Increasing CSat while driving costs down? Really?

When two powerful but opposing forces converge, you can expect the conflict to be significant. That’s the

pressure most support managers experience when attempting to achieve world-class customer satisfaction

(C-SAT) scores while driving expenses down. Wouldn’t it be easy if we had unlimited headcount and no

budget constraints? Most of the things that we traditionally think of as driving up customer satisfaction—such

as shorter hold times and quicker case resolution—are costly.

On the surface, at least, it seems that “more headcount” is required to provide better service levels, right? Put more people on the phones or answering the e-mails, and we can shorten the response time. Reduce the caseload per engineer and allow them more time to work on each issue, and they will turn them around quicker. It’s simple—but expensive!

Most support managers are expected to maintain or improve C-SAT scores while becoming increasingly

efficient. Execs want to see expense ratios decline and rightly so as they are in the business of making money not losing it. After all, shouldn’t we get some economy of scale? In other words, “Do more with less.” This may appear to be a no-win situation, but there actually is a way to achieve both goals. There is a common denominator that can be leveraged to simultaneously drive customer satisfaction up while driving operating expenses down. I believe that we are at a critical cross-roads today than never before in our lifetimes.

First, let’s talk about the primary drivers of customer satisfaction. Sure, there are a lot of things that have an

effect on C-SAT, and most support centers measure these factors in their surveys. This includes the agent’s

professionalism, technical knowledge, and so on. But the three key drivers—those that have the largest

overall impact—are response time, resolve time, and status updates. There is a correlation to these metrics.

Response time is defined as “the time it takes for a customer to get through to a qualified person (someone

that is going to attempt to resolve the issue).” Resolve time is “the time it takes for a customer to get the

issue resolved to their satisfaction.” The third item, status updates, means keeping customers informed of

progress on their open (unresolved) issues. These are the top three priorities (in that order), and everything

else is secondary. Once I learned this correlation, everything else in running my center became easier!

For most companies, resolve time is the number one opportunity to improve customer satisfaction. I say that

because most companies recognize that service level is critical, and therefore they do a reasonable job in

that area. By the way, if that’s not true at your company—fix that first (before you tackle resolution). The third item, status updates, only comes into play when you don’t resolve on the initial contact—and you really want to minimize these situations. Therefore, resolve time is usually the area with the most potential for

improvement. All of these come together with the creativity, innovation and inspiration of your staff and that is where the magic happens. I am confident that as much as things get complex in our industry, there are some foundational principles that still hold true today than it did a decade or so ago. These are indeed exciting times for our industry, our partners and suppliers and more importantly our customers!

Unleashing the Human Experience, An Interview!

2012 Customer Service - Interview With Mohan Nair, PM Nair Consulting Group

The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

In your opinion, do you believe the customer service you get today from other companies is better or worse than it was say 5 years ago?I believe there are opportunities for customer service to get better with the advances of technology and social media however the needle on providing outstanding customer service remains a challenge. Customers are becoming less patient these days than they were 5 years ago.


Do you believe there is a correlation between the service you receive as a consumer and your loyalty to the supplier?
Absolutely, one of the key drivers for loyalty is how consumers are treated. The customer experience is fundamental to this metric and the organizations that get it are the ones that thrive in the new economic reality.


In your opinion, which industry sectors provide great service and which ones are poor? I believe the hospitality sector (hotels and travel agencies in particular) are getting better at it as well as the retailers. Banks, financial services and airlines still remain stagnant in a competitive environment. It also is worth mentioning that in most regions Banks are slowly starting to listen to their customers.


Can you recall a really good experience recently - where you were WOW'd by the service you received? 
I was staying at the Hampton Inn in FL for a 3 day conference in Jan '12 and left behind my some clothes in the bathroom in my rush out the door to make my flight. Upon return, there was a voice mail to contact the hotel concierge who promptly sent at no expense by Fedex my belongings within 3 days. They thanked me for my business and invited us back to the hotel next time. This was a rarity and I was totally blown away as it cost them to send me my clothes at their expense.

Talking about bad experiences, where do companies go wrong with the service they provide?
I would say from my observations, the lack of training and follow through with what they say and what they actually do. For example, hidden charges for routine transactions, drop off fees for rental cars and basic courtesy and etiquette for the phone channel and face to face interactions. I had a bad experience with a rental car agency that "forced" me to take the insurance and the fuel charges at a recent trip to Chicago even after refusing those options...it was a nightmare trying to get the office to clear those charges because the calls were sent to Manila, PH and they had no idea what I was saying nor what I needed done to rectify the problems...they just were not listening to me and I will not use these car rental agency again in the near future and I will tell anyone not to use it either


Have you noticed any differences in service from people from different cultures? Not really, all things being equal I find that people from different cultures may be polite but they ability to go the extra mile is rare. While they may say politely what they can do, they cannot say what they can't do, they talk about policies and procedures to cover their miscues or shortcomings.


If you had to give just 1 tip regarding the use of technology in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Start using more self-service options and keep the IVR simple, too many times, companies complicated the selections in the IVR by providing so many options that are not segmented at all. Often times, these calls are sent to remote parts of the world where these agents have no idea or cultural sensitivities to my world here in North America. We like to talk about the weather and sports and is often frustrating for me to explain who the Blue Jays are for example...that's a pet peeve for me and it immediately tells me that I am speaking to someone who is out of touch.


If you had to give just 1 tip regarding staff in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Coaching staff to listen and not interrupt the customer no matter how silly the customer may sound. The other element that can be introduced to agents is the option for them to listen to their calls and see how they sound and act for those calls that frustrate us.


If you had to give just 1 tip regarding business processes in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?
Keep the process customer friendly from the eyes of the customer not the other way around. Most customers find IVR trees and business processes too complicated and filled with legalese. Empower your agents and customers to come up with solutions as they do the heavy lifting and handling complex processes, take this task further and ask the Process Owners and Project Managers to observe how it works, this may be the only way processes can improve within.


In your opinion, how should contact centers measure the level of service they give?It depends on what it is they want to achieve. It comes down to First Call Resolution, Customer Surveys and most importantly revenue as a measure of loyalty. These metrics help senior leaders understand the importance of analytics that are meaningful to the business.


Lastly, can you share with us one of the worst customer service experiences you have experienced recently
A bank that we deal with processed some charges that we were not aware of and upon enquiring they told us they sent it in the statement advising us of these. I was furious and asked them to reverse these charges which amounted to more than $200 for the past two months. It took me more than 4 weeks to get this reversed after I threatened to take my business elsewhere. They apologized but it was too late...I will never do business with this bank again. I went to a competitor of theirs who provided me with some options that helped me save these types of charges.

Metrics for building loyalty

I attended the IQPC Summit held in Orlando, FL this week and was honored to co-present at a pre-conference workshop on metrics that matter in a call center. During the presentation, we gathered a few key elements of what are the critical drivers of customer satisfaction as well as the correlation of employee engagement from coaching and other financial metrics. I was able to confirm that investing in employees and coaching were the factors that created a culture that leading organizations truly believe in...I was certainly impressed and would like to share them.

Employee attitude is a key leading indicator of customer attitude and satisfied customers help the business they patronize to survive and thrive. In brief we were able to come to an understanding and conclude that :-

1.   Employees who find meaning at work are more competent, committed and contributing which in turn raises their competence, commitment and sense of contribution which in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and commitment which in turn leads to customer commitment which in turn leads to better financial results for the company.

Making meaning not money (although that is important for agent) is a significant cause to their loyalty and a leading indicator of long-term organizational success. So-called intangibles explain about 50% of the market value of publicly traded companies. What I call or term as Intangibles are simply the assets and capabilities of a company that cannot be touched or put on a balance sheet but give investors confidence in the future earnings of the company. Intangibles could also  include factors such as leadership, talent, innovation, skill and vision. Investors increasingly value these intangible organizational capabilities because they increase confidence in a company’s future success. 

Employee competence, commitment, passion and energy are among these intangible assets. Employees can be competent even committed but still lack passion for their work. Meaning reinforces employee’s passion for work because it ties what they do to a greater good that also pays off in the marketplace. Passion for work is an intangible asset that has shown to have a direct impact on a firm’s market value.

Abundant organizations are profitable organizations but rather than focusing only on assumptions of competition and scarcity, abundant organizations also focus on opportunity and synergy. Rather than accepting the fear-based approach in tough times, abundant organizations concentrate on bringing order, integrity and purpose out of chaos and disintegration. Rather than restricting themselves to narrow, self-serving agendas, abundant organizations integrate a diversity of human needs, experiences and timetables. Both in good times and bad times, abundant organizations create meaning for both the employees who comprise them and the customers who keep them in business. Employees, customers, investors and communities benefit when employees find meaning at work and when companies give meaning to society. So what do the statistics tell about these so-called "soft, warm and fuzzy" metrics...here are some of the results that I was able to gather in my research...

• -    Over a 10yr period (1998-2008), “best companies to work for” have a 6.8% stock appreciation versus 1.2% for the average firm.
• -    Over a seven year period, the most-admired firms in Fortune’s list of admired companies had doubled the market returns of their competitors.
• -     The probability of an initial public offering goes from 60-79 % when the company invests in it’s people.
• -    Sixty-one hospitals in the United Kingdom had a 7% decline in the death rates when they invested in the well-being of their staff.
• -    A one-standard deviation increase in high performance work practices yields $27,044 increase in sales revenues per employee per year and $3,814 increase in profit per employee per year
• -   Only 13% of disengaged employees would recommend their company’s products and services compared with 78% of engaged employees.
• -      Disengaged and stressed out employees are 10 X more likely to say that they will leave the company within a year.

The significance of understanding any Lean Six Sigma approach is to understand Human and Leadership Behaviors within an organization and consumer behavior towards an organization, how it complements teams focused on improving their business processes as compared to the traditional leadership models of resisting change. 

The question most strategic thinkers and change management professionals ask is if they can both co-exist and deliver results in the frenzied digital era where responsiveness and innovation matter. In my personal opinion, therein lies the challenge for organizations wanting to make a difference in the new economy. 

An unprecedented amount of information flows through organizations every day. But to what effect? A recent study by The Nair Consulting Group shows that most contact center managers have little or no confidence with the information they rely on to help them in critical decision making especially in a dynamic environment like a contact center. 

Without the right approach or strategic thinking coupled with precise business intelligence, most of these managers struggle to turn all that noise, sound and superfluous information into sound decisions. Using Lean Six Sigma tools and a empowered leadership team that is driven by the voice of the customer, an organization can access the right information within a reasonable amount of time to make wise decisions that impact the overall customer experience. 

Lean Six Sigma has helped many organizations within manufacturing over the last two decades and is making significant strides in the past few years within services primarily contact centers which rely on accurate and meaningful data. The key topics of the current business environment is about mitigating risk, making better decisions in real-time faster and most importantly increasing market share in a global marketplace. 

It is crucial for managers to harness the power of this unique and powerful philosophy of continuous improvement in which the voice of the employee and the customer is not muted. As we head into the next decade and into the new year, there is a lot of hope for technology and innovative solutions within the realm of the contact center environment. Lean Six Sigma is one of the critical solutions that can assist many managers on their way to innovative solutions. Good luck and happy new year!

Coaching and Leadership Tips

There is a growing concern these days in contact centers about sustaining quality improvements after they are made. How to maintain the gains from those improvements and build on them is the burning question for many organizations and their leaders. The fact that has been overlooked by many Quality Leaders is that while facilitators and team supervisors are invaluable resources for introducing and implementing tools, training and deployment projects, it is the role of Senior Managers and C-Level Executives to create an environment in which staff take responsibility for the practices, behaviors and thinking that achieve, sustain and build on improvements made. Drawing on observations from high performance organizations we can confidently say that a good project leader should be able to examine the strategic role management plays in the development of their people for a successful outcome.

This where where LEAN leaders are created in the organization. Lean change agents generally have to implement improvements through the work of people they don’t manage. They have responsibility but little authority to accomplish their goals. Getting people to complete the tasks they assign or meet the schedules they set requires constant attention, encouragement, cajoling, and often taking the lead on the activities themselves. There is a better way. Switch from trying to be the person out front leading the charge to being someone with knowledge and experience who’s by the side of implementers coaching when needed. In other words try the "sensei" approach to coaching and leading. What does it mean to be a coach using the sensei approach in LEAN Six Sigma? Coaches do not compete in the sporting events themselves. They have to achieve success through four basic activities: preparation, practice, adjustment, and review. Do these methods work in situations where you’re responsible for lean improvement projects but others have to implement the changes? The answer is yes, if one key condition is achieved and maintained: responsibility for making the changes is given to and kept with the people who have to implement and maintain the improvements. That’s the key to the sensei approach. This approach is to help leaders understand the importance of the role of the coach in improving value-stream performance while at the same time developing the basic skills and perspectives to function effectively in that role. Over time, the Lean methodology relies heavily on competent and qualitiied people to execute the DMAIC framework effectively and without good coaching skills, one will not be able to begin, sustain and complete the journey to Continuous Improvement.

Life in the fast lane...focus on the worthy...

It's the ultimate dilemma these days, in finding and keeping a job. It is an art and science of turning your education, skills and knowledge over the span of a career especially in the contact center. Today the job market is becoming even more competitive than it did, say 5 years ago. We're not going to tell you it's easy. But it is important nevertheless. There is no shortage of high performers in today’s knowledge economy. QA, WFM, CRM, Cloud Computing and other tools provide a multitude of rewarding careers! So how does a contact center professional sort through the myriad of metrics that will allow management to drive true performance improvement? What are the roadblocks that need to be eliminated? What skills do they need to be ahead of the curve while coaching their teams to manage and adapt to change? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's not an exaggeration to say that the coaching and leading is what everyone talks about but rarely focus on. Virtually every topic comes back to coaching and leading. These things are all obvious today than before as the war for talent has begun, when you put them in these terms.

But most new managers, because of their inexperience, sometimes don't see all these issues as part of a whole, or see the common thread — the process for a productive and effective employee — someone who makes a difference to an organization’s bottom line. It's the forest/tree dilemma — they are so busy looking for a job that the big picture takes a back seat. Depending on what you are looking for, that's either a lot of money saved, or a lot of opportunity squandered. Can agents in your center make the most of that opportunity by talking with a customer effectively on the phone or do a presentation with clarity? Or sell them something that they might not have thought of? Do you even know what they are capable of? If not, then you're looking at the question of value through the wrong end of the telescope. When you properly identify your strengths and reasons to learn continuously and embrace knowledge, you can more effectively work for the benefit of the company as a whole by being an effective coach and mentor.

Depending on what you are looking for, that's either a lot of money saved, or a lot of opportunity squandered. There are many ways to find one who can fine tune your skills. Like the popular Eastern saying goes, "When the student is ready, the master appears." Let your next objective be - to seek that knowledge and who knows, your teacher will appear sooner than later. Contrary to popular belief, "Personal development" isn't a category of product all by itself. Few, if any, would identify themselves as being in the career or personal development marketplace. Instead, it's more helpful to think of personal development as a super-category into which you learn more about yourself as you grow. This includes both products and services, and cuts across different technologies — what binds them together is the fact that they work toward a common set of goals: better performance, more effective management, leading to better interactions and a healthier balance sheet for your team and yourself.