TransForm Corporation

We have worked with dozens of organizations whose leaders were ready to be more purposeful in their work, but just didn’t know how to do it.

We’ve helped them create a culture that engages the human spirit. A culture that inspires everyone in the organization to feel a passionate sense of loyalty to the goals of the company. Ultimately leaders learn that when all participants are fully engaged and valued as not only corporate contributors, but as people, employees feel they are living more purposeful lives. Because they’re part of a people-centric brand.

Aligning all areas of your organization allows your people to CEE™ the Brand. We ensure that people, processes and procedures are truly aligned and serving each other to create an extraordinary customer experience. One that will help you reach the ultimate goals of your organization – real and sustained growth and profitability.

First, we analyze all components of your business to determine how each is building or diminishing the strength of your brand. Depending upon the needs discovered, we’ll work with you to prioritize and implement adjustments needed for alignment. Opportunities may relate to organizational change, marketing, employee selection and recruitment, training and/or other measures.

And arguably the most important, since it is their day-to-day interactions with customers that define your brand. The more an employee feels engaged, the higher the productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction of the company.

When an honest, people-centric approach is the heart and soul of your company, employees take notice. They appreciate that the goals of the organization are aligned with their own goals as individuals. And that results in employees who embrace personal ownership in achieving the mission and vision of the organization. That’s when your employees become inspired, passionate ambassadors of the company’s brand.

CHALLENGE:

The highly important technology and innovation story at NIKE was losing visibility because of focus on other aspects of the very popular brand. However, inside NIKE a strong and determined technology and design team knew it was critical to evaluate the next generation of performance technologies. What criteria were necessary for evaluating new technologies to determine product configurations, strategic fit, and/or larger platform capabilities?

METHODOLOGY:

In partnership with the NIKE R&D development team, evaluation began by interviewing internal leaders in design, technology, development and marketing. Utilizing the Competitive Strategic Positioning® process several platform concepts were developed. Qualitative in-depth market research was conducted across eight business categories to determine fit to NIKE brand. The NIKE team then determined it was advantageous to create a broad technology based product platform.

RESULTS:

This work helped create the model that championed NIKE FORM and NIKE ALPHA.

CHALLENGE:

To develop an employee focused culture built on a foundation of mutual respect and appreciation. To strengthen the Northwest brand through creating an exceptional customer experience.

METHODOLOGY:

Leveraging customer research, meetings with senior executives and over 200 interviews with a cross representation of Northwest employees the curriculum for a cultural transformation and customer experience process was developed. The key themes indentified were leadership, communication, operational excellence, reliability, and transparency. The design allowed executives and employees the forum to establish a meaningful dialog for creating mutual respect and a commitment to the customer. Over six thousand customer facing employees participated in The Northwest Experience.

RESULTS:

The objectives set by Northwest’s senior management for this initiative and the measurements for return on investment were very clear: to reduce the percentage of customer complaints and to increase the compliments received by employees. The data provides clear evidence that these objectives were unquestionably met as outlined below:

Compliments /100,000 enplanements increased by 8% YOY

Complaints /100,000 enplanements reduced by 7% YOY

CHALLENGE:

Northwest Cargo (now Delta), the largest combination air cargo carrier in the world, depended on the business of freight forwarders and integrated carriers such as Federal Express. During the late 1980s, there was considerable speculation about the future of the freight forwarding industry creating concern with Northwest management that potential consolidation posed a threat to its business. How could Northwest Cargo not only remain competitive but be perceived as a true innovator in the industry?

METHODOLOGY:

Extensive strategic and market planning to better understand the true nature of the potential market changes. Development and implementation of a three phase Competitive Strategic Positioning® strategy.

PHASE ONE: Market dominance for Northwest Cargo required the repositioning of Federal Express.
PHASE TWO: The freight forwarding industry was positioned with commercial shippers as a valuable partner in their logistics decisions.
PHASE THREE: Intense focus was placed on providing exceptional customer service and improving freight tracking systems. Attention was also given to generating more business from key accounts and other vertical market opportunities.

RESULTS:

The bold decision on the part of Northwest to undertake this aggressive positioning approach resulted in the management of the company being viewed as market leaders. The repositioning of a competitor always has risk, but rarely does it require a company to take on a competitor that is also a major customer.

Northwest Cargo was able to form partnerships with other forwarding companies which allowed them to work more closely in a non-adversarial manner. The good will created significantly contributed to Northwest Cargo’s financial performance as they were able to capture more than their predicted share of freight.

CHALLENGE:

The investment marketplace had become increasingly competitive and fragmented. It focused on no or low-commission, no-service firms. Product offerings had become blurred. Many competitors were making identical “relationship” claims and staking their positions around this area—an area that had been almost the exclusive domain of Piper Jaffray for many years. How would the company now re-invent itself to be perceived as a distinctive and relevant choice for its current and potential clients?

METHODOLOGY:

Development of a fresh Competitive Strategic Position® for Piper Jaffray and the creation of an awareness campaign.

The strategy focused on the primary benefit— a “successful” relationship; a client who has achieved a dream. The message: “We put our clients first. We can’t be successful unless they are. We care about their plans, dreams, aspirations.” From Here You Can See The Future.

To support this strategy brokers submitted stories about their most interesting clients.

Several of the clients, from many different walks of life, agreed to talk on camera about themselves in a very personal, emotional way. They did not mention finances or Piper Jaffray except by inference. These achievers/dreamers, however, represented the client profile that Piper Jaffray was seeking to engage.

RESULTS:

Post-television viewing favorability scores for Piper Jaffray showed a 24% increase in Minneapolis (a very established market) and a 300% increase in Phoenix (a new market).

CHALLENGE:

To create and implement the “People Strategy” that would enable Pulte Homes to become one of the largest and most successful companies in the home building industry.

METHODOLOGY:

Determine the values that would guide the company moving forward. Develop a compelling business case for creating a culture that embraced those values. Analyze HR practices to improve both selection and retention. Create curriculum and training for individual and team development. Place people in positions to leverage their strengths. Identify every customer touch point. Align every department, manager and employee behind a common purpose - the commitment to an outstanding customer experience.

RESULTS:

From 1996 to 2006 Pulte Homes grew from a $1 Billion to $12 Billion dollar company. In every market in which they operated Pulte Homes won the top JD Power award for the quality of their products and customer service. The company presented their Lifetime Achievement award to David McNally stating: “You have helped shape our culture and drive our performance. You have taught us to soar in our changing world.”