Paul Cooper

1
Paul Cooper
ICS
FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE Mar 2007
2
Whats Going On Out There?

• Customers
• Rising expectations, less tolerance
• Greater sense of importance and power
• Growing affluence
• Market
• More choice of products, services and delivery
  routes
• Increasingly service economy only 20 make
  things
• Severe skills shortages in both applicants AND
  existing staff see Employment Skills Survey
  2004 (DfES)
• Realisation that these ARE skills think
  laterally
• Strong desire for qualifications/professionalism
• CULTURE CHANGE ISSUE MANY
  ORGANISATIONS
• AND INDIVIDUALS NEED HELP GETTING THERE

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Todays key contact centre issues

• Outsourcing, Offshoring, Global Sourcing
• New Technology CRM
• Legacy
• Attacking Preventable Demand
• People Recruitment/Retention
• Customer Resistance
• Customer Self-help
• Customer Service, not cost cutting
• Consistency

4
Scary

• Weve got 7m customers and 10m policies. When I
  first looked at this you wouldnt believe how
  long it took me to find this out Matt
  Gouldstone Prudential Insurance

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Acting on the Same Stage

• Old borderlines are evaporating, old
  categories are merging. The divisions between
  commercial, public-sector and non-profit
  organisations are becoming blurred. All
  organisations now act on the same stage, and need
  to justify their place on that stage. - The Big
  Idea Robert Jones

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Profitability
5 improvement in customer retention can lead
to over 25 profit improvements
Bain Co. - Harvard Business Review, 1993, US
Research
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Reputations Research Conclusions

• Four characteristics of Service Excellence
• (by frequency of mention)
• 13 - They go the extra mile
• 14 - They make it personal
• 25 - They deliver the promise
• 48 - They deal with complaints and queries
  brilliantly

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The Future is Customer Service

• The most successful organisations have one thing
  in common the importance they place on their
  people. Our competition may offer the same
  services, but it cant offer the same people.
• - Capita Property Consultancy Brochure
• People
• Processes
• Technology
• LOYAL customers!

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Quote

• If you wonder what getting and keeping
• the right employees has to do with
• getting and keeping the right customers,
• the answer is everything. Fred Reichheld

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Employees are the Key

• In an average year, we spend 30 minutes
  interfacing
• with a customer, but 1600 hours interfacing with
  our
• staff
• Nick Fowler HBOS

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Hire for attitude, train for skills

• At interviews, RIGHT questions
• Proper Induction - how do they feel when they go
  home?
• When they join they are keen, bright, alert,
  happy. How long to lose this?
• Pride, always representatives/ambassadors
• No one wants to work for a poor company
• No such thing as the organisation its YOU
• Lifetime Learning programme for all
  Awards/qualifications/recognition

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And keeping them!

• Headcount turnover is major problem today
• Cost of advertising/hiring/training/ loss of
  skill - MUCH more than you think!
• Best leave
• A positive alternative to redundancy?
• ACTIVE programme to help them stay
• Morale/Job satisfaction is key

13
Inside v Outside Help

• Listening to staff is critical because
• They care
• They are involved and concerned
• They use same processes test track
• They are often your customer as well
• One needs beacons not lighthouses
• Consider
• Suggestions schemes/feedback/focus groups/
• forums/authority to change/tell everyone

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Six Things to Think About

• Employees may be more important than customers
• People turnover in most organisations is the
  biggest single drain on resource, knowledge and
  finances
• 2000-3 - large organisations spent ten times more
  investment money on technology than on their
  people
• 2004 - Nearly 70 of all CRM programmes arent
  working to the customers satisfaction
• Staff Training Recognition were poorest rated
  factors in TMI/ICS 2000/01/03/04 NCC Surveys
• 80 sales budgets spent on new business, 20
• on existing customers

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The old call centre issue

• Nobody ever tells me...
• Nobody ever asks me...
• Patronised - treated like children - The test
  how many things cant do at work that can do at
  home?
• Old Technology 73 of stress
• Stress due to not having been given the skills
• Excessive measuring - never looked at
• - AMA research

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Just Measuring or Benefiting?

• We stopped over-controlling the amount of
  time advisors spent on the telephone. Average
  call handling time went up 10 seconds, but
  overall call volume went down 10 due to improved
  call resolution! RBS Card Centre

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Case Study - BA

• Millions of fare types
• 72 selling classes
• 7 cabins
• 15 types of passenger
• 10 ways to pay
• 9 check-ins
• 12000 staff to translate this to sense
• 6bn combinations
• 6 major databases
• 30 re-work
• Now self-help same answers to same questions
• 14m less calls a year

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Todays Out of Step Boardroom

• Short term focus on everything
• Obsession with financials tombstone Made
  profit target 50 quarters in a row
• Only know how to cut things
• No MD responsibility matrix mess
• Little or no understanding of uses of technology
• Dont use technology themselves home or office
• No long-term tenure always moving
• Old dinosaurs, overpaid and fat
• Too much power, no effectiveness
• Still dont understand customers, and employee
  motivation

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• So, its a mess then?!!
• No, but need to get with the changes
• Technology has a role, but isnt the solution

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Technologies responsibilities

• Old
• IT to IT
• No reference to user
• Boards threw money for quick solution
• No accountability
• Not customer centric
• Emphasis on cost cutting not CS or profit
  building
• Now must
• Reduce contact centre (and all) costs
• Reduce call centre dependency
• Reduce handling times
• Reduce agent training costs
• Contribute to reduced attrition
• Increase customer satisfaction, retention and
  loyalty
• Increase customer self-service adoption

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The Customer Perspective

• The world hates contact centres
• Its not Call Centre Industry, CRM industry,
  or eService Industry to them or us
• These are the means of delivery the process
• The Industry/Enabler is Customer Service, and
  this must be paramount in the operation of the
  organisation
• DONT LET THE PROCESS RUN THE BUSINESS!

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Clearing up

• CRM industry IS listeningmore R, less M
• Move towards Long Term-ism
• Organisations getting the people message
• Loyalty v New Business approach
• Sales/marketing/customer service together
• Old barriers must go
• Users to own it - not IT/CS not Help Desk
• Process not industry
• CS Professionalism
• However GAP GETTING BIGGER

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The Service/Value Profit Chain Simplified

• Higher Employee Satisfaction
• leads to improved Customer Satisfaction
• leads to improved Customer Loyalty
• improved reputation for Customer Service
• - leads to improved PROFIT/REPUTATION

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Ten Things to Achieve Service Excellence

• Recruit and train the right people
• Keep your staff happy
• Recognise the importance of customer loyalty
• Lead from the top
• Welcome complaints
• Utilise tools with caution
• Tell the world
• Build a Reputation
• Measure your performance
• Communications

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You wouldnt believe it!

• Airline loyalty card
• Credit card
• Car Insurance
• Mortgage
• House Insurance
• Private Medical
• Mobile Phone
• Internet Server
• Closed TESSA
• Bank Account
• Car Dealer
• Magazine Subscription
• Utility supplier
• Contact lenses

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The Role of the ICS

• Service Leadership
• - Breakthrough Committee Research Projects
• Publications, Seminars and Conferences
• Interface networking between all members
• Study Tours, benchmarking opportunities, etc
• Setting standards for Customer Service
• Accreditation of Organisational Programmes
• Developing an Awards and Membership Framework for
  Individuals