If I Knew Then: Ian Hughes

Consumer Intelligence works with insurance companies and banks to help them see the world through the eyes of a customer. Through mystery shopping, talking to consumers about their expectations, tracking shopping patterns, and comparing this to companies’ offer on price, product, proposition and promotion, it helps companies to attract and retain customers.

By empowering customers to make commercial decisions based on this data, Consumer Intelligence has helped its customers add millions to their bottom line every year, boosting customer satisfaction at the same time.

It was founded 13 years ago by CEO Ian Hughes. 

How did you start Consumer Intelligence?

Consumer Intelligence was started as a dream born out of frustration.  I had spent two years living in the USA at the height of the dot com bubble.  When the bubble burst, I returned to the UK and was stunned by how disinterested companies were in taking my money. Sky, BT, insurers, banks and a variety of others seemed to be more interested in their systems than my custom and my money.  It was costing them a fortune to make me irritated; so I decided to change the way that companies see the world.  If I could just make them see the world through the eyes of their customers then they would survive longer, sell more and have happier staff and shareholders.

I started in a small rented office in Bristol calling round companies that I thought were the worst offenders to ask for a quote and with a pen and paper created a way to compare their prices and customer service. I approached the worst offenders with an offer to share my findings. I asked for 28 minutes at 8.30 in the morning and offered to bring a bacon sandwich. That grabbed the attention of a major insurance brand and we won our first big order.

If you knew then what you know now, what mistakes might you have avoided?

The biggest mistake I think we have made is not being aggressive enough in the way we grew the business. It’s taken us 13 years to be a global company, but we could have achieved this sooner and been more assertive.

What advice would you have given yourself when starting out?

I would have told myself that about 90 per cent of all of the management books I read, or advice I was given, is totally useless and of that 40 per cent is positively dangerous. I would have told myself to listen to and have confidence in my own ideas and decisions. I would have said that Pareto is right; the simplest solution is almost always the right solution. 

If you knew then what you know now, would you still be sitting there?

No, we would have grown faster. I once read that everyone starts a business to either be someone or to do something. I wanted to do both, major mistake.  I wanted to be a someone who was successful, and someone who built a business that lasted, someone who helped companies see the world through the eyes of customers, someone who was a good employer and someone who created a great life for their family. But I also wanted the business to change the way that companies serve their customers; to leave the world with happier customers and more profitable companies.  I may have aimed a little high. I probably should have just focused on doing something and making that something less big.  But I don’t regret any of it. 

What do you know now that you didn’t know then?

That the key to life is simplicity.  Keeping things clear and simple is crucial but is also the most complicated thing to do.  

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received so far?

Doug Hall – “Jump Start your business brain.” This book talks about the laws of Marketing Physics. Work out the overt benefit of your business, the reason why people should believe you and what makes you dramatically different.  If you sort that out you win. Sounds simple, right? Try it, it’s tough.

What is your business highlight?

Seeing my company’s name on National TV for the first time is right up there, but also the first time we helped a customer make £100m extra profit and the time when I sat in a meeting room in Hong Kong advising a major global financial services company on strategy.  Those are the times when you look around and say, “I made this!”

What is your business lowpoint?

I’ve failed at least three times in business prior to Consumer Intelligence.  Each time it was painful, not just the loss of money but the loss of opportunity and the dream.  But from each of those failures I have learned lessons, better lessons than I have read in books.  The most important one of which is that cash is like oxygen.  If you run out of it, you are dead, no matter how good you are, no matter how big you think. No cash = no business.

What keeps you awake?

The glib answer is jet lag.  However, when I do lie awake it’s almost always a worry rather than an excitement.  And it normally relates to people.  Will people like my presentation? How will I deal with this thorny people issue? And it almost always passes the next day.

What’s changed from when you started out?

Speed – the remorseless quickening pace at which business and life moves.  While some things do not change, business cycles are collapsing. When we first started out we used to share our insight every quarter, now some of our customers want to see data weekly and the move towards daily seems inexorable.

What’s still on your to-do list?

We are 13 years old, turnover is close to £5m and we work on 4 continents.  Like any teenager we have our challenges and we still have a lot of growing up to do, but my course now is to nurture it into a full-grown company that lives and breathes outside of its founders.

What’s next for Consumer Intelligence?

Growth. We have an amazing global business with talented people and a great vision that fundamentally makes our customers more money AND improves the experience for consumers.  But we need to find a way to grow without losing the core of who we are.  We need to keep our identity whilst growing and that can be hard.  But as long as companies fixate primarily on their bottom line and not on their customers, there is work for us to do.

Read more: If I Knew Then features