How to Take the Pulse of Your Company | THE RETENTION FACTOR

The Retention Factor with Rosanne D'Ausilio, Ph.D.

• Internal Customers
• Questions to Ask
• Then What?
  

We often speak (or read) about customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer retention and that the best way to determine how you’re doing is to ask your customer.

Well if you want to know how your company is doing internally, ask your (internal) customer. Who is that? Your employees, your peers, your direct report, any and every one who has an impact on the customer experience. There is what we call a ‘moment of truth’ when a customer (internal or external) make a decision about you, your company, maybe even all companies in your industry--based on their interaction with anyone from the front lines up to and including your CEO.

What do we look for when we take the pulse of a company?

Here are some of the questions we ask:

• What are the strengths of your people
• What are their weaknesses
• What are the commonalities among applications
• What are the changes currently going on in your organization
  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Teams
  • Rules/Regulations
• What is today’s stress level
• What doesn’t get communicated powerfully
• What feels like you’re working with one hand tied behind your back
• What are the mixed messages that are rampant at your company
• Why are your customers calling
• What is a Typical Call/Call from Hell
• What isn’t communicated effectively/efficiently
• What’s the biggest gripe on the side of the customer
• What’s the biggest gripe on the side of the employee
• What gets accelerated and why
• What works really great
• In a perfect world what would you do differently
  

When you can answer these questions, you’re really getting to know your company and its people.

How do you accomplish this? We do it by:

• Interviewing people
• Monitoring calls
• Studying the flow
• Navigation of screens
• After call process
  

We don’t want to talk only to the best people but to all of them, whenever possible, at all levels.

We then identify the gaps and with that knowledge in hand, we are best able to present options. These options can fall into one of three categories: people, process, technology. If it is determined that it’s a people issue (which often it is), we design customized training sessions to address the gaps and kick it up a notch in the area of customer service.


ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, consultant, master trainer, best selling author, executive coach, customer service expert, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in human performance management. Over the last nearly 25 years, she has provided needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings as well as executive/leadership coaching. Also offered is agent and facilitator university certification through Purdue University’s Center for Customer Driven Quality.

Known as 'the practical champion of the human,' she authors 7 best sellers “Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub,” 4th ed, “Customer Service and the Human Experience,” “Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (includes 32-card deck of cards)—motivational and inspirational readings, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider Tips, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, Volume II as well as her popular complimentary ‘tips’ newsletter on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! at http://www.HumanTechTips.com

Rosanne is also a Certified Call Center Benchmarking Auditor through Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality. This certification training focuses on the access and use of key performance data to help better understand benchmarking results so as to advise on practical solutions for improvement.

For 10 years prior to starting her own organization, Rosanne had responsibility for marketing, budgeting, promoting and ultimately producing domestic and international computerized trade shows in the US, London, Belgium, and Frankfurt. She inaugurated, created, trained and directed a telemarketing on-site staff and was one of the first 150 people to attain CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) certification in 1987.

She is a columnist for TMCnet.com, Ask the Expert at supportindustry.com, and The National Networker. She represents the human element on the Advisory Board of an Italian software company, authors numerous articles for industry newsletters, and is a much sought after dynamic, vibrant, internationally prominent keynote speaker.

For more information, please visit Rosanne's TNNWC Bio.

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How to Take the Pulse of Your Company | THE RETENTION FACTOR

How to Define and Measure the Cost of Repeat Calls - Part 2 | THE RETENTION FACTOR

The Retention Factor with Rosanne D'Ausilio, Ph.D.

• Top 5 Ways to Achieve FCR (First Call Resolution)
• Human Errors
• Measurement Frequency T

A typical customer will not call back. Not only does this keep costs high, but it decreases customer loyalty and increases turnover. In addition, SQM Group suggests there is a 20% point drop in customer satisfaction for each additional call required to resolve the customer call. (SQP Group, FCR 2008, p. 3) Additionally, customers who did not get their call resolved are 5 times more likely to defect than those who had their call resolved (p. 5).

An Ascent Group Study in 2009 and 2010 reported the Top 5 Ways to Achieve FCR. You can see how the numbers have escalated in one year.

Top 5 Ways to Achieve FCR

	2009	2010
1. Focused FCR Training	28%	41%
2. Incorporating FCR into Monitory/ Coaching	30	59
3. Root Cause Analysis	33	61
4. Improving FCR Communication/Agent Awareness	49	65
5. Process Improvement	52	71

If we add Focused FCR Training and Improving FCR Communication and Agent Awareness (which I believe fall into the training arena) there was a 44% increase from the 2009 to 2010 study.

In a study by ICMI (International Customer Management Institute) it was reported that 65% of all repeat calls are the result of agent errors. An example is if the employee:

1) Doesn’t give a confident answer
2) Doesn’t set the proper expectations
3) Doesn’t follow through on a commitment
4) Simply gives the wrong answer

Again, we believe this is a training issue.

Here’s what improving FCR can do:

1) Reduce overall customer calls
2) Decrease rework
3) Improve service
4) Enhance customer satisfaction
5) Up-sell and cross-sell opportunities
6) High value customer interactions
7) Take customers from satisfied to loyal

Best practices for measuring FCR are:

1) Ask your customer – ultimately he/she is the determining factor
2) If the customer completes a survey, include questions that ask, “Was your call resolved?” and “How many calls did you made to resolve your call?”
3) If the customer said the call was resolved in one call, then that customer experienced FCR
4) If the call is transferred and the next person resolves the issue--without the customer having to call back--it is still FCR. The customer only made the one call.

Further, a 2010 Ascent Group Study found that 77% of their respondents measure customer satisfaction. How often?

Customer Satisfaction Measurement Frequency

Monthly 26%
Recent Interaction 26%
Quarterly 13%
Post Call 10%
Annual 10%
Weekly 10%
Semi Annual 6%

As you can see, there is no one answer. What's important is to measure it, learn from it, and take appropriate action.

And finally, I believe that first call resolution is a training issue. If your personnel have the communication skills, the knowledge base, and true empowerment, you can eliminate those second and third calls, as well as any misinformation.

Don’t be one of the 50% or 60% of organizations not measuring FCR. Remember what gets measured gets managed, and what get managed gets better.

Look forward to your questions, comments, feedback, and suggestions for future topics.

ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., industrial psychologist, consultant, master trainer, best selling author, executive coach, customer service expert, President of Human Technologies Global, specializes in human performance management providing needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings. Also offered is agent/facilitator university certification through Purdue’s Center for Customer Driven Quality.

Known as 'the champion of the human,' she authors 7 best sellers: Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub, 4th ed, Customer Service and the Human Experience, Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (includes 32-card deck of cards), How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider Tips, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, Volume II, and her popular ‘tips’ newsletter on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! at http://www.HumanTechTips.com

Rosanne is also a Certified Call Center Benchmarking Auditor through Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality. This certification training focuses on the access and use of key performance data to help better understand benchmarking results so as to advise on practical solutions for improvement.

For 10 years prior to starting her own organization, Rosanne had responsibility for marketing, budgeting, promoting and ultimately producing domestic and international computerized trade shows in the US, London, Belgium, and Frankfurt. She inaugurated, created, trained and directed a telemarketing on-site staff and was one of the first 150 people to attain CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) certification in 1987.

She is a columnist for TMCnet.com, Ask the Expert at supportindustry.com, and The National Networker. She represents the human element on the Advisory Board of an Italian software company, authors numerous articles for industry newsletters, and is a much sought after dynamic, vibrant, internationally prominent keynote speaker.

For more information, please visit Rosanne's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

---

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC

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How to Define and Measure the Cost of Repeat Calls - Part 2 | THE RETENTION FACTOR

Grey's Anatomy and Customer Service | THE RETENTION FACTOR

The Retention Factor with Rosanne D'Ausilio, Ph.D.

• Internal Customers/Touch Points
• External Customers
• Loyal to Satisfied Customer

Did you see Grey’s Anatomy recently where they sang throughout the show? This was a first for them – and for me to see.

Let me back up a bit. Grey’s Anatomy, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, is a weekly medical show on ABC where usually there are 4 or 5 emergency and/or pre-arranged patients coming in to the hospital to be seen by a variety of doctors, residents, and interns. The cast remains the same; the patients are different each week.

I think there are many similar shows although I don’t watch any others. I like how Grey’s develops their characters, making them real people—humans—so for me, it is about the people, the personalities, not the surgeries!

I don’t watch this religiously but when I remember it is on, I do enjoy the show. This particular night – with the singing – had only one patient. It was one of the doctors and, as you can imagine, she had varying degrees of relationships with each and every person in the hospital.

So now let’s reframe this. After all, what does it have to do with retention? The central character on this night was a patient who we will rename the ‘customer.’ All the people who interact with her are her ‘internal customers’, her touch points. We, the viewers, the public, are her external customers. And the show becomes the ‘company.’ Whether in prime time on TV, or in business, there is huge competition for market share.

What’s different about this show? What’s different about how you treat your customers?

So back to the story. She had been in a serious car accident and her life and the life of her unborn baby were at stake. Each internal customer’s experience with her was different yet they were all connected to her. All of them were there to serve her in whatever capacity they could from the surgeons to the sanitation workers, to the volunteer staff. When a customer has an issue, a concern, a problem, a complaint, you, and all your internal touch points, need to be ready to solve the problem, resolve the complaint, etc.

Why was this show different than any other? This time there was only one patient/customer and everyone took great care of her. What was different? They engaged me, enrolled me, and got me emotionally involved. They created, nurtured and reinforced my relationship with the ‘customer’ and the show (the company). They took me on the journey and solidified our relationship. I went from ‘take it or leave it’ to definitely take it.

On other nights/shows I wasn’t identified necessary with any particular patient because there were a lot of them and none that were related to anyone in the hospital. So the emotional connection wasn’t as vivid as it was this one night.

Why am I writing about this? Because at any one time all we can do is take care of one customer at a time, be it internal or external. The show did a great job of the internal customers taking care of the patient/customer, and I suggest they did a great job of taking care of me, the external customer, as I am now enrolled in the program!

How do you, and your internal customers, take great care of your customers, one customer at a time? As if that one customer was the only person you had to take care of that day? In actuality, the person in front of you either in real time, on the phone, in chat, text, or whatever channel you are using, is who you are taking care of at the moment. How many people can be in the #1 position? One at a time.

Bottom line: I didn’t ‘think’ this was a great show—I ‘experienced’ it! I won’t occasionally catch this program. I will pro-actively and consciously choose to watch it on Thursday nights. I am now a loyal satisfied customer.

As always, your comments, feedback, and topic suggestions are welcome and appreciated.


ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, consultant, master trainer, best selling author, executive coach, customer service expert, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in human performance management. Over the last nearly 25 years, she has provided needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings as well as executive/leadership coaching. Also offered is agent and facilitator university certification through Purdue University’s Center for Customer Driven Quality.

Known as 'the practical champion of the human,' she authors 6 best sellers “Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub,” 4th ed, “Customer Service and the Human Experience,” “Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck (includes 32-card deck of cards)—motivational and inspirational readings, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: 101 Insider Tips, How to Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch: ANOTHER 101 Insider Tips, The Expert’s Guide to Customer Service, a compilation of 28 articles at http://www.customer-service-expert.com/report.htm as well as her popular complimentary ‘tips’ newsletter on How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch! at http://www.humantechtips.com/

For more information, please visit Rosanne's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

---

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC

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Grey's Anatomy and Customer Service | THE RETENTION FACTOR

Best in Class | THE RETENTION FACTOR

The Retention Factor with Rosanne D'Ausilio, Ph.D.

• Best in class? Industry average? Laggard?


• Customer Service Priority


• People Process Technology

As you know, customer service is the differentiating factor in today’s economy. Even in the negative economy we are currently in, customer experience is a high priority for consumers.

According to a Customer Experience Impact Report (Harris Interactive), 85% of customers will pay more to the company that provides them better customer service. Are you one of them?

At the same time, 82% of customers stopped doing business with a company because of bad customer service--up from 59% just four years ago—almost a 50% increase. Are you one of them?

The Aberdeen Group reports that of best in class companies:

91% provide customers the ability to track issues over the web 57% measure support center success across email, chat, web, and voice 62% use integrated voice response (IVR)

Are you one of these statistics?

Additionally of best in class adopters:

70% use customer feedback to make strategic decisions 50% of industry-average organizations do 20% of laggards do

Where are you? Best in class? Industry average? Laggard?

Have you made customer service a priority--not only in intention but in action as well?

This column is about retention so it’s important for you to know that 91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with your company again (White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC).

Now we don’t want to give you a disease without a cure. We believe the cure lies on the people side. While we acknowledge good service is three-fold: people, process, and technology, I believe without the people it doesn’t work.

So a simple solution is to get the right people. Hire for attitude, and then teach aptitude.

Once hired, provide customized, highly interactive, in real time, world class training such that your people have the skills and the ammunition to deal with today’s customer-- who by the way is much more sophisticated than the customer of the past. And don’t do one shot deals. Provide ongoing training to keep morale up, motivate, inspire, and most important, acknowledge your people.

If a customer can handle their request, question, problem, or issue via self service 24/7, they don’t need to speak to a human. However, if they can’t get their needs met through a website, chat or text, then the contact is escalated to a human. By that time the customer is upset, sometimes enraged, sometimes fearful it’s their fault and so they become defensive and the person on the other end of the line needs to know how to handle that person respectfully and in such a way that they can move them to a productive interaction in a timely manner.

As always, your comments, feedback, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

For more information, please visit Rosanne's TNNWC Bio.

---

Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

---

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC

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Best in Class | THE RETENTION FACTOR