Individuals can make a difference, says Mark Madden, a jovial, easygoing man, who is director of global marketing at Easynet Global Services. It’s down to individuals to seize the moment, grab the opportunity and make it all happen, says Madden, 48, listing his implementation of a customer-centric communications strategy for Easynet as one of his proudest professional achievements.
For Madden, his impact has amounted to a pretty fundamental change for how the telecoms service provider currently the UK’s second largest network markets to both existing clients and prospects in large companies as well as organisations in sectors from public to retail, manufacturing and media. Easynet’s existing clients range from Transport for London to Calor Gas, Ford, Volvo, Cushman and Wakefield, Kohler and Belron.
Prior to coming on board in March 2008 (just two years after Easynet was acquired by BSkyB), the company focused on an IT-heavy, technology-led communications strategy. The approach was to publicise the nuts and bolts of what Easynet could do, and why it was a superior choice of technology.
Whilst he recognises the strengths to this approach, Madden realised this path inevitably leads to a tactical discussion around price, quality and technology, and direct comparisons with the company’s competition. Rethinking this approach, Madden redirected communications to focus less on the features and functionality of the company’s services to a more strategic-level approach, focusing on the business issues large companies are facing from communications and efficiency to continuity challenges and consequently promoting the benefits of working with Easynet.
Customer response has been terrific, says Madden, adding he’s seeing the results he’d like to. I’m very pleased with it, he admits with a grin.
Wining and dining
The way he did this contrary to the current obsession with all things digital was through events and hospitality, Madden’s marketing channels of choice. We put a lot of time into our own hospitality activities, he says, explaining that the key to success with this approach is to focus attention on the right clients. He scribbles a basic graph to illustrate how he segments clients to focus on up-selling and cross-selling to those who have the potential to spend more.
Hospitality events include boxes at Wembley and at Real Madrid, as well as Easynet’s ‘showpiece’ activity, the World Rally Championship (WRC). Easynet is a sponsor of the popular offroad motorsport, which, Madden explains with a guilty grin, for your middle-aged IT director, it’s the business; they love it.
We’re very strong on customer intimacy, he continues, listing customer advisory boards, customer touch point meetings and breakfast briefings as examples. The customer advisory board consists of a selection of Easynet’s largest clients, who gather to discuss their business approach or where they’d like Easynet to enhance their offering. Madden prefers to mix business with pleasure, and says these events are often paired with an activity like the WRC. Together with customer touch point meetings, these events are geared predominantly around customer retention. For the customer touch points, a client is invited to come and present, giving Easynet employees of all levels a better idea of what their client does, the challenges they face and the services they require.
When it comes to acquisition, Madden relies a lot on his sales force and client referral, but also leverages hospitality to grab prospects’ attention. One way he has done this is through the implementation of periodic breakfast briefings as an opportunity to engage with customers. Since joining the company he has hosted eight or nine of these sessions, which have generated over a hundred prospects, he says proudly.
Other tools to keep in touch with clients include the company’s twice yearly customer magazine, Easynet Engage, and a website that is geared more around communicating the company’s identity than a transactional model, explains Madden.
Keeping track
Despite hospitality being a notoriously difficult thing to measure, Madden assures he has his eye set firmly on the goal. His career started as an economist for British Rail and BT, a foundation that he believes has made him far more focused on ROI than the average marketer. He believes in having a clear goal for what you want to achieve with an initiative before proceeding with it.
Since then he has represented some of the biggest brands in telecoms, from several roles at AT&T including director of sales and marketing to VP of marketing for Viatel, and most recently at BT Openreach Operations. One of Madden’s proudest achievements was during his time at British Rail, were he was a part of the business case for Thameslink.
Determined, capable and decided, Madden is a man with a plan a good fit indeed for Easynet, which continues to expand despite the recession.
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