Intersect Investments

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

Intersect Investment Services is a financial investment company that has barely survived financially. The company has recently had a change in philosophy concerning customer relationship management. Until recently the company has concentrated it sales on purely making the sales to the customer to increase profitability. Now the company through benchmarking other financial companies and reading some of the bad publicity of other financial companies has realized that profitability relies in providing customers with trusted advisors as well as services that add value to the customer called customer intimacy. Frank Jeffers the company's CEO has owned this new philosophy and has set customer intimacy as the vision for the company's future.

The change in philosophy has triggered some emotional responses by employees as well as managers within the company. The past executive vice president of marketing and sales has been terminated for failure to implement the customer intimacy model in marketing and sales. The new executive vice president of marketing is Janet Angelo who comes to the company with past success in implementing a customer intimacy model with other companies. Frank has tasked Janet with implementing the customer intimacy model throughout the sales and marketing departments with criteria to increases each quarter with full implementation of the customer intimacy model within twelve months.

Janet has had meetings with the leadership staff and other employees to get a feel for the environment and to inform employees of the company's vision for the future. Janet has found that her Vice President of Sales, Lyn Chen, is somewhat opposed to the implementation of the new model since the old philosophy with the addition of reducing the time staff spend talking to customers has begun to increase sales for the company. Janet has also found that some of the employees using the new philosophy have had some success with the new model.

Other issues that Intersect Investment Services currently face are the lack of communication and between the marketing department and the sales department. The marketing department has advertised 8 new products for the company without updating and providing the sales department the tools and education to sale or answer customer questions pertaining to the new products. The lack of cohesiveness between the two departments has already created problems and the company could possibly loses some profitable clients due the staff's lack of familiarity with the new products and services that will be offered to customers.

Opportunity Statement

Intersect Investment Services has the opportunity to successfully implement the customer intimacy model within 12 months increasing sales each quarter by establishment employee trust in management through communication, linking the marketing, sales, and IT departments, and providing trusted advisors and services to the customer that add value.

Problems and Solutions

Employee Related Problems

Problem Solutions

1. Lack of Trust in Leadership * Increased communication

* Modeling the new philosophy by providing employee intimacy

2. Lack of Familiarity with new products * Policy that educates and provides computer access to the sales, marketing, and service department prior to advertisement.

3. Failure to see benefits of the customer intimacy * Share benchmarking studies with staff

* Create incentive/bonus program for increasing sales through use of customer intimacy

4. Employee turnover * Incentive program for maintaining employment

5. Lyn' resistance to use the customer Intimacy model * Conversation reassuring Lyn that Janet is ultimately responsible

* Create an additional position, Director of New Customer Sales, under Lyn which uses Lyn philosophy of sales to obtain new clients

* Annie title to Director of Customer Relationship Management.

* Lyn's bonus tied to increase in sales from both areas

Lack of Trust in Leadership

Intersect employees currently have a lack of trust in the leadership of the company. The employees feel that the leadership comes up with great plans to improve the company without providing the tools necessary to succeed and that the leadership does not model the desired culture for Intersect. The employees have determined that the only concern for the leaders is the increase in sales yet Intersect has areas that need to be improved to help the employees reach the company's goals.

In order to increase the employee's trust in the company Intersect leaders should provide open communication with the employees concerning company goals, strategies to reach the goals, as well as providing an arena for employees to present their ideas and concerns. By creating an environment in which employees feel free to voice ideas and concerns Intersect has a great potential to find the future leaders of the company as well as prosper as long as management can successfully manage ideas that are inconsistent with Intersects vision for the future. Also to increase communication, interdepartmental meeting with the marketing, sales, and service department should occur a minimum of once a month to ensure consistency in portraying Intersect's products to the customers.

Lastly, to gain employee's trust management must own employee intimacy to match the customer intimacy model. The employee intimacy should do exactly what is expected of the customer intimacy model which includes providing good service to the employees that adds value to their job as well as being good advisors to help employees reach their personal goods within Intersect. Open lines of communication, interdepartmental meetings, and management practicing employee intimacy will solve the employee's lack of trust in management.

Lack of Familiarity with New Products

Intersect has 8 new products to offer to the customers and yet the service department and outsides sales personnel do not have the needed access or familiarity with the new products to offer the products to existing customers. Intersect to be more successful in the future and to meet the established goals should immediate establish and adopt a policy of ensuring personnel is sufficiently