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Are You Using the Right Measuring Stick?
Situation
HealthCo, a leading provider in healthcare, was losing customers at an alarming rate. Poor customer service was one of the main causes. After extensive discussions with representatives throughout the organization, RCR Associates came to understand the challenges HealthCo faced in serving its customers. The call center, specifically, was a problematic area. HealthCo representatives understood when custom ers were frustrated with the lack of straightforward answers, but most call center employees felt they were doing the job required of them. After all one of the primary measurements of the job was a series of metrics and representatives were generally scoring well. Some of the metrics included:
- The number of calls answered per hour by each representative, including the number of rings until the phone was answered.
- The time spent in queue until a representative answered the call.
- The amount of time spent on the line with the customer.
- The number of times a customer was put on hold.
All of these metrics were easily measured through the telephone equipment. HealthCo placed so much value on these metrics, it based representative's compensation on the figures.
During RCR Associates' conversations with various employees and customers, we discovered:
- Representatives would blame "the system" and tell the customer they couldn't help them.
- Representatives would give a quick answer to customer questions without really understanding the customer's issues.
- If a representative couldn't answer the customer's questions, they told them someone would get back to them (but no one ever did).
- Representatives would answer a call and immediately hang up on a customer without saying anything- simply to increase their number of calls taken.
- Representatives weren't properly recording customer interactions, thereby not building a history of issues and resolutions.
- Representatives who spent time actually solving customer issues were penalized financially because their metrics were lower than the "top performers".
- Representatives were unclear where to turn to if they needed help.
Approach
Working collaboratively with a cross-functional team, RCR Associates helped implement several initiatives including:
- Establishing an enterprise wide integrated customer experience including realigning the call center operating model with the rest of the organization.
- Implementing customer-centric metrics linked directly to organizational goals. Some of these metrics included first call resolution and customer satisfaction.
- Establishing a learning and development strategy and plan for the call center.
- Redefining how to use the existing CRM tool to capture the appropriate data, therefore allowing for better decision making and problem resolution.
Results
By developing a new enterprise-wide integrated customer experience, RCR Associates helped HealthCo achieve its retention and customer satisfaction goals. In the first year alone:
- Customer retention increased 35%.
- Customer satisfaction increased two-fold.
- Representatives now use the CRM tool as a way to help solve customer issues, rather than just as a database of contact information.
By looking at poorly defined metrics, HealthCo jeopardized existing customer relationships. When the overall call center processes were examined, RCR Associates helped the struggling company redefine its processes and metrics to better represent quality customer care.
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