Mike Colledge President Ipsos Reid Public Affairs

1. Mike Colledge President Ipsos Reid Public Affairs

2. Reputation and Public Perception • Reputation vs. Brand • Spending your reputation vs. Saving your reputation. • Your reputation influences your ability to achieve your objectives. A strong, positive reputation improves: • your lobbying efforts • your marketing • your earned media and crisis communications • your staff recruitment • Your reputation isn’t static, you can grow it and change it to suit your needs. • If you don’t control your reputation – others will.

3. Tools for understanding and building reputation Reputation Drivers The challenge is fitting the pieces of your reputation together Marketing Efficiency Building Reputation Operational Environment Key Stakeholders Communications

4. Trust NET on trustworthiness FavourabilityNet “on how favourable or unfavourable is your overall opinion or impression of <company>. Familiaritypercentage “very well”, or “fair amount” on how well you feel you know <company>. Awareness Percentage “heard of”, “just a little bit”, “fair amount”, or “very well” on how well you feel you know <company. • Steps to building a strong reputation Advocates endorse your reputation and help to pull others up the reputation pyramid Advocacy Net score Trust is built by consistently delivering on your promises In general, familiarity breeds favourability Familiarity is the bedrock of reputation Without awareness there is no reputation Building a strong reputation helps an organization create and protect value by establishing a reservoir of goodwill to draw upon when challenges and difficulties arise

5. What drives your reputation? • Identifying the drivers of reputation tells you • which levers to pull in order to lift your reputation • Identify what issues move stakeholders up the reputation pyramid • Drivers of reputation include elements of what a company does (product quality, innovation) as well as what it stands for (business acumen, ethics, corporate social responsibility)

6. Communication planning identifies the best way to communicate with consumers/stakeholders • Reputation is not static and can be improved through effective communications • Ipsos has developed a methodology for testing initiatives specifically aimed at improving reputation • These initiatives can be existing initiatives or prospective initiatives • Source credibility • Message awareness and/or credibility • Message impact/importance • Ranking of messages to guide investment • Ability of messages to move opinions

7. Having stakeholders on your side is key Key Stakeholders • Reputation influences the willingness of stakeholders to advocate, invest and regulate in favour of your company • Elite stakeholders lead consumers opinions

8. Reputation is influenced by the environment in which you operate • A negative news cycle is the enemy of good reputation management. Companies need to understand the news environment in which they operate. • We measure both the perceptions of the news cycle AND can link media content analysis to reputation • Companies must understand the industry environment in which they operate: • We can measure demand side/regulatory risk, industry constraints and financial performance • News impact • Demand side/regulatory risk • Industry factors • Financial performance • Social context

9. It’s about understanding how your reputation fits together and taking steps to manage it successfully Improving marketing efficiency through a strong reputation Building Reputation Maximising the impact of communications Pressing the right buttons Building strong relationships with the people who matter Measuring the impact of the organisational environment

10. Your sector’s reputation today • Mostly neutral but among those who have developed an opinion its 2 to 1 negative. • Majority recognize that accounts receivable is a necessary part of every business. • Contact matters, with those people you have contacted holding a more negative view.

11. Reputation of sectors by years

12. Accounts receivable is a necessary part of every business I think the accounts receivable industry is a necessary part of every business because there will always be people who are late making payments. Q3_2. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Please respond by indicating either strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree. Base: All respondents (n=1015)

13. Majority have a “neutral perception” of accounts receivable Q1. Almost every business has an accounts receivable unit or hires an outside agency to contact people when they are behind in making loan repayments or to collect debts when people have failed to pay for services and products that they have already received. When you think about the accounts receivable industry would you say that your views are generally positive, for the most part neutral or generally negative? Base: All respondents (n=1015)

14. What drives positive - negative perceptions? • Positive • A necessary activity, people doing their job • Customer’s responsibility to pay • Lack of experience / contact • Positive experience / contact 15% • Neutral • Lack of experience / contact • A necessary activity, people doing their job 55% • Negative 30% • More likely to have been contacted by accounts receivable • Reputation – aggressive, abusive, rude, persistent, unhelpful, unfriendly Q2. Why do you say that your views are ?

15. Why do you (15%) say your views are positive? 25 - No personal experience 23 - A necessary activity 18 - Customers’ responsibility 16 - A positive reputation/experience Q2. Why do you say that your views are positive? Base: All respondents (n=148)

16. Why do you (55%) say that your views are neutral? 44 - No personal experience 17 - A necessary activity 6 - A negative reputation/experience Q2. Why do you say that your views are neutral? Base: All respondents (n=543)

17. Why do you (30%) say that your views are negative? Q2. Why do you say that your views are negative? Base: All respondents (n=324)

18. Impact of national standards and practices I would have a more positive impression of the accounts receivable industry if I knew the industry had national standards and practices and people employed in the industry were trained and certified to ensure compliance with these national standards. Q3_1. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Please respond by indicating either strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree. Base: All respondents (n=1015)

19. Contacted by debt collection agency/company Q4. Have you personally ever been contacted by a company you deal with or by an outside collection agency and asked to make payments because you were behind in paying for a service or repaying a loan? Base: All respondents (n=1015)

20. Contacted by debt collection agency/company Q4. Have you personally ever been contacted by a company you deal with or by an outside collection agency and asked to make payments because you were behind in paying for a service or repaying a loan? Base: All respondents (n=1015)

21. Contacted by debt collection agency/company Q4. Have you personally ever been contacted by a company you deal with or by an outside collection agency and asked to make payments because you were behind in paying for a service or repaying a loan? Base: All respondents (n=1015)

22. Impact of having been contacted by accounts receivable I would have a more positive impression of the accounts receivable industry if I knew the industry had national standards and practices and people employed in the industry were trained and certified to ensure compliance with these national standards. When you think about the accounts receivable industry would you say that your views are generally positive, for the most part neutral or generally negative? Have /have not been contacted by account receivable

23. Final Thoughts • You can’t determine a strategy or way forward based on a few questions. • Right now the sector’s perception is mostly neutral. A blank slate, an opportunity for you to shape your reputation to suit your needs. • First step is determining what you want your reputation to be and if changing it/improving it is a priority. • Second is looking at your environment (Are there events on the horizon that could negatively impact on your reputation? Are there objectives that you want to accomplish that would benefit from a stronger, more positive reputation?) • Third is looking at current public perceptions to develop a strategy and plan. • Lots of possibilities: • Standards, professionalism, privacy (protecting / serving consumers) • Face of accounts receivable (ordinary people) • An important part of every business (adding value)

24. Mike Colledge President Ipsos Reid Public Affairs