Customer Experience Management
Reference - Heatcraft

SRD’s Change Management Consulting process within Heatcraft Australia Pty Ltd.

Neil Stewart of SRD Group has asked me, to provide an insight into our experience with his Company when developing a strategic business plan for Heatcraft Australia in 2003. I am pleased to be able to do so.

SRD was initially engaged to assist Heatcraft’s management build a higher level of understanding of customer needs and from this to recommend and support development of a more customer centric business model. At the time we comprised three distinct sales organisations, two of which were in direct competition. Our manufacturing operations were separately managed, serving two sales streams independently, while the remaining (competing) sales stream relied on imported products, which in themselves competed with locally manufactured products.

As a leadership team, we had diverse backgrounds and preconceived ideas about the business direction we should take. We also lacked a strong common understanding of our customer’s needs and expectations, competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and the nature of our industry in general. In short, we needed to sort through the facts about our business in order to build a sustainable platform for the future.

Stage one of SRD’s engagement entailed designing and implementing a survey of customer needs, expectations and beliefs about our business and competitive environment. Through this, their brief was to sponsor the development of a common understanding of our business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, within the business. Stage two was less defined and dependant on the outcomes of Stage 1, however we had envisaged considerable organisation change would ensue.

SRD created a comprehensive Customer Survey strategy, which they implemented in very professional manner. This was the first time in many years that any of the constituent businesses had asked customers what they thought and the impact was quite profound. We have since conducted two follow-up surveys with our customers, using SRD with positive outcomes on each occasion.

Based on this initial engagement, the need to refocus our business became evident, with two clear strategies standing-out. However, with SRD’s encouragement, we identified the need for the leadership team to engage in a more intensive analysis of the business before deciding its future direction and in doing so, a fresh approach to achieving this.

Under SRD’s leadership, we formed three independent “consulting teams”, made up of Heatcraft senior managers. A common database was established, together with specific, broad business objectives. Each consulting team was given the brief to justify a specific business strategy, using the same database. The consulting teams and their individual business strategy were:

ASUR Consulting Team  – focussed on no change in structure or approach to markets – relying on three sales streams, two of which were in direct competition and differentiated product offerings;

One Way Consulting Team – focussed on consolidating the sales streams into one;

Red Square Consulting Team – challenged to explore alternatives to these two obvious approaches, then focus on one of the alternatives (with the brief to stretch our thinking).

SRD’s approach was initially seen as somewhat radical and challenging, a degree of scepticism existed. The approach certainly challenged our discipline as a leadership team, in particular in managing a multi-directional, in-depth research program into our own business and markets, while continuing to meet day-to-day business results. It was also quite confronting for a number of those involved, particularly those who were required to challenge long held beliefs about our customers, the market and our competition.

The engagement process proved to be a powerful tool in building a common level of understanding amongst leadership team members concerning our business and the challenges/opportunities we faced. It was instrumental in helping to build a leadership team, from a group of competent, independent business executives and to this day, we still refer back to this time as a turning point in our development.

The final outcome from the project was a blue print for change – a new approach to managing the business, which drew heavily from the “Red Square” consulting report, with key elements from the remaining models. In 2004 we launched a new organisation model, drawing the two competing sales organisations into a common structure, but with a fresh direction in so far as market segments and customer focus was concerned.

Like all such projects, SRD’s engagement was not without its challenges. Matching personalities, driving outcomes and managing timelines across the Tasman all figured at one time or another, however the engagement of SRD again in 2005 to facilitate the implementation of our CRM program, speaks for itself in so far as their relevance to our business and competence in managing organisation change projects and achieving results.

Neville Candy
Director of Human Resources