Working with The Manchester Growth Hub
A great number of business leaders want to use data to help their businesses to flourish. This is because those who do often do well:
‘Businesses that use data to inform decisions are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times likelier to retain customers, and 19 times more likely to be profitable and successful’ (McKinsey Global Index).
But some business leaders find it hard to make a start and get going:
“I’m not sure what using data means”
“I don’t know what the benefits are”
“It sounds time consuming and I don’t have the time”.
“It sounds like there’s a lot to learn”
“I don’t have people around me with the right skills”
We recently ran a programme of workshops for The Manchester Business Growth Hub designed to help local business owners overcome uncertainties such as these. Our workshops provide you with an exciting vision for the way you can use data, a clear understanding of what’s involved, a plan to get you going, and roadmap to the benefits.
In our workshops we focus on the two uses of data most common across businesses:
1. Doing more for less. This means using data to find ways to free up time and spend less, so that you can devote more time and resource to delivering more value.
2. Engaging prospects and winning more customers. This means using data to discover where your target prospects are to be found, what they are talking about, whether they are on the lookout for what you do.
1. Doing more for less
E.g. One of the premier electrical contractors in the East Midlands region of the UK was achieving only 12% margin over the year – instead of the planned 20%. And they were late completing projects 35% of the time.
Projects delivered on time: 65% (target is 90%);
Contract Margin: 12% (target is 20%)
This was seriously impeding their ability to grow – thanks to having less money to invest, and suffering reputational damage amongst the major contractors with whom they worked (finishing projects late meant other work was delayed putting major construction programmes at risk).
Data we collected showed how much time was spent on unnecessary and low value tasks which could be made fully digital and automated.
This prompted a transformation in the way they work. Projects now require less time and cost meaning project delivery and margin are both getting back on target.
2. Engaging prospects and winning more customers
E.g. A sales training company was finding it difficult to expand thanks to the intensity of the market for their services. Traditional sales methods, involving cold calling and social media contact with Sales Managers, were taking more time and becoming less productive.
Data we collected from social media, on-line business journals, and target company websites revealed businesses opening new offices, acquiring other businesses, recruiting more sales staff.
This meant that social media contact and cold calling could become much more targeted towards high value potential opportunities. Sales targets were soon knocked out of the park.
Workshop structure
We offer two workshops to match the two themes above:
Workshop 1 – using data to do more for less. How to find winning insights about your business and service to customers that can help deliver better quality, more quickly, and for less cost.
Workshop 2 – using data to find prospects and win more customers. How to find and target prospects and potential customers who are on the lookout for what your business offers.
We then offer an individual follow-up to help you put what you learned into practice.
To find out more about how we can help you and your business, drop us an email at hello@figuringoutdata.com or complete our contact form.
Paul Clarke
Director
FiguringOutData.com
E: paul@figuringoutdata.com
T: +44 333 301 0302