Win/ Loss Reviews

Posted on March 5, 2026 at 3:10 pm.

Win/ Loss Reviews

The Importance of Win/ Loss Reviews

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: most B2B organisations don’t really know why they win or lose deals. They think they do. They have dashboards, CRM reports, pipeline analytics, and conversion ratios sliced and diced every which way.

But those metrics only answer one question: What happened. They do almost nothing to answer the far more important question: Why did it happen?

And without understanding the “why,” all that impressive data is little more than expensive guesswork.

The Illusion of Insight

Most sales directors can recite their sales funnel numbers:

How many leads become qualified opportunities
What percentage reach proposal stage
What proportion of bids convert to a sale

Track these numbers over time and you can diagnose whether the issue is demand generation, qualification discipline, or closing effectiveness. CRM systems make this much easier today than in the past. In theory, at least.

In practice, data quality is uneven, sales teams prioritise revenue over administration (in other words, don’t count on the sales team to keep your CRM system up to date) and many organisations rely on Sales Operations or Revenue Operations functions to maintain order.

Today, sales leaders are quite good at measuring performance. They are far less equipped to explain it. They can tell you the company’s win rate dropped from 32% to 27%. They usually cannot tell you why.

A Discipline Hiding in Plain Sight

What makes this particularly frustrating is that the solution is not new. The solution — Win/Loss Reviews — have existed for over fifty years. Back in the 1970s, defence contractors and other large B2B firms involved in massive government bids began conducting rigorous post-bid reviews. They understood something many modern businesses still overlook:

A tiny improvement in win rate can deliver enormous revenue impact over time.

They didn’t call it “win/loss analysis” in those days — that terminology only became common in the 1990s — but they had already grasped the principle:

If you want to improve outcomes, you must systematically learn from them. Yet despite decades of awareness, most organisations still treat Win/Loss Reviews as an occasional, informal exercise rather than a core business discipline.

Win/ Loss Reviews are Rare

One of the most influential book on the topic remains Win/Loss Reviews : A New Knowledge Model for Competitive Intelligence by Rick Marcet.

When Marcet, an American sales veteran with three decades of experience in technology sales, wrote the book in 2011, his central finding at the time was somewhat sobering:

Fewer than 10% of sales opportunities are ever reviewed with real rigour.

Even more striking, he observed that fewer than 5% of companies had any formal win/loss discipline at all — and those that did typically focused only on losses.

A decade and a half later, the numbers have improved slightly — but not dramatically. It’s hard to get definitive figures but the research suggests that even in large B2B companies – we’re talking enterprise organisations with annual turnovers of €1bn or more – as few as 10-25% of deals are reviewed rigorously.

That number is much lower for mid-market and SME companies, as the table below illustrates.

Factor	Large Enterprise	Mid-Market/ SME
Dedicated function	Yes (Sales Ops / Rev Ops)	Rare
Formal process	Common	Limited
Data infrastructure	Advanced	Basic CRM
Cultural maturity	More analytical	More relationship-driven
% deals reviewed rigorously	10–25%	3–10%

In other words, even among large, sophisticated organisations, systematic learning from sales outcomes remains surprisingly rare. One of the biggest barriers to a wider adoption of systematic Win/Loss Reviews is cultural. We’ll discuss that shortly.

Relationships: The Reason Many Bids are Won or Lost

B2B organisations pride themselves on relationships. And rightly so — trust and credibility remain central to complex sales. Building strong relationships is probably still the best way to win bids. It’s certainly the cornerstone of renewing contracts, as I’ve discussed in previous blogs.

But Marcet offered a provocative warning that still resonates:

“An overreliance on relationships may actually mask mediocrity and underperformance in other areas.”

This is where many organisations get into trouble. Yes, strong relationships can win business — but they can also create dangerous blind spots. Teams assume they understand customers because they know them personally. They attribute losses to price pressure or procurement tactics instead of deeper issues.

The truth is that deals are almost never won or lost for a single reason.

What Really Drives Win/Loss Decisions

Proper Win/Loss reviews consistently reveal a far more complex picture. Relationships are critical but there are other factors at play too:

Product fit — The proposed solution may not fully address the client’s real priorities.

Perceived value — Price is rarely the sole issue; buyers weigh risk, confidence, and expected outcomes.

Competitive positioning — Reputation, differentiation, and credibility often matter more than features.

Service capability — Past delivery performance frequently determines future buying decisions.

External factors — Budget changes, mergers, strategy shifts, or regulation can override everything else.

Without direct customer feedback and proper analysis, these drivers remain largely invisible.

The Myth about Learning from Losses

Another persistent myth is that organisations learn more from losing than winning.

In reality, wins often provide richer insights. Understanding why a customer chose you — what tipped the decision, what risks they perceived, what nearly derailed the deal — provides powerful guidance for future success.

Both wins and losses are fertile ground for learning.

Ironically, organisations often focus almost entirely on losses — missing half the available insight.

Fewer than 5% of companies apply any formal win/loss review discipline to their sales outcomes, and those that do usually focus only on the losses.”

Rick Marcet

Interviews versus Surveys: Depth vs Scale

One of the main reasons companies avoid rigorous Win/Loss Reviews is cost.

Independent buyer interviews can cost anywhere from €700 to €1,500 each. They require skilled moderation, recruitment effort, and structured analysis.

But the depth of insight they generate is unmatched. Seasoned sales professionals like Cian McLoughlin at Trinity are experts at conducting these in-depth interviews. As Cian says: “For win-loss analysis to be truly effective, you’ve got to venture beyond surface-level feedback, to the hard truths that lie beneath. Customers will rarely volunteer this information, unless they believe you’re serious about taking action.“

Surveys offer a cheaper alternative and allow broader coverage — but typically suffer from lower response rates and more superficial feedback.

The most effective Win/Loss programmes combine both: surveys for scale; interviews for depth.

Why are Win/ Loss Review so Rare (and Where to Start)

The biggest barriers are not technical — they are cultural.

Sales teams fear blame.
Leadership attention moves quickly to the next quarter.
Ownership of insights is often unclear.
Learning from outcomes requires discipline and persistence.
As a result, Win/Loss Reviews remain ad hoc rather than institutionalised.

The good news is that organisations don’t need a large budget or complex infrastructure to begin.

Start by interviewing a small number of recent customers — both wins and losses. Even a handful of structured conversations can reveal patterns that internal teams never see.

Over time, these insights can influence strategy, messaging, product development, and sales effectiveness. In competitive B2B markets, even a modest increase in win rates can generate significant revenue gains.

One Final Thought

We know Win/Loss Reviews are not new. We know they are not complicated. Their value is not debated. Yet most organisations still fail to do them properly. Why?

Perhaps the real reason is this: They force businesses to confront uncomfortable truths about how they are perceived by customers. And that can be harder than building another dashboard.

But for organisations serious about improving performance, there are few more powerful — or more underutilised — sources of insight.

Contact us at Deep-Insight if you want to find out more about setting up Win/Loss Review programmes.

Why Most Acquisitions Fail

Posted on September 29, 2025 at 3:35 pm.

Written by John O'Connor

Why Most Acquisitions Fail

Why Most Acquisitions Fail (And What To Do About It)

I recently spoke with the Strategy Director of a global, billion-dollar services company about a potential acquisition they were considering. Our conversation soon shifted to the broader topic of acquisitions—why so many fail, and why the Commercial Due Diligence (CDD) process that many companies rely on is often not fit for purpose.

Every year, billions are spent on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with boards and executives persuaded that acquisitions are the fastest path to growth. Yet despite the enthusiasm, the evidence is sobering: research consistently shows that 60–90% of acquisitions fail to deliver on their original objectives. In most cases, a significant amount of shareholder value is destroyed.

So why does this happen so often, and what can business leaders do differently to avoid becoming another statistic?

The Synergy Trap

Mark Sirower knows a thing or two about M&A failures.

Sirower is a partner in Deloitte Consulting’s M&A practice and his book The Synergy Trap remains one of the most enduring analyses of why acquisitions destroy rather than create value. His central insight is straightforward: to win control of a target, acquirers must pay a premium, often 30–50% above market value. The only way to justify that premium is by delivering synergies — additional value that would not exist without the merger.

But those synergies are rarely realised. Executives tend to overestimate cross-selling opportunities, underestimate integration costs, and ignore the hidden risks of cultural misalignment. Competitors do not sit still, often targeting unsettled customers during the transition. Meanwhile, management focus is diluted as leaders wrestle with integration instead of driving the core business.

As Sirower puts it: synergies are easy to promise, but hard to deliver. And because acquirers must pay a premium up front, even modest under-performance can quickly turn a deal into a value-destroying exercise. Sirower also confirms that “fully 65 percent of major strategic acquisitions have been failures.”

So do your homework before you but a company. The technical term for that homework is due diligence and it covers a multitude of activities – financial, legal, operational and commercial.

The Under-Appreciated Role of Customer Due Diligence

One area of commercial due diligence deserves far more attention than it usually receives: Customer Due Diligence (CDD).

In business-to-business (B2B) markets, the real value of an acquisition lies in its future revenue streams — often concentrated among a surprisingly small client base. Many billion-dollar companies derive more than half their revenues from fewer than 500 customers, and sometimes fewer than 100.

Yet acquirers rarely probe this customer base with sufficient depth. In some cases, a few senior executives might meet a handful of clients, ask if they are satisfied, and whether they expect to buy more in the future. While useful, these anecdotes are not enough. They are often biased, rarely benchmarked, and lack independence.

Robust CDD requires more. It means engaging systematically with the clients that generate the most revenues. It means hearing not just from the main contact but also from decision-makers, influencers, and end users. And it means using structured methodologies to uncover not only current satisfaction but also future buying intentions, perceptions of value, and risks of defection.

My study reveals that fully 65 percent of major strategic acquisitions have been failures

Mark Sirower

Questions Every Board Should Be Asking

When reviewing the due diligence on a target company, boards and executives should challenge whether the process has delivered real insight into the customer base that is being acquired. Three questions are critical:

Are we speaking to the right customers? Do the voices represented account for at least 50% of total revenues? Are multiple perspectives captured within each client relationship – key decision makers, influencers, and operational contacts?
Are we hearing the true Voice of the Customer? Were customers selected independently, or hand-picked to present a flattering view? Are responses benchmarked against peers to provide context?
Are we asking the right questions? Does the analysis go beyond satisfaction to address loyalty, growth potential, and perceptions of value for money? Basically, do we know if these customers are going to stay or leave?

Only with these insights can business leaders form a credible view of revenue sustainability and growth potential — the foundations of any acquisition’s value.

Avoiding the Pitfalls

The lesson from decades of research and practice is clear: acquisitions rarely fail because of weak financial models. They fail because assumptions about customers, markets, and integration prove unrealistic.

Boards and executives must therefore insist on rigorous, independent, and customer-centric due diligence. Without it, the risk of falling into the “synergy trap” remains high. With it, leaders at least give themselves a fighting chance to deliver on the promises that justify the premium paid.

Acquisitions will always carry risk. But with disciplined valuation and a much sharper focus on customers — the true engine of future revenues — companies can tilt the odds away from failure and toward lasting value creation. So do your homework – and in particular your customer due diligence – carefully before you execute that next transaction.

Contact us for a chat if you would like to hear more about how to measure the value of that customer base that you’re planning to buy.

It’s Hard to Please Europeans

Posted on February 7, 2025 at 11:35 am.

Written by John O'Connor

It’s Hard to Please Europeans

Back to one of my pet topics: What is a ‘Good’ Net Promoter Score?

More specifically, what’s a good Net Promoter Score score for a sports team? OK, I know NPS wasn’t designed as a sporting metric but bear with me as I try to illustrate a point about how Net Promoter Score works and how NPS scores are almost always significantly lower than most people think they should be.

I first looked at NPS for sports teams way back in 2020. That year, Liverpool won the Premiership for the first and only time and did so with a Net Promoter Score of -45, based on the player ratings of the Liverpool team.

To illustrate the point this time, let’s look at the performances of two great rugby teams that battled it out in their opening match of the 2025 Six Nations rugby tournament at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium last weekend: England and Ireland.

The Irish were favourites to win. It was a home game for the 2023 and 2024 Six Nations champions, who are currently ranked #2 in the world behind South Africa. England are ranked #7 in the world – a placing they were desperate to improve upon after a poor run of form in recent years.

How did England score in NPS terms?

Based on last weekend’s performance, Steve Borthwick’s England team has a Net Promoter Score of -60.

That’s not my view. It’s based on the player ratings for the starting 15, as compiled by The Guardian’s Luke McLaughlin following their 27-22 defeat to Ireland.

Now here’s the thing. Luke is not being particularly harsh. Most English – or European – sports commentators adopt a similar approach to rating player performances.

It’s not that England were dreadful last weekend. They come strongly out of the starting blocks. Cadan Murley scored the opening try on his debut after only 10 minutes. The Irish struggled to keep England at bay and England led by 10 points to Ireland’s five at half time.

The second half was a different affair, with some commentators claiming it was one of the best 40 minutes that Ireland had played in many a year. The game was over as a contest well before the final whistle was blown. Ireland were 27-10 ahead with five minutes to go. Then England scored a couple of late tries to put a more respectable gloss on the scoreline.

NET PROMOTER SCORE

A quick recap on the NPS scoring system: Scores range from 0 to 10. 9s and 10s are Promoters. 7s and 8s are Passives. 6s and below are Detractors. The Net Promoter Score itself is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors. It ranges from -100 (all Detractors) to +100 (all Promoters).

Have a look at Luke McLaughlin’s player scores for England’s starting 15 in the Box below. 0% Promoters; 40% Passives; 60% Detractors. That’s how England’s -60 NPS result is calculated: 0% – 60% = -60.

The highest-scoring English players were Ollie Lawrence and Tom Curry. Both scored 8/10. In Net Promoter Score terms, not a single English player got into ‘Promoter’ territory. But that’s not how Luke’s player summaries read. He’s actually quite praiseworthy towards many of them. It’s just how us Europeans score. It’s a cultural thing.

ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS

Freddie Steward Solid but unthreatening. He won some important aerial battles, but England’s lack of attacking spark was notable. 6

Tommy Freeman Crossed for a late try to earn a losing bonus point. Did his best with little service: England’s attack never consistently fired. 6

Ollie Lawrence Muscular carry led to the opening score and always looked a threat – extremely strong on both sides of the ball. 8

Henry Slade Classy touches all over the place in first half. Exquisite grubber to create early try for Murley a reminder of his enduring ability. 7

Cadan Murley Quickly snaffled a try on debut, but later invited pressure on teammates twice with a serious lack of composure in defence. 5

Marcus Smith Bright and breezy as usual, but not always as effective as he needs to be. Does he maximise the talents of his backline? 6

Alex Mitchell Decent kicking from hand, but fell off a tackle against James Lowe after England had worked so hard to keep the hosts out. 6

Ellis Genge Played a part in a big forward effort. Carried with purpose and added weight in defence but gave away key scrum penalty. 6

Luke Cowan-Dickie Another England forward who performed admirably in the first half, but the pack collectively ran out of steam after the break. 6

Will Stuart Unspectacular around the field but did his bit defensively and performed his scrummaging duties competently. 6

Maro Itoje Communicated well with the referee, at least early on, and brought his usual physicality but his influence waned. 6

George Martin Mostly invisible but only because he was mostly doing the dirty work where it counted. Another quality day’s graft. 7

Tom Curry Sensational turnovers seemed to justify Steve Borthwick’s back-row plans. Rarely gave his opponents time to settle. 8

Ben Curry Just like his brother, did not deserve to end up on the losing side. Hurried Ireland up at the breakdown but limited in attack. 7

Ben Earl A quality display overall. Punishing in attack and defence, ran a perfect line to capitalise on a fizzing pass from Smith. 7

The Irish performance: NPS = +7

It was an epic victory for Ireland and that second half performance was sublime. Tries from Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan put the game out of England’s reach well before the end. So what was Ireland’s Net Promoter Score? Remember the maximum score is +100 so surely Ireland’s performance deserved a score of +50 or higher?

Actually, Ireland‘s NPS was a mere +7 out of 100.

So how can that be? How does a team that blew away the English in the second half only manage to get a net promoter score that’s only slightly above zero.

The answer is pretty simple. Net Promoter is an American scoring system that rates advocacy on a 0 to 10 scale and only recognises scores of 9 or 10 as excellent. Americans tend to score more positively than Europeans. Europeans – particularly northern Europeans – are particularly tough in the way they score. 9s and 10s are generally reserved for extra-special performances.

As I said, it’s a cultural thing.

Look at the player performance ratings below. Only one player, James Lowe, scored 9 out of 10 and he was the Man Of The Match according to Luke McLaughlin. Everybody else on the Irish team scored 7 or 8. In other words, 14 of Ireland’s 15 players are ‘Passives’. Their scores don’t count in the NPS calculation. No player was rated 6 or below so zero ‘Detractors’ in the Irish team.

Overall Irish NPS = 7% – 0% = +7.

IRISH PLAYER RATINGS

Hugo Keenan Exceptional covering tackle on Tommy Freeman in the first half, and joined in the attack with intelligent support lines as usual. 8

Mack Hansen Big hit on Cadan Murley in the opening seconds was impressive and he bounced back well from an early injury. 7

Garry Ringrose Kept a little quiet overall by the dynamism of England’s defence but as always a key cog in the champions’ machine. 7

Bundee Aki Quiet by his standards until a fantastic second-half finish after being fed by Prendergast, crashing past three defenders. 8

James Lowe Rock solid under an early high ball. Muscled through Mitchell to create hosts’ first try and also created key score for Beirne. 9 (man of the match)

Sam Prendergast A mixed bag. Endured a difficult first quarter but grew into the game. Missed conversions looked like they might be costly. 7

Jamison Gibson-Park A model of consistency – popped up on Lowe’s shoulder to get Ireland off the mark and typically effective elsewhere. 8

Andrew Porter Scrummaged well and is always an intimidating physical presence in the loose. Played his part in the second-half surge. 8

Rónan Kelleher Lineout functioned smoothly despite some recent concerns about the Irish set piece. Snuck over for a disallowed try. 8

Finlay Bealham Competed well in the scrum, winning a penalty from Ellis Genge, and contributed to the attack with his usual quality. 7

James Ryan The lineout went well and like the rest of the pack it was largely a different, better story for the lock after half-time. 7

Tadhg Beirne Cynical holding of Maro Itoje at a ruck led to a disallowed score. Always a massive presence and took his late try with aplomb. 8

Ryan Baird One strong carry in the first half that led to Marcus Smith’s yellow card. Grew into the match after the break like the others. 7

Josh van der Flier Slick hands, strong carrying and crushing defence. The back row is one of Ireland’s most consistent performers. 8

Caelan Doris Perhaps upstaged by the Curry twins in the early part of the game but grew into it along with the rest of his teammates. 7

The average B2B Net Promoter Score in Europe is not much above zero

Let’s get back to my main point here.

Many B2B companies claim very high Net Promoter Scores. +50. Maybe +70. Maybe higher. The reality is quite different. We have been measuring NPS for B2B companies for over 20 years and based on our database of results, we can confidentially say that an average NPS result for a Northern European B2B company is barely above zero.

Close to half of all European B2B companies will have negative NPS scores. Rarely will they score greater than +50. That’s a truly exceptional performance.

So if you’re about to measure your NPS performance in 2025, don’t set your expectations too high. And don’t believe everything you read on the Internet!

UPDATE (9 FEB 2025): Ireland score another 7 NPS points against Scotland

Week 2 of the Six Nations championship saw Ireland travel to Murrayfield in Scotland, while England hosted France at Twickenham.

The Irish stormed to a 32-18 victory after Scotland lost a couple of players early on (including their mercurial captain Finn Russell) following a nasty clash of heads. The English stormed back to a rousing 26-25 victory over Les Bleus with a last-minute try in what was an extraordinary match.

The NPS scores told a different story.

Ireland repeated its +7 performance when Jamison Gibson-Park received a 9/10 player rating from Johnny Watterson at the Irish Times. (The Guardian failed to provide ratings for me to share!). Every other Irish player was rated 7/10 or 8/10 and as we now know, ‘Passive’ scores don’t count in the net promoter score calculation. One ‘Promoter’ of of 15 = 7% hence the +7 NPS score for Ireland.

Gerard Meagher from the Guardian did provide player ratings for both England and France. England had three ‘Detractors’ (Marcus Smith, Luke Cowan-Dickie and George Martin), nine ‘Passives’ and three ‘Promoters’ (Fin Smith, Tom Curry and Ben Earl all received 9/10 player ratings) so the overall England NPS score was exactly zero, as the number of ‘Promoters’ equalled the number of ‘Detractors’.

The French, on the other hand, ended up with a -80 NPS performance. 12 out of the starting 15 received player ratings of 6/10 or less (‘Detractors’) and there were three ‘Passives’ and zero ‘Promoters’. Even the dazzling Louis Bielle-Biarrey could only manage a 7/10 player rating. With 80% of the team identified as ‘Detractors’ and zero ‘Promoters’, France’s NPS score was -80.

Europeans are genuinely very hard to please!

“Excellence in CX” Awards 2024 – That’s a Wrap!

Posted on December 17, 2024 at 7:41 am.

Written by John O'Connor

“Excellence in CX” Awards 2024 – That’s a Wrap!

Congratulations to our 2024 Winners

2024 is the third year of Deep-Insight “Excellence in CX” Awards.

These awards focus on companies that we have worked with in 2024 that have embraced our Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) framework and methodology to make meaningful change for both their customers and their employees.

That makes us very proud!

Before we talk about the winners, let’s answer the following question:

What do we mean by ‘Excellence in CX’?

Deep-Insight is a small team of Customer Experience (CX) consultants who work extremely closely with our customers. The single question which drives us in each engagement is “will this programme inspire transformation in our client organisations?”.

Transformation does not need to be, and usually isn’t, a huge significant event in itself. When done well, transformation is a series of small, well thought through changes and improvements. Transformation is only worth it if it leads to growth, and it always does when it is inspired by the customer.

Also, we are not interested in vanity projects! We are focused on our core mission of Inspiring Transformation i.e. effective, growth-oriented use of Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX). This is what excellence in customer experience looks like and it is the foundation on which our customers build their CX and EX programmes.

* * * * *

AND THE 2024 WINNERS ARE…

Six Degrees has been a client of ours since 2020 and it has been a privilege to work with the team for the past four years on their journey to greater customer centricity.

Fiona Lynch has been the Deep-Insight CX consultant working most closely with Chris Blofield, Conley Newall and the Six Degrees team to improve their Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) scores this year.

Fiona has been hugely impressed by the strategic response from the leadership team, starting with their commitment to ‘Customer First’, a core value to place the client at the heart of organisation. Fiona adds:

“The response from Six Degrees right across the organisation to last year’s CRQ assessment was incredibly well executed and their jump in scores really reflects their efforts. We’re delighted for them.”

Six Degrees appointed Vince DeLuca as Chief Executive Officer in 2024 as it sought to distinguish itself as the UK’s leading provider of secure, integrated cloud services. Vince commented on this year’s award:

“We’re incredibly proud to be recognised for our commitment to our core value of ‘Customer First.’ At Six Degrees, actively listening to and acting on our customers’ insights is fundamental to driving meaningful change and delivering exceptional outcomes.

This recognition reflects the dedication and hard work of our entire team over the past year. With the continued support of Deep-Insight, we are excited to carry this momentum forward into the year ahead.”

* * * * *

Everybody in Ireland knows open eir. You’ve seen their distinctive green and white “Connecting Ireland with superfast fibre broadband” vans on the streets, installing fibre lines into business premises and into homes across the country.

You’ve probably also seen vans from Circet (pronounced “sur-say”) who are open eir’s key partner on the ground. We have to mention them in this award as they are an integral part of the open eir teams who operate at the coalface and meet customers on a daily basis.

2024 was our second year working with open eir. What impressed me the most about their approach to implementing a Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) programme was the extent to which they embraced the whole CRQ approach – taking the feedback at face value, closing the loop with the customers, putting in detailed (in fact, very detailed!) responses to all of the feedback, and kicking off a transformation programme that they are committed to for the long haul. They know it’s not a 12-month initiative. It’s a journey.

Una Stafford, Managing Director Networks, and Maeve O’Malley, Managing Director, Wholesale, have been leading the charge on open eir’s CX transformation journey over the past two years.

Both Una and Maeve are industry veterans who understand the challenges of a cultural transformation in large complex telecommunications environments. However, their real skill has been to convince hundreds of people in both open eir and Circet to embrace Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) as a way of life.

* * * * *

Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods conducted its first Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) assessment in 2022, impressing us with their smooth adoption of the CRQ process, as if it had been a long-standing practice. What stood out most was their commitment from the outset. They dived into the process with enthusiasm and maintained a strong momentum throughout all the phases of the CRQ process.

In 2022, strong client relationships were identified as a key strength. Determined to build on this foundation, Vreugdenhil developed an internal training programme for all colleagues who have contact with customers, to enhance their client communication skills. They employed a variety of creative formats like interactive training sessions customised for different departments. These ‘customer contact training’ sessions emphasized proactive client engagement and addressed the nuances of dealing with different customer types.

Leonie Soetendaal is a Commercial Project Manager who has been working at Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods for nearly 10 years.

Together with Commercial Director Gerben van Schaik, and colleagues Jeroen de Kunder and Erik Bulthuis, Leonie has been the driving force behind Vreugdenhil’s CX journey since 2022.

Leonie commented on this year’s award:

“At Vreugdenhil Dairy Foods, we believe in the power of connection and lasting relationships. This award is a wonderful recognition of our commitment to open and meaningful communication with our customers. Together with our partners, we make a difference!”

* * * * *

We have been privileged at Deep-Insight to work with BT Ireland since 2008 when they first started on their journey towards becoming one of Ireland’s most customer-centric companies.

It has been a long and successful Customer Relationship Quality (CRQ) journey for them. Initially, the BT Ireland leadership team worked hard on identifying and addressing its clients’ major service issues. Then they progressed to the more enjoyable part of the journey – collaborating with clients on new innovative technology-based programmes.

In recent years, the BT Ireland leadership team took a more commercial focus to CRQ. They used detailed customer insight, along with externally validated propensity to buy, to identify clients where they could develop further solutions to their business problems.

BT Ireland discovered that the excellent relationships they had built over years was critical to driving revenue growth with clients that continued to be delighted by their offerings. Not an easy task in an industry where, every year, customers expect better telecommunications solutions for less cost.

The BT Ireland leadership team were helped by an army of service managers, account directors and engineers. They were also guided by a CX team led by Barry O’Shea, Mary McDonagh and Deirdre Tyrrell whose great CX efforts have been recognised globally in recent years. Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland (left) commented on the Deep-Insight award:

“We are absolutely thrilled to be recognised in the category of ‘Using CRQ for Growth’. Working with the team in Deep-Insight we challenged ourselves collectively to convert our top quartile CRQ scores to income growth. This brought a focus on widening our contacts base within our client base and creating a watch list of customers who needed more focus from our customer-facing teams. The additional insight and broader awareness informed how better to serve our customers and ultimately how we achieve the dividend of growth from CRQ.”

open eir wins the “Embracing CRQ” Award for 2024

Posted on December 12, 2024 at 8:22 am.

Written by John O'Connor

open eir wins the “Embracing CRQ” Award for 2024

Some of the specific actions that open eir took in 2024 included:

Improvements to the appointments process, and planned upgrades to their Unified Gateway (UG) system;
Implementation of new quality processes in partnership with Circet;
New CX roles created;
Reviewing processes and systems to understand where automation could be implemented to free up time to devote to client-facing activities.

Our Deep-Insight CX Consultant managing the open eir relationship is Kate Casey. She knows the team intimately and had this to say:

“Following last year’s results, the entire open eir team – from the leadership team down to Customer Service Managers (CSMs) and networks engineers – jumped in and took decisive action. No messing around with these guys! They have managed to figure out how to embed customer centricity into every aspect of their daily operations. Their commitment to embracing change and prioritising customer-focused principles has been exceptional.

What was fantastic was seeing such impressive improvements in their CRQ scores this year. That’s proof of just how deeply these values have become embedded into open eir. This award is a recognition of their hard work and commitment to making a meaningful difference for their customers.”

I fully agree with Kate. On a personal note, it has been both a pleasure and an honour working with the open eir team over the past couple of years. I’m absolutely delighted to see them win the “Embracing CRQ” award this year. It was thoroughly deserved.

John O’Connor

In accepting the award, Maeve O’Malley has this to say:

“Working with Deep-Insight has given us the quantitative data we need to understand the areas we need to work on, to improve our operators’ experience with open eir. The findings from last year created the foundation for our 2024 plan and this year’s assessment is now helping us understand what’s working and where we still have gaps.

“The data has also helped galvanise our teams with a shared understanding of the transformation required. The insight from the team has added huge value, not only in helping us understand the challenge ahead but also supporting us in developing and prioritising our plans.”

* * * * *

About open eir

At open eir, we’re building Ireland’s fastest-growing full fibre network. Our network reaches far and wide, transforming the way individuals, businesses, and communities experience the digital world. With over 1.3 million homes and businesses across 26 counties now able to access faster speeds through any one of our 29 trusted retail service providers, we are the architects of a brighter, more connected future for Ireland.

Find out more about open eir at www.openeir.ie.

About Deep-Insight

Deep-Insight is a leading European B2B Customer Experience (CX) company founded in 2000 by a small team of ‘magicians’ with one goal: researching a way to read customers’ minds. Today, Deep-Insight supports customers all over the world with the skills, tools and methodologies to establish and operate world-class Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) programmes.

For more information, go to deep-insight.com or email us at sales@deep-insight.com.