Call Center Benchmarking and Best Practices

1
Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Contact
Center Benchmarking TPPA Marketing Customer
ServiceAnnual Conference San Antonio
TexasMarch 4, 2002
2
About Our Team
Competitive Expertise for Customer Service
3
Keys to Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Three factors directly contribute to Customer
Satisfaction
Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction Loyalty
Product Offering
Willingness to Switch
Pressure to Opt in
Price
Customer satisfaction directly impacts community
pressure to opt in and customer retention.
4
Competitive Strategy
Competitive Strategy
Service Quality
Differentiation Strategies
Customer Satisfaction Loyalty
Product Offering
Willingness to Switch
Pressure to Opt in
Price
Low Cost/Low Price Strategy
Service is a value-oriented differentiation
strategythat can work well in local markets.
5
Using Customer Service to Gain Loyalty
This utilitys excellent service produced strong
customer loyalty as evidenced by the low
inclination to switch to another electric
provider if choice were available
Base All commercial respondents, n 400
All residential respondents, n 403Question
applied to all electric customers.
Excellent Service is worth an additional
retentionof over 30 of customers over average
service.
6
Customer Service Impact
Learnings from other industries

• Customers are five times more likely to leave you
  because of poor service than they are for product
  quality or price
• Seventy percent of customers change suppliers
  because of poor service
• Customers who receive poor service tell 14 other
  people -- customers who receive good service only
  tell one other person
• It costs five times more to obtain a new customer
  than to retain an old one
• A decrease in customer defections of 5 increases
  profits by 25-85

7
Implications of Service Strategy
Implementing Customer Service as your COMPETITIVE
STRATEGY is a fundamental change in orientation

• To
• Competitive Tool
• Customer/Market Focus
• Frontline of Customer Retention and Sales
• Service Value Maximization
• High Priority

• From
• Required Function
• Internal Focus
• Cost Center
• Cost Minimization
• Low Priority

8
How to Begin

• Learn what aspects of customer service are
  important to YOUR customers
• Market research the customer viewpoint
• Organize to deliver superior service
• Process analysis, organization and staffing
• Implement the tools to deliver superior service
• Technology/communications analysis and
  improvement
• Know the level of service that you are providing
• Benchmarking and continuous measurement

Make customer satisfaction the most important
measure of your success!
9
Details Count

• Provide a single face to the customer
• Provide anyway, anytime, anywhere customer access
• Provide fast response to every interaction
• Provide customers with self-service however,
  give them easy access to a human
• Resolve every issue on the first call
• Personalize every contact
• Match customer service delivery to the needs and
  values of the customer
• Empower and expect employees to deliver
  world-class service
• Design measures, processes, and systems against
  world-class standards

Benchmarking your delivery of customer service
at your contact points is essential!
10
Customer Satisfaction A Corporate Imperative

• The Contact Center
• Has the most customer contact and is the most
  important customer-facing organization
• However, Normally
• Is functionally focused and operates in a silo
• Is considered a cost of doing business
• Strives to reduce costs, which lower Customer
  Service levels
• Has the lowest paid, lowest trained and lowest
  empowered employees even though, it has the
  greatest potential impact on customers

11
Customer Service Migration
12
Performance Model
Contact Flow
Customer Access
Customer Satisfaction
Workforce Management
Customer Interaction
Fulfillment
13
Measurements Drive Behavior
Measurements Must Be Aligned to Desired Outcome

• Those I Publish
• Those I Watch

14
Customer Access
What is it?
How fast and easy do I get to the right person or
place that can handle my inquiry From The
Outside Looking In

• Service Level
• Abandon Rate
• Misdirected Calls/Call Transfers
• of Calls Handled by the IVR

• Telephone Numbers
• Call Prompting
• IVR
• Messages/Music on Hold
• Voice Mail
• Email
• WEB
• Chat
• Video

It Includes?
Measurements
15
Customer Access - Benchmark

• Speed of Answer
• 80 of calls within 20 seconds
• Abandon Rate lt 3
• ASA 5 7 seconds
• Call Transfers
• One soft transfer
• IVR (uneducated customer)
• No more than 4 menu picks
• No more than 2 levels
• No more than 30 seconds in the IVR
• Always 0 option for an Agent
• 9 for repeat of options
• Email
• Response within 4 hours

16
Customer Interaction
Once a customer gets to the right person or
place, how are they treated and how empathetic,
responsive and decisive is the response
What is it?

• Quality Monitoring
• Call Handing
• Technical
• Call Handle Time (AHT)
• Talk Time
• After Call Work
• Number of people for resolution

• Customer relationship
• Problem/question/need identification
• Analysis/decision making of the resolution
• Commitment to action
• IVR/Email/etc. Applications

It Includes?
Measurements
17
Customer Interaction - Benchmark

• Quality Monitoring
• Random call and screen navigation monitoring
• Minimum 10 calls per month
• Evaluation of
• Call Handling techniques 50
• Technical skills 50
• One-on-one feedback within 24 hours
• Rating System with goals and targets
• Part of employee evaluation system 35
• Average Handle Time (AHT)
• Averages driven by call type
• Look for high and lows
• Identify Stars and training/performance issues
• Number of people to resolve and issue
• First Call Resolution
• One soft transfer

18
Fulfillment
What is it?
Keeping commitments to customers. Completing the
transaction after the customer hangs up.

• First call resolution
• Number of times a customers has to call to get
  resolution
• Satisfaction with the resolution

• Sending/Faxing material or information
• Making adjustment to account as promised
• Service Rep/Sales Rep showing up when scheduled
• Calling back as promised

It Includes?
Measurements
19
Fulfillment - Benchmark

• First Call Resolution
• Customer perception
• Direct correlation to customer satisfaction
• Number of times a customer has to call to get
  resolution
• One time !!!

20
Workforce Management
What is it?
Get agents to be where, behave as and do the
things you want them to.

• Adherence to schedule
• Customer availability
• Handling a call
• Waiting for a call
• Quantitative Measures
• Qualitative Measures
• Attendance
• Employee evaluation

• Agent behavior and performance
• Compliance to schedules and work rules
• BIC Bodies in Chairs
• Incentives
• Training
• Expectations

It Includes?
Measurements
21
Workforce Management - Benchmark

• Customer availability -- Occupancy (working on a
  call or waiting for a call ) 90
• Adherence to schedule 95
• Performance Evaluation
• Qualitative 35
• Quantitative 35
• Adherence 20
• Other 10

22
Customer Satisfaction
What is it?
The customers perception of the organization and
are they satisfied enough to purchase from the
organization again or recommend it to someone else

• Overall satisfaction with the interaction
• Resolution on 1st call
• Loyalty

• Other contact centers set customer expectations
• The entire call flow process
• How other internal organization/groups service
  customer.

It Includes?
Measurements
23
Customer Service - Benchmark

• External Survey Satisfaction with the Recent
  Contact
• Monthly/Quarterly
• Keep to five questions or less
• Driven by a recent contact
• Key Survey Questions
• Overall how satisfied with the interaction?
• Was your issue resolved on the first call?
• If you have a choice, would you select us or
  recommend us to someone else?
• Excellent or A rating in the 65 - 70 range
• Other Important Questions
• Acceptable wait time to answer
• Number of calls to get resolution
• Number of people talked to
• Usability of the IVR
• Satisfaction with the resolution

24
10 Steps to a World Class Contact Center

• Develop a Vision
• Set World Class Performance Standards
• Develop performance measuring systems
• Implement Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Implement a Quality Monitoring Program
• Link business results to Contact Center
  performance
• Freely publish team/group/organization/business
  results
• Communicate and train employees, plus get
  feedback
• Link results to team/group/organizational
  incentives/performance
• Continuously review and adjust

25
In Conclusion

• You are in a competitive market
• Customers have many more choices
• Differentiating your company with product or
  price will be difficult
• Customer loyalty is driven by customer service
• Profits significantly increase with a reduction
  in customer defections
• 98 of customer contacts are through the contact
  center to your customer, it is your company
• Customer expectations are not set by your
  competition but by every other contact center
• Establishing a world-class contact center is the
  most effective way to drive customer loyalty

26
Questions and Answers

For more informationWendy WarnerR. W. Beck,
Inc. Denver, ColoradoDirect (303)
299-5345wwarner_at_rwbeck.com Patricia CruzR. W.
Beck, Inc. Austin, TexasDirect (512)
795-9007pcruz_at_rwbeck.com Doug LoPrestiPartner
Communications, LLCDirect (203)
985-3450dlopresti_at_partnerc.com