VAA SCB Programme
Customer Theme
Insight Presentation
Carol Homden
Programme
• Welcome and introductions
• Presentation on the Insight stage of the
Customer Capacity Building Programme
• Short tea break
• Leadership or Market Development Session
• Drinks and Dinner
• Tomorrow: position workshop led by Bow and
Arrow led by Ben Slater, Founder Director
Insight Contributors
• Market analysis and Mystery Shopper Findings
by Gemma Gordon-Johnson First4Adoption
• Digital Listening by Paul Sutton, F4A
• OFSTED review by Amanda Bunn
• Adoption UK Survey findings by Hugh Thornbury
• Lost Customer Research by Dr Roland Marden
• Literature Review by Kairika Karsna including
Kindred research on market propensity
• Future Foundation consumer trends analysis
Workshop Contributors
• Supported also by professionals who are
adopters and adopted
• And our professional sector marketeers
• By the findings and insight by ESRO under the
Workforce Theme
• And by our specialist partner in market
development
Your job during presentation
Note your own insights/propositions on yellow sticky
• What do you believe to be our most powerful point
of difference and advantage? eg quality of our teams
• How would evidence that point of difference with
one or two killer facts or opinions? eg Ofsted report
• How would you grab an adopter’s attention in the
most powerful way possible towards the role of the
VAAs and their importance?
These will inform the workshop tomorrow
The Search for Relevance
Challenges of the times
Is this relevant to us now?
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Reduction of children with placement orders
Surplus adopters in the system
Cash pressures on voluntary agencies
Price driven decisions by local authorities
Education and Adoption Bill provisions
Regional agencies heading our way!
Opportunity or threat?
There will be change but what kind?
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Demand from adopters for quality services
Especially in matching support and waiting
Increased level of need for adoption support
Adoption Support Fund for the future?
In year restoration of equilibrium in numbers?
Search for adopters for children continuing
Inspection risk & need for improvement support
If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance
a whole lot less
Local authorities need access to our
adopters to ensure choice and best
outcomes for their children
Local authorities are the purchasers
It is adopters who benefit
children and we help them do it
Adopters are our principal customer
Customers Choose
On the basis of how well we fulfil
their desires and so we must ask
how do we ensure they choose us?
Market reality
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Demographic distribution of population
Kindred analysis of regional adopter propensity
Number of LA and VAA agencies
And % of enquiries to VAAs via F4A
Show that some areas are over-served and
potential targets for regional agencies
• There is a range of market of 3-8000 per agency
Percentage of population with no VAA is low
Region
Local popul.
propensity to
adopt*
Number of
LAs in region
Number of
VAAs in region
Referrals to LAs
(from F4A)
Referrals to VAAs
(from F4A)
% of referrals to
VAAs
103,600
11
6
849
490
37%
116,600
9
5
729
383
34%
390,000
32
12
2,153
1,530
42%
66,100
12
7
370
187
34%
218,400
23
16
1,054
741
41%
154,300
19
11
1,353
855
39%
90,300
16
14
810
526
39%
154,900
14
10
1,029
484
32%
100,800
15
4
692
458
40%
East
East Midlands
Greater London
North-East
North-West
South-East
South-West
West Mids
Yorkshire & Humber
Market reality
• Default position is for “local” to mean “local
authority” but definition can be challenged
• In a digital world, all customers have access to
all information if they seek it (FF)
• Enquiring adopters tend to have a fear of “the
authorities” and social workers (Kindred)
• They value authenticity and personal
recommendation highly (FF)
We can present VAAs as agency of choice
Market reality
• If we don’t get this right, we might be heading
to a world where adopters have no choice
• And because VAAs represent a quality option,
outcomes for children are eroded.
This work has never been more important to
our mission and our relevance
First4Adoption analysis
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300,000 digital enquirers up 120% on year before
VAAs are always presented as a choice
16.4% conversion to agency finder
62% of click throughs to VAAs
All this marketing power is free to VAAs
Help F4A define VAA promise
Optimise agency pages
F4A is digital first and driving share to VAAs
First4Adoption analysis
• Web is the source of information and choice
• VAAs best placed to meet adopters need on-line
• In a digital era, communities of interest on-line
are significant as Adoption Link shows
• More women call but more men in digital context
so needs to be acknowledged
• Digital Listening results show how to increase
power of VAAs further (and how not to)
Agencies need to prioritise their web development
Digital Listening
• 3,500 online mentions of VAAs in two months
• Social media can drive recommendation & choice
• April to May net increase of 8,000 Twitter
followers and 4,500 Facebook page likes
• Consistent volume of conversation
• Twice as positive as it is negative
• Even split between men and women
• Social media can be dangerous if not done well
Amplify the positive and manage the negative
What should we be doing?
• Respond and quickly –as important as
answering the phone and email enquiries
• Concentrate on adoption and quality of service
• Combine forces and say the same thing
• Use free F4A resources and re-curate
• Use digital listening to be aware and respond
• Harness the power of adopters to advocate
• Repeat and amplify recommendation
Work with adopters & F4A for “brand VAA”
Mystery Shopper results
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VAAs better compared LAs
Majority rated as above average
Do not overlook the basics
Where agencies have less positive assessment
– learn lessons – about making tweeks
• We cannot afford complacency
We can build on the customer service promise
How do adopters choose us?
Many VAA enquirers are one-stop shoppers
• 51% of VAA enquirers approached only one
agency compared to 25% of LA enquirers (LC)
• 77% who went to a VAA did not approach
another VAA
VAAs attractive and ‘sticky’
How do VAA enquirers think?
• Enquirers who approach VAAs are aware they
have a choice (e.g. LA)
• Attracted to VAA by reputation for quality and
more personalised service
• VAA enquirers unlikely to approach another VAA
• Perception of quality powerful influence on
conversion of enquiry into application
• They have concerns and these must be addressed
not ignored
Lost customer concerns
• Housing and finance are barriers and need clear
information up front (LC)
• Challenge of dealing with children’s SW/LA
becomes negative for some VAA adopters (LC)
• VAAs help more with matching but this is
counterbalanced by not having children (LC)
• More VAA adopters fear/believe only getting
access to harder to place and older children
We address your concerns positively
Consumer desires
Future Foundation work from March showed
powerful drivers of choice
• Digital, immediate and tailored
• Addressing my interests/concerns/risks
• Namely age, health conditions and single
adopters (Lost Customer, Future Foundation)
We can present confidence in the
management of risk and in positive choice
The Informed Consumer
• VAA adopter is MORE INFORMED of fact of choice
and of quality (AUK research)
• This is reinforced through recommendation which
can be amplified online but not created there
• It is validated by OFSTED endorsement (AUK and
Lost Customer)
• OFSTED is twice as important for VAAs than LAs
OFSTED score is an ally & differentiator for VAAs
OFSTED reality
• High percentage of Outstanding (71% vs 7%)
• Very high percentage of Good/Outstanding
• 4 poor scores so improve or exclude from the
new brand position
• Distinctive for leadership capability
• Distinctive for all-through quality on all measures
& the whole adopter journey
We can validate our claims via OFSTED
Quality validation: OFSTED
• OFSTED knows what it is talking about!
• Score is not strongest deciding factor if you are
Good (since we do not have the children)
• But may be if the competitor Local Authority is
Requires Improvement
• It is the quality of adopter EXPERIENCE which is
distinctive for VAAs (rather than outcome)
Ofsted analysis reinforces potential differentiation
Adopter experience
• Reputation for quality and quality of service
provided distinguishes VAAs
• Experience of quality is directly linked to
personal relationship with staff
• Dependable expertise
• Friendliness, empathy
We can differentiate as tailored, friendly,
trusted and adopter-focussed experience
What about the children?
• We do not (only) place (more) complex (or older)
children; most are placed by local authorities
• All children have complexities but bring joy
• We provide greater assurance of defined support
• Adopters value the supportive partner and preventive
preparation and problem-solving of VAAs
• VAAs are consistently cited for child-friendliness and
Life Story work (OFSTED)
• Children value a peer group and place to return
We can also position as the child-friendly agencies
VAA customers more likely to like
people at the agency
29% VAA adopters liked the staff
vs 11% LA adopters (LC)
We are three times nicer!
45% VAA adopters valued the staff
vs 15% LA adopters (AUK)
Position power
• If we build on strengths and communicate
them consistently, we can build share of VAAs
• Tackle the (minor) negatives and address
(even if cannot remove) barriers
• Build on the justifiable differences
• After which power of competition and of
geography will matter
Market competition
• Visitors to the agency finder have doubled and
conversion rate increased
• Some LAs are now closed and others are unfriendly
and/or poor
• There should be scope for regional rationalisation
without erosion of VAA share
• We do not mostly compete with each other
• LA purchase choice is us (ie LA) or you (fee charged)
There is a mutual gain from sector-wide network
promotion and an opportunity for CVAA
A common position between likeminded VAAs will strengthen market
share for us all
So what will inform that position?
Areas of difference
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Confidence of agency quality (validated by OFSTED)
But it is quality of experience as well as outcome
Immediate from front door (if as good as the moment)
Deepens as go through because relationship continuity
Friendly and non-judgemental and not bureaucractic
Engaged with our adopters through the whole journey
Reliable and consistent access to support
Pro-active guide/partner to problem-solve to address risks
We are child-friendly and preventive
We are high conviction and independent of Authorities
We are experienced, seen it before
We are reassuring and trustworthy
We are your friendly,
neighbourhood spiderman!
Do you recognise yourselves?
Resilient in the face of loss, courageous and attached,
loyal, child-friendly and championing good
Or perhaps
– given our staff profile –
more realistically…
Fewer special effects but we can fly, have lasting family appeal,
have a bag of tricks and an umbrella for when it rains!
Can we do it? Yes we can!
• Not primarily competing with each other
• Have a freedom to tailor/personalise and to
act at speed and CVAA and F4A to help
• Non-bureaucratic advantage so no excuse in
not having a very strong web presence
• Highly committed workforce to build
recommendation and capacity/productivity
• Can benefit from scale/shared infrastructure
(eg CHARMS, F4A, shared services)
But we must be clearly positioned as
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
So tomorrow let’s go fly a kite!
Workshop brief
• Our job is to take these attributes and proof
points and turn is into compelling propositions
• There will be 6 groups, one for each of the
emergent themes
• Including an insight specialist in each group
• The workshop will be led by Bow and Arrow
Who are Bow and Arrow?
• Leading independent growth consultancy
• Specialists in growing market share in mature
sectors which are consumer facing
• Clients include Google, Carphone Warehouse
• Exemplary in CSR work with charities
• Friends to adoption throughout the market
reform programme