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I have heard some great feedback since my article titled “Turning your Call Center into a Relationship Center” was published at the end of March.  Many people have shared with me that they have implemented some of the tools discussed and have seen success in a very short time.  Others shared that they have identified a date to conduct their own Customer Experience Cycle (CEC), and will keep me posted on the results.

 

And that is why I feel the timing is perfect to share some additional positive feedback.  Just a few weeks back I was having a conversation with a client of ours who oversees a large Relationship Center operation for a Midwestern bank.   She had attended our two-day Relationship Center workshop within last year, and was eager to share some results. 

 

Her team went through the process of conducting a CEC…identifying service defects, operational and experiential standards, and even areas to go above and beyond for the customer, for each interaction point they have. The data gathered was then edited to create a training document for both current and future team members.  The goal here is consistency - consistency from team member to team member, from department to department, from location to location.

 

They created their CEC and rolled it out to staff.  They had it strategically placed around the office as a reminder, and to keep it in the team’s conversation.  They also created an Always and Never list of how their Relationship Center would act globally, in all situations and all stages of the CEC.  This was also displayed prominently throughout the office and reinforced by leaders.

 

Here are some actual results - reasons to put the work in to achieve some great results.  In the bank’s example, we saw the following metrics and improvements:

 

 

One of the things that our client happily noted was that the time to resolution improved along with many of their metrics.  It proved the point that providing better service and creating better relationships does not need to increase talk time, or cause longer hold queues. 

 

 

While the new CEC was being deployed, the bank also made a change to the way they scored calls during the review/coaching process.  Previously, quality control scoring focused solely on “operational” standards.  No opportunity was given to weigh-in on friendliness, helpfulness, or other soft skills.  The fear was one that is familiar to most call center leaders - That chaos would ensue when you introduce a non-black and white scoring method, not to mention the increase in time to review calls with the added burden.  To the bank’s pleasant surprise, the opportunity to provide more feedback was met with open arms from those scoring calls.  It turns out, they welcomed the opportunity to provide the feedback – and no longer have to give a “good” score to a team member who may have hit all operational expectations, but did not represent the bank, as they should.

 

Great results, and keep in mind that these all came very early in the process…just months into the rollout of the new CEC.  I’d love to hear from you with questions, or your own results.  Feel free to share yours!