Managing enterprise stakeholders to increase customer lifetime value at Pilot
In 2019, I was a Business Analyst at Pilot Travel Centers. I was acting as Product Owner for Partner APIs and as Scrum Master for a loyalty program initiative with goals to drive behavior change, improve retention, and increase profitability.
At that time, my main goals were to facilitate cross-functional collaboration and improve processes for efficient and effective system integrations.
Company overview
Pilot is the largest travel center chain in North America serving the over-the-road diesel fuel market. Also the third-largest franchiser of quick-service restaurants in the United States, including Subway, Inspire Brands, Wendy's, Yum Brands, Hardy's, Denny's, Focus Brands, and more.
Project overview
This project aimed to leverage modern technology and data analytics to enhance customer engagement and loyalty at Pilot Flying J travel centers. Pilot engaged the SessionM platform to drive sales and return visits through customer behavior changes. Pilot also hired DEG to assist with implementation and hired Softvision to augment staff.
Challenges
- Stakeholder overload: Managing multiple external vendors and internal teams (including business intelligence, marketing, merchandising, digital development, and retail systems).
- System complexities: Integrating merchandising, customer data, master data, inventory, and loyalty systems with both new and existing tools and front-end UIs.
- Company stigmas: Prior projects had a history of inefficent communication and engagement, causing delays and rework. Also, fraud investigations and layoffs the year prior impacted employee morale and customer trust.
Objectives
- Drive customer behavior to cross-sell and up-sell merchandise
- Boost customer engagement and loyalty via personalized perks and incentivies
- Integrate SessionM's platform with Pilot's existing systems
- Improve stakeholder collaboration to ensure on-time and in-scope delivery
Outcomes
Facilitating cross-functional collaboration and improving processes helped the project be more iterative, allowing us to course correct early and resolve issues quickly. With aligned, informed, and engaged team members and stakeholders, the project had a collaborative and adaptable mindset as the foundation.
- Swift problem-solving: Early stakeholder feedback identified data roadblocks, enabling rapid issue resolution through timely engagement with external vendor (MixPanel) and internal team (mobile app team).
- Conflict resolution: Engaged stakeholders collaborated to resolve conflicts, such as deciding against a costly live staging environment. Instead, refreshing UAT environment and creative tools resolved data validation needs.
- Focused approach: Conflicts addressed by concentrating on problem-solving rather than barriers, facilitating effective resolution and preventing project delays.