Consulting Practice

• Opportunity Discovery and Customer Insights
• Product Innovation and Offer Packaging
• Customer Acquisition Channels and Practices
• Quality of the Customer Experience
• Brand Message Calibration

To build a profitable franchise of Latino customers a company must effectively differentiate itself in ways that are especially important to Hispano-Americans. This is a challenge that demands far more than a targeted marketing effort.  It requires a cohesive strategic thrust that will impact many of the company’s customer-visible activities. Furthermore, that differentiation agenda must closely fit into the company’s overall competitive posture.
 
Praxxis has the industry expertise and market insights to help companies stand out and achieve exceptional competitive performance in the Hispanic arena.

Praxxis has critical competencies in risk management, asset/liability pricing and delivery economics to help clients strengthen their product lines with innovations of particular appeal to Hispanics.  We can develop segment-specific offers to enhance core benefits with targeted value-added and promotional incentives.

We provide advice on how to optimize sales channels and accelerate Hispanic customer acquisition. Praxxis can also assist in crafting new service delivery models that create an exceptional customer experience for Latinos. And we can help bringing it all together in a cogent, forceful brand message that resonates with meaning in the Hispano-American mindset.

Praxxis offers financial institutions a suite of proprietary methodologies specifically conceived to help them compete successfully in the US Hispanic market. Each methodology focuses on a critical facet of one of the most significant growth opportunities in decades.

Hispanic Marketplace Profile ^SM

This is a rigorous methodology that yields critical insights for understanding the impact that Latinos have in specific market geographies. 
 
The Praxxis HMP enables financial institutions to chart the right course in a given marketplace.  It allows an organization to focus its efforts on the acquisition of viable customer relationships by identifying the “unbanked” from the “unbankable” Hispanic households in a trading area.

Using the Praxxis HMP, marketers can ascertain the immediate potential of the Hispanic consumer segment and sort out alternatives to pursue a sustainable strategy.  Options can range from seeking a dominant position in specific Latino markets to the implementation of just basic programs to meet CRA mandates.

Financial institutions faced with the imminent need to attract Latino consumers need to scrutinize their own competitive capabilities in view of this opportunity. To facilitate this effort, Praxxis has developed its Competitive Advantage Builder ^SM.

The point of departure for this methodology is a comprehensive evaluation of the organization’s competitive practices and enablers.  This is followed by an appraisal of the organization’s capacity to acquire and nurture profitable Hispanic customer relationships.

The main output of this methodology is a practical agenda to empower a competitive advantage in the Latino market.

This innovative methodology follows the premise that a superior customer experience is one of the cornerstones of brand differentiation. Crafting the Hispanic Customer Experience ^SM is used to define, in very practical terms, how a financial services company must interact with Latino customers to exceed their expectations and develop profitable relationships.

Following a structured approach, it examines every aspect of the Hispanic customer experience: from the staff’s interaction and dialogue with Latino customers to the appeal, layout functionality and merchandising of retail locations.  The output of this methodology is a detailed roadmap to prioritize the identified necessary improvements in each delivery vehicle.

Crafting the Hispanic Customer Experience ^SM is a participatory process that engages front line sales and service staffs in shaping the way in which the organization deals with Latinos.  This collaboration promotes buy-in for the required changes, sensitizes the organization to the sales potential of Hispanic customers and increases awareness of CRA compliance issues.

This methodology surmounts the complex challenge of eliciting timely, statistically valid and meaningful feedback from a Latino customer base.  Quantitative and qualitative approaches are integrated to determine the drivers of customer satisfaction and to obtain actionable information on Hispanics’ perception of their product and service experience.   Latino customers are also provided with expedient channels to communicate with management and express their appreciation or discontent with services received. 

In financial services, the importance of listening to the voice of the Hispanic customer cannot be overstated.  This is a segment with beliefs, attitudes and usage behaviors that significantly differ from the general population. Latinos rely much more on the advice of trusted acquaintances to make financial decisions.  Positive word-of-mouth is therefore essential in building a loyal franchise of Hispanic consumers.  Among other valuable outputs, Praxxis’s Voice of the Latino Customer ^SM tells management how the company rates with its Latino customers and whether they will be inclined to recommend it to relatives and friends.

The Hispanic Competitive Advantage Scorecard ^SM

This methodology defines metrics and measurement procedures to evaluate the company’s performance in the Hispanic market.  It integrates both internal and external indicators.

The internal dimensions track the quality of execution and cost-efficiency of critical processes to serve the Latino customer base.   Also measured is the attainment of customer satisfaction goals and the gain in competencies and organizational know-how relative to the Hispanic market. Finally, internal indicators include key financial results as well as credit portfolio behavior vis-à-vis risk acceptance benchmarks.

External dimensions comprise the fundamental measures of marketplace performance: volume and share growth; household penetration; share of wallet; brand recognition; purchase intention and so forth.

Competitive strategies come to fruition when they are successfully executed in the marketplace.  And one of the toughest execution challenges in the Latino market is crafting and delivering a targeted marketing message. 

In the widely diverse Hispanic milieu, this requires a great deal more than advertising in Spanish media.  To create meaningful and lasting connections between the brand and its Latino prospects, financial services companies must employ a comprehensive and cohesive array of marketing tools and promotional tactics.

Unfortunately, most competitors sidestep many marketing tasks that, besides advertising, are essential to build viable Hispanic franchises.  The reason is often a scarcity of expert marketing resources to support their efforts.  And the result is frequently an execution disconnect between the strategic intent and its marketing implementation. That is why Praxxis has chosen to offer a broad ensemble of marketing and promotional services including…

• Direct Response Marketing
• Customer Loyalty and Purchase Incentive Programs
• Branch/POS Merchandising
• Product Literature and Collateral
• Events Planning and Staging

Praxxis can also help its clients in identifying potential marketing partners and negotiate alliances to mutually benefit from joint efforts targeted at Hispanic consumers.  These partnerships can take many forms including…

• Endorsements
• Product Placement
• Sponsorships