The Season of Giving

December 21, 2011 — Jackie

In the words of Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.”  At Inova Solutions we’re committed to giving back to our community.  We expand our success to include not only the financial, but also the social wins.

This year Inova Solutions has stepped up and paired with The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to help feed the hungry in Central Virginia.  Due to their ability to purchase food in bulk, and at a discounted rate, every dollar given provides four meals to a person in need.  At this year’s holiday potluck, Inova Solutions team members donated $250 that the company then matched.

Inova Solutions is proud to donate $500 to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and provide 2000 meals to individuals in need.

Does your organization have a social responsibility policy?  If so, we’d love to hear about it.  If not, there’s no better time than the present to suggest a new strategy.  If you’re worried about starting out too big I suggest creating a committee within your group of coworkers.  At Inova Solutions we have a team of volunteers that are involved with our Incentives and Morale Committee.  This group helps plan a variety of Inova events from community outreach and volunteer projects, to an annual chili cook-off!

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has benefits beyond what meets the eye.  A solid commitment to CSR helps strengthen your reputation and brand image.  It also helps keep your employees engaged and allows them to develop respect and trust for the organization.  Simon Mainwaring, author of the book, We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World, has some great insight to share.

His article on Mashable reads, “For decades, the decision to be an environmentally and socially responsible company has been based on the bottom line: Would it be profitable? In general, companies have crunched the numbers and chosen shareholder profits over a sufficient commitment to invest in greater social responsibility. In terms of traditional accounting and the legal requirements of corporations, costs always outweighed benefits.  But it now seems that this equation is starting to lean the other way as brands recognize the potential financial and reputational advantages they can gain by engaging with consumers around the shared ambition of building a better world.”

CSR is a topic that should be on the forefront of every organization’s mind.  During this season of giving, take time to engage with your coworkers and participate in or develop your own CSR action plan.

Posted in Business, Call Center Management, Human resources, News and events. No Comments »

FCR and Customer Satisfaction: A Match Made in Heaven

December 13, 2011 — Special Contributor

The following article is courtesy of Peggy Carlaw.  Peggy Carlaw is the founder of Impact Learning Systems. Impact helps companies develop and implement customer service strategies to improve the customer experience. Their consulting services and training programs help organizations create a customer-focused culture while producing measurable business results. Peggy is also the author of three books published by McGraw-Hill including Managing and Motivating Contact Center Employees.

When you call a support center to get help on an issue or have a question answered, will you be more satisfied with the company if:

  1. The customer representative is knowledgeable and is able to resolve your issue on the first call?
  2. The representative is unsure how to help you, puts you on hold, and then asks you to call back so that a supervisor can help you?

It’s pretty obvious, right? If a company can resolve your problem on the first try, you’ll think more favorably of the company and rate your customer satisfaction experience higher.

First-Call Resolution (FCR) is one of the simplest—and most effective ways a company can improve customer satisfaction.

The statistics back the correlation between FCR and customer satisfaction

Numerous studies between FCR and CSAT rates show the link. For example:

  • 20% of callers don’t have their issue resolved on the first call.
  • 68% of those with unresolved issues are at risk for defecting to another company.
  • CSAT rates are, on average, 35-45 % lower when a second call is made for the same issue.
  • For every 1% of FCR improvement, companies are likely to see a 1% improvement in CSAT rates.
  • When an issue is resolved on the first try, only 3% of customers are likely to go to a competitor.

And the stats go on … but you get the point. To improve your customer service, work on your FCR rates. There’s definitely a business case for addressing resolution rates!

But, for many companies, improving FCR is a complex issue. What’s going on?

Just improve your FCR and you’ll have happier customers! Easier said than done, right? Let’s examine some of the most common barriers to FCR.

  • Complex Products or Issues: FCR is much easier for, say, an online retail store, where a customer is calling to get more information on dress sizes, than a web-hosting company that deals with technical domain issues and server problems.If you have a complex problem or have a support center that deals with highly technical matters, focusing on FCR may not apply. If that’s the case, focus on having highly trained, independent-thinking reps who can work efficiently to solve customer matters—even if it takes multiple calls. Your focus then will be on reducing the time or the number of calls until the issue is resolved.
  • To measure FCR, you have to first define “fix.” When tracking metrics of any kind, you need to clearly define your tracking parameters. For FCR, what does “fix” a customers’ issue mean to you? Did you solve a URL issue, but still leave open other questions that need to be tackled? Define issues, problem by problem (or in a set of problems, as the case may be) before you set out to track and improve FCR rates. Additionally, you’ll need to define what “contact” means. Is e-mail a contact? Is a web-generated request a contact?
  • It takes two to tango. When looking at FCR, you may find it hard to control your rates if you have a customer base with a low level of experience. Depending on your industry and product, your customer’s understanding of the product will affect how long it takes for the representative to resolve the issue. If you sell B2B technical equipment,  your customer will likely have a base understanding of the product and may just need a little assistance. But if you are selling technical services to the B2C world, the learning curve may be steeper and the time to resolution longer.
  • Technical skills of your representatives. The training you provide to your representatives can make a dramatic difference in your FCR rates—particularly if you have a technical service or product. Hopefully your management team understands that an investment in technical customer service training is well-worth it when considering the ramifications of low FCR rates.
  • Self-service’s impact on FCR. More and more customers rely on web forums—and on your website—to help them resolve issues. This means that customers who would have called you previously (most likely with easier issues) are now figuring out answers themselves. Customers who do end up calling, therefore, are often those who couldn’t resolve the issue and present more complex problems that could be harder to resolve on the first call.
  • Your representatives’ comfort level with internal tools. You may think that a hefty investment in a slick CRM system is just the ticket, but with any internal tools you have in place, make sure you train your reps thoroughly on how to use the tools at their disposal. If a representative is fumbling or taking a long time to figure out how to use a system, most likely, it will take longer (or not be possible) to solve a customer issue on the first try.

The lesson? Improve the factors you can control that help improve FCR

The above list is just a brief sample of the many barriers that companies face when confronting low FCR rates and undesirable CSAT scores. However, even if you have a very complex product, and even if you’re dealing with a customer base that comes to you with a lower-level of understanding, you can still offer stellar customer service and get your FCR rates as low as possible for your industry and product type. The key? Your customer service training program. When you choose to focus on the quality of service your representatives offer your customers, and the technical training your employees receive, you are likely to see a natural increase in your FCR rates, and your loyal customers will continue to reward you with business. Heavenly!

Republished with author’s permission from original post by Peggy Carlaw.

Posted in Business, Call center KPIs, Customer service. 1 Comment »

Managing a “BYOD” Workplace

December 2, 2011 — Kelly

Recently, I’ve written about your customers’ use of smart phones as well as how you can leverage a smart phone in the workplace.  Another emerging trend is what’s referred to in a recent series of articles in Information Week publications as the “BYOD Revolution.”  BYO is a commonly-accepted acronym for bring your own, and the D here is for device.  In most companies, the majority of employees do not have a corporate-issued smart phone, so they have purchased these devices personally.  That part of the trend is not particularly worrisome, but problems can easily arise when employees use their personal devices to check their work email, manage company documents, or organize client contacts.

In “Survive the BYOD Revolution,” Finneran outlines seven ways to cope with the influx of employee devices.  He starts with a recommendation to carefully consider which employees are eligible for smart phones and to develop specific guidelines for reimbursements.  From there, determine which platform to use and outline your support plan.  Beyond that, management needs to understand the long-term implications of employee devices:  if an employee leaves, will he be allowed to take the device phone number with him, or does the company need to retain it?  How will you strengthen the “weak link” (i.e., the users) in your security plan so that information is not compromised?  Finally, what is your schedule for reassessing your policies?

Once you’ve determined a plan for distributing and managing corporate smart phones to some employees, you still need to consider the impact of employees using non-corporate devices.  Just because you don’t issue them one, certainly doesn’t mean that employees are willing to be left behind in the growing smart phone trend!

In his Practical Analysis article from the November 14 issue, Wittman writes that IT can’t manage employee smart phones in the same way that a corporate phone is managed.  It’s a risky business to try to manage an employee’s personal phone when it contains his archive of photos, calendars, contacts, etc.  Wittman suggests that the most realistic solution is to set a clear policy and then educate users on acceptable ways to incorporate their personal phones with any work information.

Whether or not your company supplies devices to employees, you still need to consider the ramifications that this BYOD Revolution can have on your workplace!

Posted in Business, Call Center Management, Technology. No Comments »

Dazzle your customers with Proactive Customer Care

November 30, 2011 — Camille

Earlier this year I wrote two blog posts on aligning customer service and marketing, see part 1 and part 2, and a post about Proactive Customer Care.  I recently read an interesting interview with John Goodman, Vice Chairman of Tarp Worldwide and author of “Strategic Customer Service: Managing the Customer Experience to Increase Positive Word of Mouth, Build Loyalty, and Maximize Profits” and thought he provided some valuable insight to add to my previous posts.

Goodman notes that Tarp Worldwide was the original group to quantify that it “costs five times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep one.”  This is a vital statistic for contact center managers because customer retention has a great deal to do with customer service.

One thing I found most interesting in the interview I read is a theory of Goodman’s that he calls “psychic pizza…that is, ringing a customer’s doorbell and saying, ‘Here is the pizza you were about to order.’”  Goodman believes, and I agree, that if a company can anticipate the next question a customer will ask or the next service a customer will need, the company can proactively provide the answers or services without the customer having to do anything.  One example of this is AAA bringing you a cold bottle of water when your car breaks down on a hot day and apologizing for being late even if the serviceperson is early.  Goodman points out that this kind of service dazzles the customer and even if the rest of the service is a disaster, survey results are still outstanding because of that initial dazzling contact.  In other words, the unexpected positive contact overshadows subsequent service issues.

Goodman’s book offers advice for maximizing the relationship between service, sales and marketing such as setting proper expectations up front and educating people when the product or service is sold.  Working with your sales and marketing teams can help you establish a way for your agents to pass up complaints through the chain so you can decide how to proactively dazzle your customers throughout every department in your organization.

Posted in Business, Call Center Management, Customer service. No Comments »

Corporate Social Responsibility in the contact center: Part 2

November 10, 2011 — Camille

My last blog post talked about how to get your company and your customer service representatives (CSRs) involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR).  Over the last couple weeks I’ve thought of a few more ideas to share:

  • Have a food drive competition: Especially since we’re getting near the holidays, food banks are looking for donations.  Have an inter-departmental competition to see who can bring in the most canned goods.  Last year one of our vendors hosted a food drive and Inova employees on each floor of our building competed to see which floor could bring in the largest amount (by weight) of food.  It was a fun competition that boosted morale and made everyone feel good about doing something for others.  You can do the same thing at the start of the school year and collect school supplies for kids in need.
  • Greeting cards: Another idea for the holidays is to make holiday cards for charities.  If you don’t want to ask employees to spend money on gifts for toy drives this is a great way to spread some holiday cheer.  Lots of charities look for people to make cards to send to soldiers overseas and to people in the hospital.  You can turn this into a fun team-building event by getting supplies and letting employees make cards together in the break room.
  • Sponsor employees: If your employees participate in charitable events you can sponsor them.  For example, you can have a company team participate in a charity walk/run or you can sponsor individual employees to complete marathons or bike races that benefit charities.  If your employees have children that play little league you can sponsor their teams for relatively little cost and a tax write-off.

There are lots of ways to promote CSR among your CSRs while boosting morale for little to no expense.  Has your company found success with programs like these?

Posted in Business, Miscellaneous. No Comments »

Corporate Social Responsibility in the contact center

October 27, 2011 — Camille

Everyone in the contact center industry is familiar with the acronym CSR, among what seems like thousands of other acronyms.  Today I propose we focus on a different kind of CSR…as in Corporate Social Responsibility.

Having worked at several non-profits before coming to Inova Solutions, I feel it’s critical to give back to the communities in which you do business.  Even in a down economy, most companies can find a few spare dollars or time to give to local charities.

Here at Inova we support the Charlottesville, Virginia community in several ways.  Every year the local United Way has a Day of Caring where local businesses sign up to volunteer at charities and schools in the community.  Inova participated again this year and did projects like organizing books at a school, planting flowers at another school and several other projects.  This year we’re also sponsoring “The Producers” at a local theater called Live Arts.  If you’re in Charlottesville between December 9, 2011 and January 14, 2012 be sure to check it out and look for one of our call center readerboards being used in the play!

So how can your CSRs (customer service representatives) participate in CSR (corporate social responsibility)?  Here are a few ideas:

  • Promote volunteerism:  Encourage your CSRs to volunteer at local charities like the SPCA, Salvation Army, shelters or whatever other options there are in your community.  If your company allows, let employees take an hour or two off of work once a month to go volunteer.
  • Match employee donations:  Even if money is tight, you can match employee contributions to charities up to a certain amount.  If nothing else, your company gets a tax write-off and it will make your employees feel even better about their contributions.
  • Participate in community events: If budget doesn’t allow for monetary sponsorships, you can still get your company involved with local charities through volunteering at events or loaning your products and services.  Many charities have auctions for fundraisers which allow companies to donate products and services without having to spend large amounts of money.

Does your company have a formal CSR plan?  In what ways does your call center staff give back to your community?

Read part 2 of this blog post: More ideas to get your CSRs involved in CSR

Posted in Business, Miscellaneous. No Comments »

What’s your “why?”

October 25, 2011 — Tom

It’s one thing to delight the customers that contact your center, but have you considered communicating your “why” statement to them – the reason you do what you do?  Your “why” statement is not about “what” you do or “how” you do it.  Your “why” statement is all about what you, as an organization, believe in – your business cause or purpose.  When’s the last time your agents communicated that on the phone or in an email to your customers or prospective customers.

Let me give you an example.  Apple is an easy, iconic one.  Apple is as much a computer manufacturing organization as Lenovo and Dell.  But what sets them apart?  It’s their “why” statement, which I imagine is something like: “to change the way media is created and consumed.”  Remember Apple’s Think Different campaign?  What was that all about, but changing how media is consumed and created – by thinkers, artists, businesspeople, you, and me.  Who doesn’t want to “think different” (sic)?

Here’s the ad text from that campaign:

Here’s to the crazy ones.  The misfits.  The rebels.  The troublemakers.  The round pegs in the square holes.  The ones who see things differently.  They’re not fond of rules.  And they have no respect for the status quo.  You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.  About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.  Because they change things.  They push the human race forward.  While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.  Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Who is Apple describing?  On a one-dimensional level, they’re describing their promotional figureheads: Jim Henson, Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, et al.  On another level, they’re describing their (hopeful) customer base – their ideal buyer personas.  Going one level deeper, we see that Apple is describing their “why” – their raison d’être, or reason for existence.

When’s the last time you communicated your “why” statement to callers?  To your agents?  To your boss?  I urge you to try it out; I guarantee you’ll be pleased with the results.

Posted in Business, Customer service. No Comments »

Planning for a Successful 2012 Budget

October 13, 2011 — Camille

With the end of the year just around the corner, many companies are starting to plan their 2012 budgets.  We’ve written a white paper and a lot of blog posts on contact center budgeting and I thought I’d share some of the highlights:

  • 5 Tips for Planning Your Contact Center Budget:  In this blog post we gave 5 planning tips including knowing your value, considering all your current expenses, leaving room for growth, remembering your support dollars, and finding places to cut.
  • How is the Economy Affecting Call Centers?: This post discusses how contact centers can overcome the challenging economy and the affect it has on budgeting.  Knowing what’s happening in your center in real-time, having a plan and automating processes will help you overcome shrinking budgets and a challenging economy until things turn around.
  • Proving the value of the contact center: Knowing the value of your center will help you make the case for your budget.  There are many ways to add value to your contact center including improving your call center metrics, reducing agent attrition, and using outside resources to gather statistics and other proof points.

Don’t forget to use your contact center vendors as a resource too.  Inova can provide a custom ROI analysis to help you prove the value of our reporting solutions.  Between a custom analysis, these three articles, and our contact center budgeting white paper you’ll be on your way to a successful 2012 budget.

Posted in Business, Call Center Management, Call Center Resources. No Comments »

Why wouldn’t the social customer be right?

September 27, 2011 — Camille

One of the articles in the August 2011 issue of Customer Interaction Solutions struck me as particularly interesting, “The (Social) Customer Isn’t Always Right” by Brendan Read.

The reason I found this article interesting, other than the fact I work in marketing for the call center industry and social media is a hot topic in both arenas right now, is his argument that invalid complaints are clouding social media.

I’ll be the first to admit, there are people out there that take advantage of companies and bend and break rules daily.  Complaints from these customers, and complaints that say nothing other than “this company is horrible,” really aren’t worth focusing time and effort on.  However, unless you see nothing but suspect complaints on a person’s Twitter feed or Facebook page how do you know their complaint is invalid and not worth pursuing?

From a customer satisfaction perspective, and from a brand management perspective, I would argue that until you see a particular individual taking advantage of your company’s goodwill in responding to social media comments, every complaint is worth pursuing.  If for no other reason than the fact that other people will see the complaint and potential customers will see your response.

I’d also like to give a little credit to the “street smarts” of social media participants.  People actively engaged in social media are very adept at weeding out, and ignoring, those that aren’t adding to the conversation.  If a person uses social media to do nothing other than complain about one company after another people aren’t going to listen.  This is where I agree with Brendan, those individuals aren’t worth wasting your company’s resources on.

As call center technology advances, it will be easier to weed out the invalid complaints and focus on the customers, and prospects, that are valuable over the long haul.  Products like Cisco SocialMiner and real-time reporting solutions that incorporate social media feeds are well on their way to making social media management in the call center much easier.

What is your company’s policy on reaching out to customers through social media?

Posted in Business, Customer service, Social media. No Comments »

Connecting Smart Phones to your Contact Center

September 20, 2011 — Kelly

Look around you and you’ll notice that it seems like everyone has a smartphone or is thinking about getting one.  I’ve found that I actually spend much less time on the computer now, because the smartphone allows me to do many of the same things and functions nearly seamlessly among my email, Internet, and phone.  Curious about how smartphones integrate with contact centers, I found “Customers, smartphones, contact centers: Are you making the right connections?,” by Brett Schockley on the Avaya blog.

The biggest factor that Shockley highlights for integrating smartphones as part of your contact center plans is to bring mobile interactions into contact centers in “full context”.  This context could include the customer’s navigation of the mobile application or account information as well as a free pass to “cut” in line, based on the time the customer has spent trying to help himself on the phone.  For customers and employees alike, he points out the option to send and receive pictures to facilitate the communication process as well.

What other ways can you assimilate smartphone usage into your contact center?

  • Are there applications that your company could develop and market to encourage and improve customer service?  Consider apps that allow a customer to check account status or make inquiries from their phones.
  • How can you include images as part of your communication with customers?  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a photo could save time and frustration in the communication process.
  • Can you use outgoing contacts (text and emails) to keep customers informed?  Especially for time-sensitive information, being able to contact customers who are on-the-go can be critical.
  • Can you integrate other smartphone capabilities as part of your communication process?  Beyond cameras, you could utilize GPS, texting, email, and the Internet to aid communication between the agent and the customer.

Shockely points out that within the next four years, 80% of customers will own smartphones!  Contact center personnel must start planning now so they can seamlessly serve the majority of their customers as the technology continues to evolve.

Posted in Business, Customer service, Miscellaneous, Technology. No Comments »
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