Cutting in the Middle Man

How maximising intermediary relationships can

help drive your business forward

Francesca Brosan, Chairman,

Omobono Limited.
April 2010

OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK

T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk
Companies have historically been highly aware of the
important role intermediaries can have in driving their
business forward
Companies have historically To misquote Mark Twain,
70 per cent of business in
been highly aware of the ‘rumours of the demise of the
financial services, and up to 40
important role intermediaries intermediary are grossly
per cent of business in other
can have in driving their exaggerated’.
sectors, comes through
business forward, with 70 per
intermediaries. In these uncertain times there
cent of business in financial
are two reasons in particular
services, and up to 40 per cent
why it is more important than
of business in other sectors,
ever to continue to build strong
coming through these channels.
relationships with the
But in this the internet and social intermediary audience.
media age, the predominance of
The first is a simple rule of
search and online aggregation
business: relationships are the
sites throws up a question about
currency of business; those
the continuing value of the
companies who put time into
intermediary in more than one
effort building those
marketplace. Do you need an
relationships will gain
intermediary if you can simply
commercial advantage.
search for what you want and
Products and services are
then buy it direct online?
extremely similar, and can be
The answer is that purchase copied overnight. When all
choice is not that simple. Whilst other things are equal it is your
we may be happy to buy relationship with a company, or
straightforward products online, with a brand, which makes the
more complex purchases tend difference between who you
to be ones for which we’ll seek chose to work with.
advice, from friends and
colleagues and from
professionals in the sector.

OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK

T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
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 Insurance aggregation sites are So if we believe that the
a case in point. Between two intermediary channel is
companies listed equally high on important, and we believe it
the table, you are more likely to needs to be worked on what
buy from the company you are should we be doing and where
more familiar with, rather the should we be spending our
one at the top you’ve never tightening budgets to best
heard of. It is relationships, effect?
established over time, that keep
The famous ‘Man in the Chair’
customers choosing you over
advertisement from McGraw Hill
the competition.
argued strongly in favour of the
The second reason is a power of advertising to create
common feature of the current the type of familiarity we have
economic climate. There are no been talking about. But
new customers. And those that intermediary communications
are in the market are highly risk are at the other end of the
averse. They are looking for spectrum from this. Most of the
reassurance in their buying people you are talking to know
decisions, not going out on a who you are. They also know
limb to do something they’ve who your competition is (and are
never done before. likely to be working with them as
well).
This is where the intermediary
relationships feature with
strength. New business is more
likely to be driven from the
customers you are already
doing business with. If their
relationship is with an
intermediary and you stop
talking to the intermediary,
guess whose products or
services will be recommended?
Not yours.

OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK

T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

One argument is that you don’t
need to communicate with
intermediaries when budgets
are tight because your existing
brand equity will carry you
through. But sadly not every
brand has the equity of
Whiskas. This is because doing
business in financial services is
simply not the same as buying
cat food. Apart from the obvious
reasons (no cats involved),
product and service delivery is
very different in B2B.
If you buy cat food the product is
likely to be the same week in
week out. It delivers
consistently to you (or at least
your cat). In financial services it
doesn’t quite work like this.
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
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Your brand is being
‘experienced’ every day in lots
of different ways. What’s in the
tin is a complex range of
products and services and it’s
experienced by a wide range of
people at the customer end (not
just the cat).
Administrators, sales staff,
advisors, principals. They are
all interacting with the provider.
And every day their experience
of that provider influences their
propensity to recommend you to
their customers. All of which
puts communications in a very
different light to something you
switch on and off to generate
sales.
As the diagram (Fig.1) shows
the decision making process for
an IFA or broker when
considering purchase decisions.
Products and services are table
stakes.
It’s vital to get them right but the
things that will make a
difference to their selection of
you rather than someone else
on panel will be more complex
than this.
 It will depend on a dual
assessment of what’s good for
the customer and what’s good
for their business. What begins
as a rational analysis becomes
highly influenced by the
emotional factors which drive
perceived differentiation.
Communications with channel
audiences are often handled by
a specialist team, maybe even
one person, a key account
manager. But because of the
complexity of the customer
experience of your brand,
leaving one team or individual to
manage it means that you are
potentially missing vital
opportunities to strengthen the
relationship.
Fig. 1
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As Figure 2 shows, corporate
relationships are complex.
Doing it better means looking at
every aspect of the
communication with customers.
This, in turn, means that the role
of marketing becomes that of an
enabler, linking parts of your
organisation to parts of the
customer’s organisation.
Communications become not a
sales tool but a value adding
function to build the relationship.
Finally, don’t forget that the
intermediary experience of your
company is heavily influenced
by a broader ‘ecosphere’ where
the opinion of the regulator, of
other advisers or the public will
have an impact on their
propensity to do business with
you.
Source: Research conducted for Legal &
General, February 2007
 Mapping these connections, and
identifying where the
relationships can be
strengthened, in particular via
improving digital engagement is
a valuable exercise.
Fig. 2
Source: Omobono Limited, April 2009
Enterprise Relationship
Management, the process used
by Omobono to map the
audiences and identify the
relationship management task
reveals opportunities which are
not apparent from a linear
perspective.
The more value you add to the
relationship, the more it pays
back.
3
According to Marketwatch if
you are a non-preferred supplier
(i.e. you don’t have a
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
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relationship), 80 to 100 per cent
of your communications hit the
bin. If you are a preferred
supplier, only between 20 and
60 per cent of your
communications hit the bin.
This means that between 40
and 80 per cent don’t. Some
retention email campaigns,
which are supported by client
centric micro sites for example,
are getting 70 to 100 per cent
conversion rates.
Building better intermediary
relationships
Intermediary relationships are
multilevel. You are reaching not
one but a whole layer of
personnel within the company.
And, as we have seen, they are
interacting with a range of
personnel within your company.
Administrators may be more
likely to interact with your IT
systems than your people, sales
people and advisors want
insight which they can use in
their conversations with
customers. Principals will want
input which helps them run a
better business.
Digital communications has a
significant role to play in
building intermediary
relationships. CONCLUSION

All intermediaries are not the
same. Like any other audience,
segmentation by size, by
customer type and by product
spread will reveal useful insights
which will enable you to build
the relationship further.
As the diagram (Fig. 3) shows,
there is a straightforward
approach to developing
intermediary relationships.
Once the task has been
clarified, the process of
identifying the contribution that
digital communications can
make to improve the
relationship.
After all, the hardwiring is
already in place. The extranets,
the intranets, the customer log
in sites are already there. Now
it is simply a question of working
out how to use them better.

Fig.3

Source: Omobono Limited, April 2010

OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK

T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk
Sources:
Relationships drive
1. Research conducted for Legal your business.
& General - February 2007
2. Omobono Limited - April 2009
3. MarketWatch,
http://www.marketwatch.com ERM® helps world class
4. Omobono Limited - April 2010
organisations drive
value from their business
relationships by examining the
ways they interact with their direct
and intermediary customers,
partners and staff; and how that is
measured to help achieve
organisational goals, deliver to
customers and create mutual value.
We look largely at the contribution
online technologies can play, and
how companies can
maximise value from the
infrastructure put in place over the
past 5 – 10 years. By exploring
alternative approaches to improving
B2B marketing effectiveness, ERM
enables us to think about marketing
differently, to put it back to its
original place; where marketing has
a meaning and purpose beyond
communication and becomes a
business essential, not a business
expense.
We drive your relationships.
For further information on how
Omobono helps its clients create
value from intermediary
relationships please contact Fran
Brosan (fran@omobono.co.uk) or
Ben Dansie (ben@omobono.co.uk)
on 01223 307000. For Omobono’s
Enterprise Relationship Map, see
www.omobono.co.uk
About the Author:
Francesca Brosan is Chairman
and Founder of Omobono Limited,
the digital communications services
company. A former Board Director
of WCRS, her career has spanned
consumer advertising, PR, live
events and digital. She now
focuses on B2B strategy for the
agency’s corporate and public
sector clients. Francesca is the
author of 3 IPA Advertising
Effectiveness Awards and is a
regular speaker and contributor
to marketing forums.
uk.linkedin.com/in/francescabrosan

OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK

T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk