2011 was a great success for Procter and our new parent company Imparta - a winning combination and we are all looking forward to success in 2012.
The chemistry between both companies is very positive - from both a cultural and proposition perspective. That's why we're excited to be launching two new products focusing on sustaining Procter's existing training, support and consultancy services - detailed competency assessments and simulated learning.
If you'd like to know more do let us know - we'd be delighted to meet and find out how our new services may help you.
Behavioural Economics Research Launch Event
22 March London – Kettners
It’s not just what you say – it’s how and when you say it too…
Procter launches new research into the application of Behavioural Economics in customer communications – be the first to take advantage of this brand new industry insight.
‘Nudging’ or Behavioural Economics has not previously been trialled in real customer scenarios to prove or disprove the impact of these techniques on customer experience or bottom line – Procter aims to change this with a thorough investigation of their practical use in real world situations.
The use of Behavioural Economics leaves great scope for increasing customer satisfaction through re-designing the way the customer conversation is handled – with a focus on using specific words, actions & attitudes that ‘nudge’ the customer in the right direction.
Procter is trialling these new techniques with FTSE 100 live clients right now across the country and will be revealing these leading edge findings at our launch event on 22 March 2012 from 2 – 5pm (followed by drinks) at Kettners, Central London, W1D 5HP.
Intrigued? Contact us today on 020 7610 8899 or send us an email to reserve your place at this complimentary half day event designed specifically with senior management in mind.
Press Release
Imparta Announced as 2012 Finalist by Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service
London, 30th January, 2012
Imparta Ltd has been announced as one of seven finalists in the category of “Sales Training Practice of the Year” in the 6th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success and widely considered to be one of the world’s premier business awards.
More than 1,000 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of almost 30% over 2011. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 93 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 27 categories for customer service professionals, 38 categories for sales professionals, and categories to recognise new products and services and solution providers.
Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Imparta Chief Executive, Richard Barkey, commented “I’m delighted that we’ve been selected as one of the finalists for this prestigious global award. After being announced as a ‘Top 20 Sales Training Provider’ by TrainingIndustry.com last year, this nomination further reinforces the strength and depth of Imparta’s ability to improve the customer-facing performance of global organizations. My thanks go to the judges, to our clients for the opportunity to serve them, and to the Imparta team who go the extra mile to deliver sustainable impact.”
About Imparta
Imparta improves its clients’ business performance in the areas of sales, marketing and customer service, using highly practical and researched approaches, and an integrated solution that goes well beyond simple training interventions. Imparta’s Capability Building® system combines assessment, training, coaching, application tools and impact measurement, using leading-edge technologies to create sustainable performance improvement.
Founded in 1997 by Richard Barkey, a British national with a Harvard MBA and seven years’ experience at McKinsey & Co, Imparta is based in London but operates globally. Imparta has grown throughout the recession, and increased sales by 34% in 2011. Clients include GE, Telefonica O2 (for whom Imparta runs a major Sales Academy, a Marketing Academy, and Retail Academy), Lloyds Banking Group, Hewlett Packard, Alcatel-Lucent, Intel, and the WPP Group. Imparta is backed by GE Capital, and the Board includes senior professors from INSEAD and London Business School. The company runs its own internal Sales Academy and this has contributed to strong growth throughout the recession.
In early 2010, Imparta acquired The Procter Consultancy Ltd., which has provided training, support and consultancy in the Service Delivery world for the last thirty years. Procter is a leader in the customer contact market, and has helped set up direct channel pioneers such as British Airways, Direct Line, Royal Bank of Scotland and Virgin Direct. At the core of Procter’s proposition is the ability to differentiate a service or sales proposition on the strength of a company’s customer experience. Procter currently enjoys relationships across private and public sector with clients such as Barclays Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Volkswagen Group, the Ministry of Defence and several Police forces.
Imparta Launching New Research into the Application of Behavioural Economics in Customer Communications
August, LONDON – Procter, the service & cultural change division of Imparta in partnership with its research team (Davies Hickman Partners) is launching a new research project into Behavioural Economics and the application of ‘NUDGE’ to customer communications.
Behavioural Economics is a group of over 20 powerful behavioural techniques such as loss aversion, distinction bias, language framing and social norms – which have been proved in trials to influence people perceptions and decision making.
Procter intends to test the effectiveness of these techniques in live environments with the assistance of some of the world’s largest international service and sales organisations.
‘Nudging’ or Behavioural Economics has been trialled in the customer communications industry – however not to any level of complexity that proves or disproves the benefit on bottom line or customer satisfaction and effort – Procter aims to change this entirely with a thorough investigation of their practical use in real world situations and how they might add real value to the service and sales industries.
The core of Behavioural Economics is the view that people are not rational and objective in their behaviour as economists have long held. This leaves more scope for increasing sales or Customer Satisfaction through re-designing the way the customer conversation is handled – with a specific focus on using specific words, actions & attitudes to nudge the customer and achieve a positive outcome.
Behavioural Economics has been famously popularised by Professor Daniel Kahneman – winner of a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics – and has been explored in many books such as Nudge, Predictably Irrational and Herd.
Behavioural Economics applied to customer communications
As an example of one of the Behavioural Economics techniques – language framing is used to alternatively position information in a better way for the customer and seems to have had a great impact on loyalty and customer buying habits in banking, retail environments and airlines.
Harvard Business Review quotes the following example –
‘Imagine your 11am flight is cancelled and you need to be in Cleveland tomorrow morning. There’s an evening flight that’s open. Where most reps would simply say “I can put you on a flight leaving at 9.00pm” other reps… might say “well I know I can put you on the 7am flight tomorrow, but let me see what I can do to get you on the earlier flight, which is at 9pm tonight”. A less desirable option creates a mental anchor, making the best alternative seem more acceptable.’
Leadership Reconstructed - white paper
We asked over 150 delegates at Procter events hosted in 2010/11 – ‘What keeps you awake at night’? Overwhelmingly, the answer was Leadership in Challenging Times
View or download the full paper here
Dates for your diary
23 and 24 of November - 'The Future of Retail Banking'
On the 23rd and 24th of November, Procter exhibited at ‘The Future of Retail Banking’ conference, at the Hilton Tower Bridge, London.
The event - organised by marketforce and the IEA – looked at how to build the bank of the future and at strategies to drive customer engagement and innovation, and this year’s line-up of senior industry figures discussed ways of attracting new business and strengthening existing relationships, from creating an attractive proposition to delivering the right customer experience.
They also examined how to successfully engage and interact with today’s consumers through branch, online and mobile channels, including the successful use of social media and the roll out of m-payments.
If you’d like to talk with us about how we can help you deliver your customer, people or business goals, call us on +44 (0)20 7610 8899 or hello@procter.co.uk
Previous Events
14 September Event 2011 - Are you fit to serve ?
We believe there's so much white noise around current customer satisfaction practices – we thought that it was time to take a step back and evaluate what we really believe customers want.
Specifically, we asked questions such as –
- How can we define where we need to be?
- How do we get there?
- What should we be asking the customer?
Using an interactive workshop format we delivered a session called ‘I am the customer, hear me roar!’ .
Delegates were given the opportunity to gain essential insight – from industry leaders and also from each other
The sessions thoughts and feelings will go forward into Procter’s future customer research – with findings to be launched in early 2012.
More events are on the way soon.
