How to write a Case Study

A case study is an account of work that you have done for a client. It has only one purpose: to get buyers to call you.

Who it’s for

Let’s first take a look at who you are writing it for and what you want them to do as a result.

Your primary audience is the vast world out there who have not yet decided to buy from you. They may or may not know anything about you. But they have problems they need answers to. Your case study must prove that you have solved similar problems before.

As you do so genuine buyers will find reasons to trust you. You’ve established your credibility beyond doubt and now they will feel confident to contact you.

When they do, your ‘selling’ job will be a lot easier than normal.

But there’s another audience that’s equally important to your business. This is the small army of supporters you have around you – your staff, their families (and yours), your suppliers, neighbours, in-laws, friends and everyone else you come into contact with (G.P., teachers, golf club barman) who know a little about what you do but don’t really understand your value. Well it’s time they did.

All these people are part-time salesmen for you. Your mission is to give them the confidence and the tools they need in order to recommend you. We’ll come to what’s in it for them in a moment.

Case study as Honey-Pot

Your case study is like a small honey-pot. It must give real food for thought and a taster of what you can do. You don’t want to give away all your secret knowledge that would fool the researcher into thinking they can now tackle the problem themselves. But you must give sufficient detail to show you have the competence and experience to solve the types of problem that your clients will have.

Beware of keeping your cards too close to your chest. A banal case study will not persuade a buyer to call you and that after all is what you want.

Length and structure of a Case Study.

Beginning (The Problem); Middle (What you did); End (Benefits/Results)

1. Beginning: The Problem – Max. 50 words

Describe your client and the challenge they faced in plain language. Give your readers enough information to get a mental fix on your customer and be able to pigeonhole them. This is vital for your readers to feel at ease.

E.g: “Our client is a German-based kitchen accessory manufacturer. Their UK turnover is £5m with one major retailer and 3 catalogue companies. Inventory tracking problems in Birmingham warehouse meant they were often out of stock in some product lines and woefully over-supplied in others. Profits and client relations were hit as a result.”

In this example we know the industry sector, the rough size of the company and a little about the challenges their management face as regards their customers and owners.

We also know enough about the problem to decide whether or not it has any relevance. This is important. Relevant prospects will read on, whilst those who are not interested have not had their time wasted. They will have a good opinion of you and may (i) bookmark you for when they do have a relevant problem, or (ii) refer friends who need you.

2. Middle: What you did – Max 200 words.

There are two main points to make. You supplied a lot of value and you did it making every effort to minimise costs.

Every business owner believes that other businesses have pots of money to spend on solutions and it is only they that are cash-strapped. Of course this is not true. Even so, your mission is to position yourself as a natural supplier to businesses that have a tight rein on spending. In practice this means every business in the world, so you are not limiting your market in any way.

Emphasize how you save your client’s money

Set out the main steps in your process – this shows planning. Show how your experience enabled you to take short-cuts and save your client’s money. E.g if you normally carry out a 6-day fact-find but compressed it to 4 days, say so. This effort at cost-saving will impress a prospect but need not limit you to 4 days the next time. It will also help you eliminate the time-waster who baulks at paying for a 1-day fact find. Clients like that are best left behind.

Praise your Partners

If you used staff or partners or sub-contractors with specific skills, be sure to include them. Emphasise their special talents (without mentioning their name, of course) and how lucky you are to know/employ them. Your endorsement of others will be accepted more readily than anything you say on your own account. This will rebound on you positively. As you build the reputation of those around you, your connection with them makes you more valuable.

Give Facts

Provide plenty of facts. Prospects often have to persuade their fellow directors or partners that it’s worth talking to you. Give them something to win the argument. For instance ‘After 2 days we delivered a £10,000 p.a. saving by introducing a lower-cost telecom supplier’ is far more powerful than ‘We identified significant potential savings in expenditure’.

3. End: Benefits and Results – Max 50 words

The Benefits section needs to be as punchy as you can make it. Include only hard benefits (firm cost-savings or increased revenues) if possible. Soft benefits (e.g. increased job satisfaction) may be used but try to flesh them out, e.g:

“Increased job satisfaction – one experienced scientist said she was more likely to stay with the company after the changes” has turned an assertion into a real benefit.

Outcome

By the time your next client has finished reading your case study, some important things have happened.

• They’ve been introduced to you.
• They’ve been educated by you.
• They’ve been given evidence of your competence.
• If your case study is attached to a testimonial, they’ve been given reason to believe that its genuine.

There’s probably no other way that you can build up this much customer confidence so quickly or so cheaply.

Want to write another one?

Using your case studies

Your case studies and testimonials on ProCustomer may be found by (i) buyers using a search engine, (ii) other members of the Reputation Marketing™ Network and (iii) visitors to your site. That’s a pretty good catchment.

But your ‘small army of supporters’ I mentioned earlier can play a big part in the success of your business. Tell them about your case studies and where they can find them. Drop one or two of the ‘hard benefits’ into your conversations and persuade all your staff to do the same. Everyone loves a winner and likes to be associated with success. The ripples of your case studies and testimonials will spread out and win you support and referrals in the most unlikely places.

So, well done for earning a good reputation. Now let your reputation win you some earnings.