Many of the decisions made by companies today revolve around one key word -- value. What is the value to the stockholders? What is the value of the customer? How do we offer value to the customers?
Call center managers often talk about value in two ways: our employees are valuable and our service is valuable. We understand the value of both, but in a world where we measure and report on almost everything, how can we measure and report on our value? What is your metric for value?
In order to report on value, we must first understand what it is. Value will change depending on the type of customer interactions that occur. I recently interviewed a manager of a customer sales and service center. The manager explained how his group made outbound calls to set up and confirm service appointments. He said that his group was responsible for more than 50% of the sales for three of the five nationwide offices. We talked about the process and how important his organization was to the company.
I asked him, "How do you report that value to management?" He said, "What do you mean?" As we discussed the issue, we quickly realized that the information was not being reported in a way that identified the value of his center to the organization. He was reporting on the daily metrics and even reported the number of sales for the day, but the report did not point out the true impact that his center was having on the success of those specific offices. I am sure the executives could have put together the numbers, but it was not presented clearly in the call center reports.
Interviewing the manager of another support center, I discovered the same situation. She explained that part of the responsibilities of the team was to "save" customers. The company sold a very sophisticated medical product and the support team answered questions and worked with medical teams as they delivered the product to the customer. In some cases the customer would ask to return the product. The support team was tasked with understanding the problem and trying to work with the medical team to "save" the return. Each return cost the company over $10,000. It did not take me long to realize that they needed to report this value throughout the organization.
Consider these five steps to defining your center's value in the organization. Each step will require thought and discovery:
1. Define the center's overall business strategy. Why does it exist? What is it trying to accomplish every day?
Be truthful here -- the answer is more than just "customer service" or "support." Ask yourself what the CEO would say the real reason for the call center is. In fact, consider asking the CEO and several VPs what they think.
2. Define the center's goals and objectives. How does it contribute to the overall business?
Typically call center managers answer this question with basic call center metrics -- average speed of answer, service level, calls per rep, and so forth. But consider expanding your thoughts. Ask a harder, higher-level question. How do you contribute to the success of the customer? Within many companies this is measured in revenue or costs savings. All roles within the company really contribute in some form to these two measurements. Support centers provide service -- often paid for via maintenance contracts. Customer service centers provide ongoing support to maintain revenue and support the sales process. It's easy to see how a sales center contributes.
3. Define the center's key drivers. How do you measure success? How do you measure its value to the overall company's success?
How do you define success? Again, not the call center metrics, but what are the key drivers that allow you to contribute to the company? The support center responsible for avoiding returns, mentioned earlier, was making a key impact on the bottom-line through avoiding unnecessary expenses and increasing company revenues.
4. Define the center's value metrics. What are the detailed metrics that feed and drive success?
This information needs to be quantifiable. Call centers know how to report numbers, but consider also reporting the story with the metrics. You may need to work with the finance group to understand the details. Percentages and trends tell a better story than just metrics. What do the metrics mean? In the example of the support center that "saves" 10 customers per month, there is a $100,000 impact on the bottom line. Fifty percent of sales for a particular location is a significant story to convey to management.
Think about the customer interactions that are handled in the call center and define which ones can be tied to cost savings or revenue. Somewhere in these interactions are the value metrics that can help you define your "worth."
There are other value metrics that are just as important. They revolve around the customer and the employee. In order to report this impact, consider correlating one metric with another -- combine metrics to present a complete picture. Doing so allows a center to track metrics against the needs of the customer and the agents. An example of this type would be "first-call resolution."
First-call resolution allows you to look deeper than just "did you answer the call" to tracking "did you take care of the customer?" Another example of correlating metrics is customer satisfaction compared to handle time. This metric tracks customer satisfaction as compared to the time agents spend interacting with customers. You may find there is a correlation between the two. First-call resolution and customer satisfaction may go up when agents are allowed to talk longer with the customer.
In many call centers, employee retention is a metric that is tracked but often misunderstood. It is one of the first questions I ask when working with companies to improve their customer service. Retention affects product knowledge and process understanding. If the job requires a six month ramp-up, it is important to measure retention and turnover. Call center managers instinctively know that retention is a key factor.
Now, consider telling a story by reporting the story of retention. Why are people leaving? If you report this information at the same time you report the retention factor, you will have the ability to open a discussion to the next level about how to improve retention (better pay, more training time, better technology, etc.)
5. Once you have answers to the questions above and find a way to pull the information together, begin adding the information to your monthly reports. Don't make a big deal of the new information, wait several weeks or months -- someone will eventually ask why you are adding this information. That is the signal for sharing your new perspective on your value with the executive team.
Changing the perspective of value for the center is not an over-night project -- it may take months to turn around. But, with the right reports and right message, the center will be able to communicate its value and redefine its worth. That may just allow you to begin to have conversations, not based on the costs of the center, but on the value.
Bob Furniss is President of Touchpoint Associates, Inc.
