Megas Get More Strategic Methodology - 2001-07-16

Refuting the perception that they are less willing or able to provide customized solutions for clients, mega agencies Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Rosenbluth International and TQ3 Maritz Travel Solutions are using new methods to take a more strategic approach to understanding their customers business requirements.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel in January introduced a strategic process to better understand its clients based on their unique attributes, as opposed to their transaction volumes. "In the past, we understood accounts by size," said Rob Deliberto, executive vice president of client service for North America. "It was a very simplistic, uni-dimensional approach. Now, we are using a classic supply-chain model to try to understand a customer based on four criteria."

The model, which Carlson Wagonlit has used in Canada for the past three years, uses a set of 13 criteria in which clients are ranked on a scale of one to five, including such areas as strategic sourcing, global synergy, technology focus and executive sponsorship. Based on how a client ranks in each area, Carlson Wagonlit will assign account managers with the right skill sets to match the needs of the client. The criteria are used to determine a client's orientation within a strategic client matrix with four categories: emerging, commodity, harvest or strategic. The assessment, for example, helps better identify the travel management needs of a client with a global orientation that is not yet global.

Rosenbluth International last year implemented Diagnostics, a comprehensive, consultative approach to analyzing a company's travel program needs in four areas. It provides a means to measure clients based on process, performance, behavior and program. A client is evaluated in each area based on a potential score of 100 and plotted on an alignment grid. The client's overall alignment rating then is calculated by taking the average of the combined management area ratings. Based on the score, Rosenbluth offers recommendations for improvement in each area. The agency early next month will launch an e-diagnostic tool to determine the best technology solution for each client.

TQ3 Maritz Travel Solutions since 1999 has been using its strategic partnering process, an internally developed, systematic approach to help clients achieve targeted results. "Our initial objective was simple: to align our goals and objectives to be consistent with what our clients needed," senior vice president Mike Koetting said. TQ3 Maritz next month will announce a new tool that will help clients identify needs as part of the first step of the six-step strategic partnering process, which is to pinpoint goals and help identify areas of potential opportunity for a company. "Based on a list of best practices we've identified, we do a gap analysis between what a company is doing and what we see as a best practice," Koetting said.

The process involves a guided interview with a series of questions used to determine overall company goals, such as expanding globally or reducing overhead by 10 percent, and such travel program goals as implementing new technology. "The key is when we go about identifying needs and company best practices. We are trying not to limit ourselves to standard agency areas of core expertise. We are trying to broaden our scope," Koetting said. Although the strategic partnering process is available to any client, depending upon the solution needed and the level of subject matter expertise required, the evaluation may become a consulting engagement that requires an added fee. Ideally, the process is repeated on an annual basis to determine where a client is meeting objectives and to reevaluate its needs.

WorldTravel-BTI is using a less formalized process and American Express and Navigant International are not using such metrics at this time.