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Prevention is better than cure: increasing sales revenue by identifying order-winning criteria

Hart, Mariëlle 't (2012) Prevention is better than cure: increasing sales revenue by identifying order-winning criteria.

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Abstract:This research is the product of a cooperation with Vitaal Werkt, an independent and certified occupational health service organization. They offer their customers a whole scale of services, but for this research the focus is on their preventive services, on the preventive medical examinations to be exact. The objective of this research is to offer VW more insight on their order-winning criteria so they can (1) sell more prevention services, in specific preventive medical examinations, to existing customers, and/or (2) gain new customers that will purchase prevention services. Order-winning criteria are those criteria that let a possible supplier actually win orders, those criteria that are crucial in the eyes of the customer to choose one supplier over the other. By identifying these criteria it can be determined which characteristics of Vitaal Werkt’s service offers the most value to customers. It can then be researched how these characteristics or criteria can be used to help Vitaal Werkt to double their prevention revenue. All of the above is transferred into the following research question: “What are the order-winning criteria for Vitaal Werkt to become and remain successful in achieving their goal of doubling their revenue of ‘prevention’ by 2015, focusing on the preventive medical examinations?” To find an answer on this research question several methods were used, under which a literature review and interviews with managers and customers. The interviews with managers and customers were used to identify which criteria are order-winning for preventive medical examinations according to the perspective of the management and that of the customers, and were used to analyze the differences and similarities between these two perspectives. Based on the identification of the order-winning criteria both perspectives could be transferred into a model which provided a graphical view of the criteria from both perspectives and an initial advice on how to deal with these criteria. Placing the criteria in the model gave an initial view on which criteria Vitaal Werkt should keep up the good work, on which they should concentrate, on which there might be a possible overkill of effort, and on which they should put low priority. Further analysis of the model and all gained information on the criteria gave a list of the nine most important order-winning criteria for the management and as well as for the customers. For the management they are customized service, professional and commercial expertise and experience, thorough processing of the quotation, personal relation of trust, brand awareness, reputation and image, integral system for health management, protection of personal and medical information / ISO 27001, personal contact, and delivery speed. For the customer the following criteria were most important: customized service, presence of professional expertise, personal relation of trust, industry specific knowledge, service location, service quality, service price, delivery reliability, and delivery speed. Based on the analysis of the criteria and the differences and similarities between the perspective of the management and that of the customers it could be concluded which criteria are critical for success in increasing customer satisfaction or winning new customers. The above mentioned criteria for the customers are the criteria that turned out to be leading for the recommendations to Vitaal Werkt. The recommendations given to VW are given from two different angles: business improvement (concerned with improving value and the perception of that value) and business growth (concerned with improving sales performance). The business improvement recommendations given to Vitaal Werkt are: improving current delivery reliability, introducing a quick service offering, providing local service, setting up an communication strategy based on the order-winning criteria, and using referral marketing to win new customers. The recommendations concerning business growth are as followed: expand the current product line for existing customers, develop markets within the most important industry segment(s), penetrate and maintain the existing market, optimize service pricing.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/62509
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