{"id":10241,"date":"2017-08-31T10:31:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T17:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=10241"},"modified":"2024-02-02T14:33:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T22:33:56","slug":"as-sales-grow-one-smb-embraces-business-transformation","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/as-sales-grow-one-smb-embraces-business-transformation","title":{"rendered":"As Sales Grow, One SMB Embraces Transformation"},"author":471,"featured_media":10191,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"department":[476812,476792],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-10241","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","department-business-growth","department-cxo-priorities"],"acf":{"short_description":"How two small businesses trying to make sense of digital transformation found business advantage in customer analytics. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"When Terry Sloan became CEO of Rocket Federal Credit Union in the summer of 2016, he had expansion on his mind.\r\n\r\nHe could not have anticipated back then that his credit union would end up collaborating with Main Street Inc., a company undergoing its own transformation, or that the tagline of Main Street's new analytics service\u2014Discover Your Customer's DNA\u2014would become instrumental in Rocket FCU's business evolution. Sloan knew only that his credit union needed to grow its customer base, and he was determined to make it happen.\r\n\r\nRocket FCU came to life in 1957, serving workers at a McGregor, Texas, factory that made rocket fuel for jets. Today the factory is long gone, and the livelihoods of local residents now include agricultural and technical trades. But one relic of Rocket FCU's earlier era lingered until March of this year: the rule that if you didn't live within 12 miles of the McGregor post office, you couldn't join the credit union. In a town of 5,000 residents, that severely curbed the credit union's growth.\r\n\r\nRocket FCU offers a typical slate of financial services, from checking and savings accounts to debit cards and loans. If the business was going to grow, Sloan knew it would be mainly through personal accounts, since Rocket FCU's business customers are few in number and humble in size.\r\n\r\n\"We're not going to go out and get Xerox or IBM,\" Sloan says. \"We'll get Jump for Joy Antique Mall on Main Street.\"\r\n\r\nYet despite its small stature, Rocket FCU faces the same basic business pressures that IBM, Xerox, or any other Fortune 500 company does.\r\n\r\n\"It goes back to that old thing,\" Sloan says. \"If you're not going forward, you're going backwards. You can't stand still.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Growth Imperative and Digital Transformation<\/strong>\r\n\r\nRocket FCU found itself in a situation shared by many SMBs. To grow, the company needed to know more about its customers and prospects\u2014where they lived, what motivated them, and how to reach them. But to discover that information, Rocket FCU had to embrace a form of digital transformation<\/a>, supplementing its intuition with a digital analysis of the customer market."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":10291,"text":"I recently asked two community bank executives who their customer was. They both gave me completely different answers. Analytics helps you move from thinking you know who your customer is to knowing you know who your customer is.","author_name":"Samantha Vance, Main Street Inc.","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"When it comes to digital transformation, a 2016 study found that attitude corresponds closely with success. Research by analyst firm IDC, sponsored by SAP, revealed clear differences among executives' attitudes toward digital transformation. At high-growth small and midsize businesses, 65 percent of decision-makers agreed with the statement, We're excited about the unique opportunities technology provides to expand our business geographically and compete. Effective use of business analytics can allow us to expand our business and compete in new growth areas.\r\n\r\nAmong SMBs that were experiencing flat or declining sales, just 32 percent of executives agreed with the same statement.1<\/sup>\r\n\r\nIn that sense, Sloan was in good company. He was open to new digital sources of customer analysis and convinced that this information could improve Rocket FCU's growth. His attitude should be instructive to the 90 percent of US businesses that employ fewer than 20 workers. Many of these executives have navigated, from year to year, based on instinct\u2014the belief that they know their customers because they're closer to them than big businesses are to theirs. But many of those businesses have failed: just less than 70 percent of businesses survive through their second year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. About one-half implode before their fifth anniversary.2<\/sup>\r\n\r\nAs Rocket FCU discovered, with so much customer intelligence available digitally, intuition alone is no longer an acceptable growth strategy for small and midsize businesses."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"

Small Business and Three Myths of Digital Transformation<\/h2>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. \"The ROI of digital transformation just isn't there for companies my size.\" An IDC report found that small and midsize businesses (SMB) with revenue growth above 10 percent were significantly more likely to report progress on digital transformation than SMBs with slower growth.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. \"Customer analytics costs too much for a business my size.\" Most experts advise small businesses to approach digital transformation in stages. Instead of investing in a customer analytics platform, for instance, a small business might contract with a service provider, as Rocket Federal Credit Union engaged Main Street Inc. \"The fee was very minimal for what we got in return,\" says Rocket FCU CEO Terry Sloan.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. \"As a small-company executive, I don't need analytics on my customers; I know them like the back of my hand.\" Samantha Vance of Main Street Inc. recently asked two community bank executives who their customer was. \"They both gave me completely different answers,\" she says. \"Analytics helps you move from thinking you know who your customer is to knowing you know who your customer is.\"<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In August 2016, Terry Sloan moved into his office and began to court change. To his surprise, it answered in a hurry.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nGrounds for Expansion <\/strong>\r\n\r\nRocket FCU was looking for customers with assets\u2014checking deposits, 401(k) plans, savings accounts\u2014that would boost the credit union's capital and help fuel growth in its loan portfolio.\r\n\r\nSloan set to work on two fronts. First, he looked for ways to market the credit union's services to a new audience. The Waco area, which includes McGregor, is among the top four areas for Hispanic growth in Texas, which itself has the fastest-growing Hispanic population in the country. Sloan wanted to introduce Rocket FCU to that segment of the community.\r\n\r\n\"We're targeting the retired or later-in-life people that have $10,000 in the bank, or $200,000 in a 401(k) [and who] would want to move to us,\" Sloan says. But knowing whom to target was only the first step. Sloan needed to understand how<\/em> to market to them. For that, he needed outside expertise.\r\n\r\nRocket FCU's second path to growth involved the company's geographic constraints. In August 2016, Sloan submitted a request to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)\u2014the federal regulator of credits unions\u2014to expand Rocket FCU's territory. In March, the answer came back: Rocket FCU had been approved to serve a four-county area\u201410 times its current size.\r\n\r\n\"I didn't think we'd expand this big quite this quick,\" Sloan says with a chuckle. \"We're in marketing overdrive now.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMarketing to a New Community <\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe marketing Sloan refers to isn't the type that earns the lion's share of attention in this age of digital transformation. The company maintains a lively Facebook page but, like many small businesses, finds its best connection to new customers through more traditional channels\u2014among them, direct mail, community events, and local media."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":10281,"text":"We're not just shotgunning out to every family with a Hispanic last name. We're actually [seeing] who we think the community leaders are, and we can get our message directly to them.","author_name":"Terry Sloan, Rocket Federal Credit Union","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"After six months in office, Sloan found himself staring at two primary paths to growth: find new customers within Rocket FCU's previous 12-mile radius and introduce the company to residents of its new four-county terrain. In both cases, the Hispanic community was the primary focus, and Sloan was eager for customer analytics that would help Rocket FCU formulate an effective marketing approach.\r\n\r\nA 2015 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)3<\/sup> revealed that while 7 percent of US residents are unbanked\u2014meaning that they use no services from banks or credit unions\u2014more than 16 percent of Hispanic households fit in that category. Many unbanked families use high-cost check-cashing services, payday lenders, and other alternative means of financing.\r\n\r\nIn addition, while 20 percent of the US population is considered underbanked\u2014they use services from banks and credit unions as well as from alternate providers\u2014nearly 30 percent of Hispanics are considered underbanked.\r\n\r\nMartha Perine Beard, senior branch executive of the Memphis office of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, explained the consequences in an online post:4<\/sup>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"When you consider the cost for cashing a biweekly payroll check and buying about six money orders each month, a household with a net income of $20,000 may pay as much as $1,200 annually for alternative service fees\u2014substantially more than the expense of a monthly checking account fee."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The FDIC explained some of the drivers behind this situation in its 2015 report, writing, \"The majority of unbanked households think that banks have no interest in serving households like theirs, and a significant share of unbanked households do not trust banks.\"\r\n\r\nRocket FCU was determined to change that perception. But to do so, Sloan first needed to know exactly who his prospects were, where they lived, and how to reach them.\r\n\r\nLuckily, he found a partner to deliver the intelligence that would fuel Rocket FCU's transformation.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nOne Transformation Fuels Another<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBecause traditionally their territories haven't overlapped, credit unions often don't view each other as competitors, Sloan says. Local banks, too, are rarely seen as direct threats. Where Rocket FCU does compete is with the local branches of large national banks, which enjoy the trickle-down benefits of multimillion-dollar national marketing campaigns and strong brand awareness. Like many small businesses, Rocket FCU looks to distinguish itself by delivering highly personal service to its customers.\r\n\r\n\"The small-town, small-business, handshake kind of deal has gone away, but I think it's starting to come back,\" Sloan explains. \"And the people that are bringing it back are reaping huge benefits from it.\"\r\n\r\nSloan knew that digital analytics would play a big role in helping Rocket FCU find the kind of customers who appreciate a handshake.\r\n\r\nSo it was a stroke of luck that just as Rocket FCU was receiving its spring gift of an expanded territory, a small business in Birmingham, Alabama, was putting the finishing touches on a transformation that was several years in the making.\r\n\r\nOver the past two decades, Birmingham's Main Street Inc. has grown to provide business and personal check products to customers at more than 2,000 banks and credit unions across the United States, building a $40 million business in the process. Despite a growing consumer preference for online banking, check printing remains a multibillion-dollar industry. Yet Main Street's executives knew they weren't standing on solid ground.\r\n\r\n\"Our president describes it as this melting iceberg,\" says Samantha Vance, the company's vice president of marketing. \"It's not going to go away anytime soon, but it is slowly declining.\""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":10211,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Some industry observers have predicted the demise of the paper check by as early as 2021. Most assessments anticipate a longer timeline, but almost no one disputes that there will be a steady decline in the writing of checks. So, as Main Street's check-printing business experienced double-digit year-over-year growth and the company grabbed market share from competitors, executives saw an opportunity for transformation.\r\n\r\nMain Street's customers had often expressed interest in learning how to better target customers and prospects\u2014through direct mail and other marketing channels. The check provider decided it would answer that need. The executive team began to develop a service that would help financial institutions better understand their existing customers, locate new prospects, and market to both with more precision and greater return on investment (ROI).\r\n\r\nIn recent years, customer targeting in the banking industry and other sectors has grown more sophisticated and data driven\u2014primarily in the digital realm. Companies that market through Facebook, for instance, can now target people who buy particular products, use certain apps, earn a specified minimum income, have kids, live in a tony area of a given city, and match other criteria. The traditional world of print, radio, and television advertising has lagged in its ability to deliver such targeted marketing, but advancing technologies are helping to close the gap and reveal the best channels for companies like Rocket FCU to reach their audiences.\r\n\r\nOne of those technologies\u2014a geographic information system (GIS)\u2014is the engine driving Main Street's plan to add data-driven intelligence to the world of traditional marketing. GIS technology specializes in plotting information on maps, including the demographics and purchasing habits of residents in various locales. By harnessing GIS, Main Street's executives knew they could help financial institutions understand the lifestyles and media habits of prospects and customers\u2014while transforming Main Street from a provider of checks into a trusted consultant.\r\n\r\nLast spring, as the launch of Main Street's consulting service drew near, Vance and the sales team approached a small group of check customers to pilot the service. In the office of one CEO in McGregor, Texas, that call came at just the right time.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSteering Better Decisions <\/strong>\r\n\r\nAs fate would have it, Main Street's transformation into a provider of customer intelligence was timed perfectly to support Rocket FCU's transformation into a four-county credit union.\r\n\r\nSloan saw in Main Street's service a chance to gather insight for two of Rocket FCU's primary initiatives: finding new customers in the immediate McGregor area and reaching a new audience in the four-county region beyond."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":"","text":"Main Street's analysis served as a blueprint for Rocket FCU to locate and communicate with leaders of the Hispanic community, whose assets Rocket FCU could help grow.","author_name":"","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The tagline of Main Street's service\u2014Discover Your Customer's DNA\u2014helps explain the insight Rocket FCU received. The analysis drew primarily from the demographic and psychographic<\/a> information hosted in Esri's GIS technology and revealed data like household income, age, ethnicity, financial propensities, and media habits. More specifically, the analysis included two forms of data that would guide Rocket FCU's marketing campaign: where its target customers lived and what communications channels (e.g., television, radio stations) they preferred. For many small and midsize companies, this brand of customer analytics speaks truth to bias\u2014something Sloan and team were pleased to discover.\r\n\r\nArmed with the insight, Rocket FCU is spending its marketing budget wisely. \"We're not just shotgunning out to every family with a Hispanic last name,\" Sloan explains. \"We're actually [seeing] who we think the community leaders are, and we can get our message directly to them.\"\r\n\r\nMain Street's analysis served as a blueprint for Rocket FCU to locate and communicate with leaders of the Hispanic community, whose assets Rocket FCU could help grow. For instance, Rocket FCU used the insight to correct course on the purchase of its first television ad. Before receiving the GIS-based data, the team thought its best chance to reach the Hispanic community might be through commercials on Waco's channel 10. But Main Street's analysis showed that Hispanic residents preferred channel 25. The analysis even revealed the best timing for the ads.\r\n\r\n\"The people we're targeting\u2014again, off the Main Street information\u2014they watch a lot of new programming or the weather programming early in the morning,\" Sloan says.\r\n\r\nSince the ads began, Rocket's Hispanic new members have grown by 50 percent.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Top and Bottom Lines<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe customer intelligence that Main Street delivered is serving Rocket FCU's top and bottom lines. Sloan says the credit union will grow additional accounts and revenue with the new marketing approach while avoiding the cost of shotgun advertising\u2014for instance, sending direct mail to residents who aren't part of the company's demographic or buying commercial time on television stations that don't reach a large segment of its target audience.\r\n\r\nAt Main Street, Vance says executives are pleased with early results from the new service. The company has over 2,000 financial institution customers today and, within three years, expects that over 300 of them will use its customer analytics service. \"That will serve as the foundation for Main Street's transformation into a provider of marketing and analytics services,\" Vance says.\r\n\r\nThe GIS-based location intelligence that the company provides is helping financial executives like Sloan make data-driven decisions about their marketing, and it's also helping to diversify Main Street's business model away from an industry that's on the wane.\r\n\r\nIn towns like Birmingham and McGregor, far from the bustle of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, companies like Main Street and Rocket FCU are finding their own paths to transformation. With Sloan's words\u2014\"You can't stand still\"\u2014ringing in their minds, these companies are melding digital intelligence and traditional marketing techniques to fuel a new generation of business success.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
      \r\n \t
    1. \"Thriving in the Digital Economy,\" https:\/\/www.sapvirtualagency.com\/FileExplorer\/Partners\/SME%20Digital%20Economy\/IDC%20InfoBrief_Thriving%20in%20the%20Digital%20Economy_Feb_2016.pdf<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
    2. \"What Percentage of Small Businesses Fail,\" https:\/\/www.fundera.com\/blog\/what-percentage-of-small-businesses-fail<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
    3. \"FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households,\" https:\/\/www.fdic.gov\/householdsurvey\/<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
    4. \"In-Depth: Reaching the Unbanked and Underbanked,\" https:\/\/www.stlouisfed.org\/Publications\/Central-Banker\/Winter-2010\/Reaching-the-Unbanked-and-Underbanked<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nAs Sales Grow, One Company Embraces Business Transformation through Digital Transformation and Customer Analytics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How two businesses in the midst of digital transformation found business advantage\u2014and some surprises\u2014in customer analytics.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/as-sales-grow-one-smb-embraces-business-transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As Sales Grow, One SMB Embraces Transformation\" 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\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/371b2772e41bcfdaf221e5ab2ca46ede\",\n\t \"name\": \"Marianna Kantor\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/06\/mariana.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/06\/mariana.jpg\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Marianna Kantor\"\n\t },\n\t \"description\": \"Marianna Kantor is Esri\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer. 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