondly: forget about 100% detail and correctness of the data, but focus on accessibility and increase actionability. Many companies hire high-paid data scientists that spend their time and energy creating the perfect data-set, cleaning and managing all day. That is a waste.
And don’t just validate what you deliver to your customers, but reach out and find ways to co-create and innovate with customers. Find new platforms where you can interact and rapidly deliver new solutions and enhance the customer experience.
More important than anything else: Go out and be with Customers. Talk to customers, walk with them eat and drink with them. If need be: sleep with them. And have fun while doing it. That will be contagious!
The exciting part of having such a robust global cross-industry study, is that we are now also able to quantify the improvement potential for any organization that participated in our study.
We are able to assess a company on each of the 10 drivers in our framework on their current performance. We benchmark it across the total population and the over-performers to see where they stand.
We can then define the ambition on each lever – given their customer centricity ambition and strategy, and link the improvement potential of becoming more customer centric to revenue growth and thus concrete $$ monetary impact.
This is an illustrative case, but in this example, you see the company at hand has some higher and some lower scores vs the study. Based on the ambition presented there is an improvement potential leading to an equivalent of 2.8% in revenue growth.
I am convinced this will trigger some interest at board level, if they aren’t already driving customer centricity!
I’d like to talk about how this links to our products and services and why is I2020 a substantial part of our narrative…We joined because at our core, we strive to be a customer centric company….
And not only are we customer centric as a company, but as we strive to be customer-centric with our values it leads directly into our products and services. LinkedIn is truly uniquely positioned to help drive customer centricity and business growth for the world’s organizations. And I’ll tell you a bit more about how we do that.
Overperformers:
Create experiences based on data driven insights
Continue to track and evolve these experiences by distilling data properly
Use data and insights to make these experiences consistent across the customer journey.
At LinkedIn, we live and breathe the personalized experience from a marketing side with our Content Marketing solutions.
Through sponsored and organic content, LinkedIn is the most effective platform for marketers to engage with professionals.
It allows you leverage data and insights to identify the right audiences, create unique and credible experiences at scale (building relationships), and do it in a consistent way across the customer journey
Not only that, but our Sales Navigator solutions allows sales people to go even deeper to build the right relationships, with the right sales targets, in the right context. It allows sales people to create and deepen 1:1 relationships with the customer, driving a customer centric approach.
We found through I2020 that over-performers were much more likely to leverage social selling than underperformers – selling through their network that allows them to have warm introductions rather than cold calls.
LinkedIn for selling: CC companies 32% vs 12% (I2020 research fielded by LNKD)
The next theme of I2020 is addressing how companies align their purpose internally and externally.
Over-performers do this by
Linking everything they do to a clear brand purpose
Ensure that they’re doing so from the top-down,
Customer Centricity is fully embraced by all functions.
And the main way they achieve this is through clear and consistent communication internally and externally.
The last thing we touch on is the success that companies that are bringing data and insights into everything they do are seeing…
We found through I2020 that over-performers are much more likely to leverage LinkedIn for marketing and sales. When using LinkedIn for sales OR marketing, companies are 3X more likely to be over-performers. However, when companies leverage both sales and marketing on LinkedIn they see a 2.5x increase in their likelihood of being an over-performer.
So as you can see, at LinkedIn we strive to be a customer-centric company, and those values drive our products and services. And what we would love is the opportunity to help organizations like yours become more customer-centric through aligned marketing and sales.