The challenge

The small business (SMB) market is full of potential for brands looking to build long-term relationships with companies as they grow. A global auto rental company considers this a priority customer group, and worked with TTEC to develop new SMB customers into high-value, long-term customer advocates.

The company cracked the SMB market by balancing a supportive human touch with advanced data analytics to grow revenue and create trusted relationships with a lucrative customer group. Since 2017, TTEC’s Growth Services team has worked as a strategic partner with the client in the U.S. to build strong relationships with small business customers throughout the customer lifecycle.

Our solution

On the people side, a dedicated welcome team of associates reaches out by phone within 48 hours to new accounts to thank them for joining and encourage the first rental—called activations—within 30 days. They also explain the benefits of each customer’s particular membership and answer any other questions. After 90 days, customers are moved to an SMB account management team, where associates check-in with customers quarterly with advice and offers, based on customer preferences. And for disengaged customers, the team proactively reaches out to win back dissatisfied or dormant customers by resolving unsolved issues or rectifying poor experiences when possible.

We also leverage data insight to work smarter at scale. Advanced data propensity modeling helps to prioritize small business customers most likely to spend more based on insight from more than 20,000 internal and external data points. Examples of the data gathered include SEO ranking, web traffic, advertising budget and spend, social media activity, funding information, revenue, employee size, technology use, and news and events. This allows associates to focus on the right customers who have the most growth potential, not just current revenue.

And we identify VIP customers, the nearly 20% of customers who make up 50% of the segment’s revenue. These customers receive concierge-level service from dedicated associates, who focus on “being there for the customer” and ensuring they know about benefits and special offers. Associates are placed on specific accounts for inbound and outbound outreach, also conducted quarterly. This approach has seen tremendous upside—the team saw 30% less revenue erosion when a VIP decision maker was contacted compared to those who were not contacted.

The results

Since the partnership began, the client has seen steady revenue growth. Small business revenue grew 3% year over year in a market that has traditionally seen revenue erosion in the same timeframe. What’s more, the welcome team consistently activated more than 20% of new customers within 30 days.

The program has been so successful that the client is adding chat as an option for the welcome team to engage with new customers. If successful, the chat functionality will expand to the other lines of business as well. There are also plans to expand its win-back team and restart an outbound acquisition program to encourage new memberships.