Deluxe: Knowledge Exchange “Transforming the Customer Experience”
From Humble Beginnings
How do you create a "relationship value" organization in a market increasingly veering towards commoditization? This is the question Deluxe Financial Services (DFS) has continually asked in their tireless efforts to create "individual space" that transforms "realized relationship value" into immediate cash flow. DFS's innovative focus has transformed their company from a small, one-room print shop started up in 1915 to a Fortune 1000 Corporation that prints personalized, customer-oriented checking materials for more than 800 financial institutions. In the beginning Deluxe distinguished themselves from other check-printers by creating exciting, personalized checks for businesses and individuals. Their motto was to provide the service "better, faster, and more economically than anyone else."
Innovating to Stay in the Black
As the use of electronic checks, checking cards, and credit cards increased DFS faced a real crisis in their service model. Printed checks were becoming a commodity, which caused sales to dip. With their product slipping, Deluxe was faced with some problems, recognizing that their marketing strategy had become obsolete. People would no longer only go to Deluxe for their personalized checks since everyone now offered personalized checks. Deluxe responded with a daring innovation that transformed their business by using an intense, customer driven, experience-marketing strategy. DFS's president, Chuck Feltz, along with the Senior Management team decided to scrap their previous assumptions about the check-printing industry, and toss out their long standing service-oriented motto. They replaced "better, faster, and cheaper" with a philosophy that offers a unique customer experience recognizing "the individual as the origin of all value and the source of all cash." Feltz and his team decided that the 1 to 3% of sales they put toward tradeshow booths and collateral would now go towards creating meaningful customer experiences. They emerged with a marketing program that enabled their customers to be better competitors, all the while enforcing their position as creators of exceptional customer care.
We all know that trying to connect with the right person to meet your needs at a bank can be a nightmare. All we really want is to interact with an individual who can assess their particular needs and provide the material that meets the need. Deluxe's new mission is to provide a banking experience that satisfies their clients' customers. This shift from commodity printing to experience-oriented consulting has revolutionized their company.
Knowledge Exchange Series
The Deluxe Knowledge Exchange Series was one of the new products in Deluxe's strategy, and was established in 2003 as the cornerstone of the company's marketing program. This innovative consulting program invites members to attend a free group session where companies come together to learn about becoming more experience oriented. This series comes in many shapes and sizes; from a physical conference and web seminars to audio conferences and insightful articles written by leading marketing authors and customer experience consultants. Moving away from the idea of creating something faster and more personal to creating a unique experience has taken Deluxe to a new level. Deluxe is now emphasizing their commitment "to making your brand the best it can be in the eyes of your consumer" through positive, interactive experiences.
Deluxe begins their personalized-experience diagnosis by identifying various "touchpoints" or customer interaction moments where financial institutions have the opportunity to create an experience. They recognize that this encounter will define the customer's banking experience and may ultimately drive their banking decisions in the future. Deluxe poses questions like "Is the customer treated as an individual? What are his needs and how can we meet them?" in order to get their clients into the right mindset. Deluxe asserts that making every interaction compelling and memorable is the key to increasing revenue and the secret to keeping customers happy and commited. By offering "deep support," Deluxe encourages and markets a procedure that promotes "advocacy, mutual respect, and trust."
Deluxe's Knowledge Exchange Series (KES) is a complimentary conference / web page that offers insight and personalized strategic organization to their member financial institutions. Jeffrey Van de Velde, KES Director, states the program's emphasis by asserting, "Creating an impression for customers is a science. Financial Institutions can purposely manage the clues they transmit to create positive, repeatable experiences that are focused on the customer." Designed to generate interaction between banking executives and business thinking, leaders and researchers of this series have helped financial institutions set a course that addresses shared challenges with creative thinking and personalized solutions. Ultimately KES offers knowledge, insight, and experience which their customers can assimilate immediately in their marketing strategy.
Far advanced from just a checking company, KES is the ultimate consulting program thriving off the concepts of community and innovation. Deluxe's philosophy and goal is to strengthen the relationship their clients have with their customers, making the clients' interest their own. Banks want to be a part of Deluxe's program because of their commitment to their own customers. Essentially, this former check provider gives financial institutions a collaborative venue to exchange information making their business more competitive. The results are stunning for Deluxe! After attending an Exchange Series a whopping 87% of their clients view Deluxe as a strategic partner and 89% plan on continuing to do business with Deluxe. Deluxe is creating permanent relationships with their clients by putting them first and meeting their needs. Deluxe could easily have become yet another casualty of a shrinking and commoditizing industry, but instead, its creative thinking and out-of-the-box innovation are becoming the stuff of business legend.
What makes the Knowledge Exchange so influential is the comprehensive information provided and the personalized application instigated by Deluxe officials. KES focuses on a philosophy of collaboration. Real collaboration is often voluntary and focuses on one or more common goals. Deluxe recognizes that collaborating with peers offers a great opportunity to facilitate change within organizations-you can discover possibilities, open doors, extend capacity, and realize success. The KES Collaborative is made up of a select group of 12 executives from financial institutions of all sizes, who spend a year together comparing ideas and research determining the best methods of creating a positive customer experience. The Collaborative pilots programs and tests them so that their customers don't have to! The Collaborative's research uncovers key factors driving customer loyalty and highlights what consumers feel is an exceptional in-branch experience. During one of the workshops, Banks can utilize this vast source of information to personalize their project objectives.
The "Experience-Ready Assessment"
With the understanding the KES has adequate research, Deluxe then integrates their philosophy in the actual workshop. Deluxe provides what they call an "experience projection map" which essentially is an experience blueprint for each institution. This has proven to be the highlight for past workshop attendees in that they leave the workshop with a either a practical start-up plan, or a continued "map" to help determine where they are starting their customer experience journey, whether or not they have previously emphasized this philosophy in their business procedure, and how a focus on customer experience could help them in becoming a "competitive differentiator" in their market. Deluxe focuses this portion of the workshop on the needs of their customers. Financial institutions take their own "Experience-Ready Assessment" and learn how to use the results of the assessment as a springboard for beginning or accelerating their customer experience efforts inside their organization. KES is the ultimate practical tool to assess an organization's readiness to create great experiences for their customers.
Deluxe's KES are redefining their market-making them a truly unique and development-oriented partner. Their comprehensive research and tireless commitment to their programs' implementation makes them a key investment partner. They offer the ultimate experience to their clients while in turn creating experience for the basic consumer. Following Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovation strategy by the book, Deluxe has created "a whole new value network" creating "new venues" for their clients to make better business. Deluxe recognizes the value of a specific skill that can be offered as an inexpensive solution. Their success has arisen from customer-focused experiences that will increase a client's customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
That's Not All . . .
Finally, Deluxe offers a unique searchable service to its users called Deluxe Knowledge Insider. Users can search through more than 12,000 data sources each week for strategic principles that will benefit their client. With weekly-updated information, users can always be on top of their individual progression in becoming an experience-oriented institution. The core concepts in the search include: managing customer experience, improving customer engagement and loyalty, improving efficiency, and much more. After learning from these weekly updates, users can join a blog or discussion group to offer insights, pose questions, or simply learn how others are doing things, again promoting collaboration and community in creating the right experience. This is the ultimate source for the newest developments and strategies for realizing the objective.
Deluxe's industry, leadership, and resources provide financial institutions with a strategic advantage and enable them to meet their priority business objectives. Through their quality personalized format, they are disrupting the industry, making them one of the most trusted and valued partners in the financial services industry.
https://knowledgeexchange.deluxe.com/index.cfm?