The Client:

Horizon Platforms are providers of scissor lifts, cherry pickers and offer MEWP hire

The Brief:

Horizon Platforms had been trading successfully and building a growing customer base. Generally, customers were grouped by their historical value but the business believed there was an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their base and how to take it forward.

The senior sales and marketing teams wanted to review all aspects of customer behaviour and understand what aspects of their own or their customers behaviour were key drivers for repeat hire and longevity of custom.

The Challenge:

The Horizon Platforms customer base was complex with a mixture of contractors and end users, creating some quite different behaviours. Internal operations also provided some complexity such as the frequent need to provide equipment through cross hire due to demand or distance to site.

The business had also made some tactical decisions to move away from certain industries where the cost to hire was increased due to the nature of the work carried out by the customer.

They were keen to find out the implications of these business decisions on the current customer landscape.

Our Approach:

The Insight House methodology involved taking a deep dive into all available data. We focussed on the behavioural parameters of the customer rather than looking at traditional B2B variables such as industry and size. Cycle of hire, mixture of equipment, contractor or end user, engagement with communications and how the customer had been sourced and brought on board through the sales process were all reviewed.

We utilised our proprietary dimension-driven approach to customer segmentation of first identifying key drivers for behavioural change and then building the customer homogenous groups around these key dimensions.

The Output:

A broad insight into customer behaviour, defining the active base, identifying where the value lies, geography, trade, product clustering, common behaviours and repeat hire.

Specifically looked at the key drivers for repeat hire and long term value so as to be able to score new customers for their likelihood to return and deliver further sales allowing the business to prioritise these customers and focus resource on them accordingly.

We uncovered 5 core common hiring behaviours and generated groups to match these behaviours. By utilising the knowledge of how these different customers are likely to behave the business is able to plan and communicate appropriately.

Business Impact:

Using the knowledge from the insight allows the business to direct internal resource appropriately to maximise their return. It aided with decision making in respect to overall operational strategy in relation to locations and cross hire.

In addition it was able to provide insight, evaluation and reassurance concerning recent decisions and changes of direction within the business.