GWDC

1
WorkForce Center System Survey Data and
Repositioning Recommendations
May 5, 2006
Jefferson Bishop, Mike Boull, Sarah Shanley,
Rebecca Thompson, Lindsey Wahl
2
Project Plan
Completed to Date
Define Opportunity and Gather Internal
Information ( 3 weeks)
Strategy and Creative Development ( 3 weeks)
Analysis of Opportunities ( 3 weeks)
External Assessment ( 4 weeks)
May 5th
Jan 31st
Mar 31st

• Understand the objectives
• Identify scope
• Understand current system
• Define deliverables

• Gather business insights
• Collect feedback from current/previous users
• Benchmark operations in other states

• Generate findings report
• Conduct high-level assessment
• Populate marketing strategy

• Synthesize analysis to
• recommend strategy
• Develop plans for marketing activities,
  strategies and creative

Activities
Key Questions

• What is the service and by whom is it provided?
• How do various departments interact?
• How does internal functioning affect external
  brand perceptions?
• What does WFC want to be?
• What additional
• information do we need?

• What level of awareness exists among businesses
  of the WFC?
• What is the perception of the WFC?
• How do users rate WFC performance?
• How do businesses experience the WFC?
• What improvements can we make to the existing
  communications?
• What do best-in-class states do?

• Of which services/resources are businesses most
  aware?
• Which available services are most valuable to
  businesses?
• What are the brand attributes of the WFC in the
  eyes of businesses?
• How can the WFC more effectively communicate with
  businesses?
• Are current users aware of other available
  services?
• What resources are needed
• for implementation?

• Which ideas are the most promising?
• What impact would these ideas have on usage and
  perception?
• What are the next steps?
• What additional evaluation
• tools are necessary?

• Identify organizational structure and functioning
• Determine information gaps and requirements

• Survey results
• Benchmark analysis
• Insight analysis

• Preliminary recommendations
• Strategy template
• Sales process map

• High-level strategy
• Ideas for creative campaign
• Action plan for further evaluation and/or
  implementation

Deliverables
3
External Research Methodology
4
Survey Results - Services
A random sample of small Minnesota businesses
indicates a willingness to accept assistance,
namely in finding workers, business financing,
marketing, and training.
5
Survey Results - Services
A sample of Minnesota Job Bank users indicates a
similar willingness to accept assistance, however
with more focus on finding workers, in addition
to marketing and training.
6
Survey Results - Attributes
Small business survey respondents exhibited a
desire for ease of use and expertise.
7
Survey Results - Delivery
The themes of simplicity and expertise are
further embodied in the high likeliness to
utilize a service via website or direct service
representative.
8
Survey Results - Awareness
Only 53 of small businesses randomly surveyed
have heard of the Job Bank. Of those, 58 have
used the Job Bank (31 of total).
9
Survey Results - Satisfaction
Small businesses randomly surveyed did not have a
high level of satisfaction with their last
encounter with the Job Bank. However, Job Bank
users surveyed had a much higher level of
satisfaction with their last encounter with the
Job Bank.
10
Survey Results - Satisfaction
11
Survey Results Job Bank
Of known Job Bank users, 92 were referred to the
Job Bank, or they or their firm had a previous
experience with the Job Bank.
12
Survey Results Job Bank
Among users, convenience, size, and cost were
cited as primary reasons for choosing the Job
Bank.
13
Survey Results - Awareness
Only 36 of small business randomly surveyed have
heard of employee training. Of those, only 9
have utilized employee training (3 of total).
14
Survey Results - Awareness
50 of Job Bank users surveyed have heard of
employee training. Of those, 42 have utilized
the employee training (20 of total).
15
Survey Results - Awareness
Only 9 of randomly sampled small business survey
respondents have heard of a Business Service
Specialist. Of those, 0 have utilized the
services of a BSS.
16
Survey Results - Awareness
Only 13 of Job Bank users surveyed have heard of
a BSS. Of those, 33 have utilized the services
of a BSS (4 of total).
17
Survey Results - Awareness
Only 29 of randomly sampled small business
survey respondents have heard of Labor Market
Information. Of those, 29 have utilized Labor
Market Information (9 of total).
18
Survey Results - Awareness
50 of Job Bank users surveyed have heard of
Labor Market Information. Of those, 83 have
utilized LMI (42 of total).
19
Survey Results - Satisfaction
Small businesses randomly surveyed had a moderate
level of satisfaction with their last encounter
with Labor Market Information.
However Job Bank users surveyed had a much high
level of satisfaction with their last encounter
with Labor Market Information.
20
Survey Results - Satisfaction
21
ACSI

• Established in 1994, the American Customer
  Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a uniform and
  independent measure of consumption experience. A
  powerful economic indicator, the ACSI tracks
  trends in customer satisfaction and provides
  valuable benchmarking insights of the consumer
  economy for companies, industry trade
  associations, and government agencies.
• ACSI can answer these questions
• Are customer satisfaction and evaluations of
  quality improving or declining for the nation's
  output of goods and services?
• Are they improving or declining for particular
  sectors of industry, for specific industries, or
  for specific companies?

22
ACSI Customer Satisfaction

• Primary research showed MN Job Bank satisfaction
  levels roughly equal to the overall satisfaction
  of all aggregated federal services
• Satisfaction levels were slightly lower than
  those of search engines, and Federal Labor
  services

23
Recommendations by Rank Order
High
1
2
3
4

• Marketing Execution Plan
• Standardized Operations
• Cross-sell
• Website
• CRM
• Knowledge Management
• BSS Training
• Customer Feedback
• User groups
• Budget Reallocation
• Leverage Events
• Placement Agencies
• Industry Cheat Sheets

5
6
7
8
Importance
10
9
11
12
13
Low
High
Feasibility
(Cost, Time, Complexity)
24
Marketing Execution Plan
Recommendation

• Create roll-out plan for awareness campaign and
  execute
• Focus on reach and frequency
• Messaging will be relevant and meaningful to
  businesses
• Enforce consistent branding and messaging across
  channels
• 17 of Job Bank users learned about the service
  through direct marketing
• WFC business services must build awareness, not
  change perception
• Only 12 of WSA marketing budgets were allocated
  to advertising
• Differentiate and promote yourself!
• Prioritize and plan the logistics of strategic
  recommendations
• Quick wins and low hanging fruit will create
  internal momentum
• Use grassroots marketing tactics to keep costs
  down
• Prioritize mailings and ad campaigns to target
  business segments
• - Ex. NY Times insert for targeted users
• Promote NETwork through online ads and viral
  campaigns
• Utilize all possible channels and touch points
  to distribute literature (e.g. WFC, website,
  mailing lists, anyone in the network)

Description
Justification
Tactics
25
Cross-sell
Recommendation

• Leverage current WFC users and existing partners
  to increase visibility and actively cross-sell
  additional services
• Communicate the multiple services available to
  current users
• The goal is to increase utilization
  Cross-selling is easy, low cost and high impact
• Only 13 of Job Bank users and 9 of random
  sample respondents have heard of a BSS
• 91 of Job Bank users would be open to using
  other WFCS services
• Place a notification on the front page or a
  commonly used page that will alert users of the
  Job Bank of the other service available
• Banner
• Pop-up
• Inform business that utilize the Job Bank but
  dont know what they dont know
• Call out specific services or add a whats new
  section

Description
Justification
Tactics
26
Website
Recommendation
Description

• Restructure the website to make usability,
  navigation, and searching as easy and intuitive
  as possible simplify!
• Provide and maintain fast, easy access to all
  services offered by the WFCS
• Many business prefer the web for information and
  interface yet many also believe the website is
  confusing and difficult to use
• 62.6 of respondents to the 2004 DEED business
  services survey selected the website among their
  top three preferences for service delivery
• 92 of Job Bank users choose the web-based
  service because it is convenient
• Searches get messed up and other website
  problems occur all the time.
• Create NETwork homepage to centralize all
  business services (www.network.gov is available)
• Improve search function and include a zip code
  lookup to see the resources in a specific area
• Create user accounts to store personal
  information and make all offline services
  available to users online
• Events podcasts, agendas, and highlights
  available online for a larger audience
• BSS blogs, live chats with the experts, and
  segment information
• WFCs common website formats with events and
  services
• General Information (e.g. How to use JobZ to
  expand you business Job Bank tips and hints
  Labor Market Information Whats in it for me?)
  
• Connect NETwork website to other channels (e.g.
  Job Bank and other web-based services)

Justification
Tactics
27
Customer Relationship Management
Recommendation
Description

• A Customer Relationship Management system will
  enable better service and tracking
• A central repository of information will enable
  faster, more accurate, thorough and consistent
  service to WFCS customers
• Build up the CRM to facilitate information
  sharing, limit duplicate effort, and enable
  multiple parties to seamlessly serve each
  customer
• Manage customer interactions online and document
  all sales calls, information requests, and
  communications
• Track efficiency of interactions to identify
  methods to better serve customers
• Track usage to better target high-volume
  businesses
• Track customer retention and customer
  satisfaction to identify areas for operational
  improvement

Justification
Tactics
28
Knowledge Management
Recommendation

• Develop coordinated knowledge management system
  and industry-specific expertise
• Provide quick, consistent access to relevant
  industry-specific expertise
• Internal communication and integration is an
  integral part of aligning the service offerings
  of the WFCS
• When asked what attributes of business services
  are most attractive, customers ranked depth of
  knowledge highest
• No one person knows everything, facilitate
  knowledge sharing
• Establish industry-specific expertise within BSS
  position
• Provide customers with industry cheat sheets,
  DEED newsletters, and interactive user groups
• An interactive forum that lends itself to an
  online environment (e.g. blogs or webpage that
  can be printed as used as market literature)
• Make resources available to all employees of the
  WFCS

Description
Justification
Tactics
29
Standardized Operations
Recommendation
Description

• WorkForce Centers should have a consistent look
  and feel,
• Align operations with marketing communications
  and vice versa
• Enforce consistent branding and messaging across
  channels
• Its a big disappointment that there isnt
  consistent service and knowledge across WorkForce
  Centers. Job Bank and WorkForce Center user
• These centers are one-stop shops for all
  employment and training needs. UMN Omnibus
  Survey, 2005 results for DEED-sponsored questions
  
• Create awareness of employment AND business
  services available at WorkForce Centers
• Measure and compare quality of service ratings
  for each WorkForce Center
• Simply ask What works? What doesnt? Implement
  changes when possible
• Record customer feedback and distribute the
  information to share best practices with all
  service delivery partners

Justification
Tactics
30
BSS Training
Recommendation
Description

• Continue to develop the BSS
• I become an expert in the field, find out how
  they feel about doing business in Minneapolis,
  streamline problems and want to avoid getting in
  the way of their business. interview with BSS
• Businesses prefer working with someone with
  expertise above all other attributes.
• Integrate BSS into greater WFCS
• Discuss strategies for the first contact with
  businesses not a script
• Facilitate leads being passed to and from other
  services and departments
• Standardize BSS communications, share best
  practices track performance
• Prioritize top issues for industry segments
• Incentives align the interests of all
  constituents

Justification
Tactics
31
Customer Feedback
Recommendation

• Create a standardized mechanism to gather
  feedback from users
• Use feedback to gather ideas for improvement and
  track customer satisfaction trends
• Marketing principle Listen to the voice of the
  customer.
• Customers are the best source of ideas to
  improve the network
• Customer satisfaction is the easiest way to
  measure, track, and report success, and more
  importantly improvement
• Just start by creating a feedback form alter
  and improve it over time (dont be afraid to
  bootstrap the questions based on results)
• Simple questions. What works? What doesnt?
• Utilize the ACSI metrics of customer satisfaction
  on a scale of 1-10
• Record customer feedback and distribute the
  information to share best practices

Description
Justification
Tactics
32
User Groups
Recommendation

• Create opportunities for WFCS users to share
  ideas and best practices with each other
• Common interests will yield more targeted
  innovation than current awareness-based events
• Businesses find value in having the opportunity
  to share ideas about their industry, the WFCS
  services they utilize , or any other commonality.
  
• Online chats facilitated by BSS
• Industry blogs. Pages that users can log into
  and post comments, questions to fellow experts.
• Establish advisory board of users who can be
  referenced and become advocates of the WFCS
• Let groups use the WFC locations to hold meetings
  or industry events
• Educate WFCS users about how to better use
  services (e.g. How to post a job on the Job
  Bank How does LMI benefit my business?

Description
Justification
Tactics
33
Budget Reallocation
Recommendation

• Track and widely report spending
• Focus expenditures to align with the goals of
  your marketing effort
• If your goal is to increase reach then spend more
  on advertising and less on events - if your goals
  change, change your allocation
• When 16 separate WSA marketing budgets that are
  not aligned
• Worst outcome efforts conflict and dilute
  messaging and experiences
• Best outcome messaging is less effective than it
  could be
• Events do not touch a large number of businesses
  and do not affect overall awareness, yet they
  account for 50 of your marketing budget
• Centralize marketing spending for a time OR
  clearly outline the spending strategy so the
  efforts of the WSAs are aligned
• Allocate or recommend activities that increase
  awareness
• Channels with the greatest impact and reach

Description
Justification
Tactics
34
Leverage Events
Recommendation

• Create more touch points than just the original
  event. Use online media and information from the
  events to create an echo
• Events brings a limited number of participants
  to each event
• The marketing materials, expertise, and network
  resources supporting these events are
  leverageable assets
• Events do not touch a large number of businesses
  and do not affect overall awareness, yet they
  account for 50 of your marketing budget
• Target a variety of business segments through
  current relationships (job bank, WorkForce
  Centers, BSS)
• Produce high-quality, media worthy events that
  create buzz after the event is over? create
  post-event strategy to make a small event touch
  a large audience
• Leverage impact of event on attendees by
  implementing a word of mouth marketing strategy

Description
Justification
Tactics
35
Placement Agencies
Recommendation
Description

• Create and leverage partnerships with placement
  agencies
• Placement agencies benefit by offering their
  clients additional value-added services
• WFCS benefits through increased awareness of
  services
• Both create economic growth
• Encourage agencies to provide Labor Market
  Information
• Encourage agencies to distribute literature
  relating to WFCS services
• Encourage agencies to post links to the WFCS on
  their websites
• Establish a beachhead referencable success
  stories that can be promoted online, anecdotally,
  via case studies, etc
• Advertise on partner organization websites
• Encourage placement agencies to post both jobs
  and job seekers

Justification
Tactics
36
Industry Cheat Sheets
Recommendation

• Cheat sheets will compile the most recent
  industry regulation, legislation, trends, and
  other need-to-know information
• Provide quick, consistent access to relevant
  industry-specific expertise
• When asked what attributes of business services
  are most attractive, customers ranked depth of
  knowledge highest
• No one person knows everything, facilitate
  knowledge sharing
• Establish industry-specific expertise within BSS
  position
• A living document that lends itself to an online
  environment (e.g. blogs or webpage that can be
  printed as used as market literature)
• Provide customers with industry cheat sheets,
  DEED newsletters, and interactive user groups

Description
Justification
Tactics
37
Thank you!
Wed be happy to answer any questions. Contact
CBE director Dave Hopkins at dhopkins_at_csom.umn.edu