Contental Airlines may be one of the few airlines that still serve complimentary in-flight meals, but executives there know that without great service, there won't be anyone in the seats to eat them in the first place. During his speech at Call Center Week Jim Thistle, senior director, international reservations and revenue programs, for Continential, gave some insight into what service delivery was like at the airline before and after implementing workforce management.
Here’s an overview:
+ Before workforce management (WFM)
no staffing considerations for peaks/valleys (60 million calls with peaks in Jun-Aug, Jan, and Oct)
a lack of team meetings and communication
a painful 6-8 week budgeting process
recruited full-time staff only—regardless of skill set
missed attendance was treated the same for every type (being late was as bad as missing a full day)
there was 1 leader for every 25 agents
no communications from marketing
+ Attrition was on the rise due to
a lack of scheduling flexibility, mandatory overtime during peaks
better pay/benefits elsewhere
lack of a career path/development opportunities
+ The inexperience level as a result of this was driving a poor customer experience
+After WFM
focus on quality service
improved productivity, consistency, and sales effectiveness
maximized the value of training dollars
increase in morale
changed approach to staffing: increased part-time staff, reduced overtime, introduced creative scheduling like relief shifts, time off w/o pay, and a flex program
launched recognition programs, including a perfect attendance program and Super Agent perks
reduced attrition to less than 5 percent annually
now can “trickle” hire instead of mass hire, so managers can spend time managing instead of interviewing
more experienced agents equal an increase in sales conversions of 14 to 17 percent
contact center is a profit center
managers do management consulting and training for other firms
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We are in the insurance business, and with limited availability of good staff in an area that has a hot economy, we were looking to find a way to maximize our resources.
We looked at the 20 - 70 - 10 rule for customers as a strategy for segementation of customer handling and loyalty programs. It's certainly not new. The most profitable top 20% are given significant service advantages, the regular 70% are given as high a level of service as we normally provide, and the bottom 10% are terminated in our relationship. After much discussion we felt that there is a fine line between realtionships and data, one that is better handled individually and not arbitrarily, which would include front line staff empowerment and by level of service and premium rates applied. On the front line there are two reasons to fire our customer - they lied to us or they were unusually rude to us. On the profitability basis, those customers who spend too much of our time on marginal accounts are moved to being handled on line, and on the risk basis (such as higher risk of catastrophic loss) on a rate basis.
In the end we will have more than our share of unprofitable accounts rather than as a data driven business, but in our case that's the price of success in our over 95 community offices.
Dale,
I agree 100 percent that happy employees translates to happy customers. Coincidentally, yesterday my cousin and I were discussing this topic over brunch. She was saying that it's imperative that management treat employees well and with respect; if they don't, they shouldn't expect their staff to treat customers well or with respect. She cited Macy's Herald Square in NYC as an example, saying that management there really needs to rethink how they treat employees. "The service is so awful there it's a wonder they stay in business," she said, adding that she's not surprised about company's financial woes.
In answer to your question: We're currently working to get additional information on Continental. In the meantime, you may be interested in "Is Your Compensation Strategy Costing You Customers?" (1to1 magazine, May/June 2007), which discusses how to align pay and incentives with both corporate and customer-strategy goals. Additionally, watch for "The DNA of Customer Centricity," coming out in the July/Aug issue of 1to1 magazine, which discusses what it takes to hire and retain customer-centric employees. We'll post the article online the first week of August.
The airline industry on average makes it easy for all of us to complain. What customer experience? All we get is transportation from one city to another. The experience is dreadful. It is easy to rant on the airlines because they have, with a few exceptions, made themselves a target of our ranting.
Your article on Continental gives me hope. Wow, I did not know there was an airline anywhere in the US that still served an in-flight meal. I recently went from Cincinnati to San Francisco with a box of assorted snacks that I had to purchase during the flight.
What your article also pointed out is that Continental understands that the customer experience is about the flight and about the other interactions with the company. The fact that they are paying attention to their contact center employee experience is totally smart. Happy employees deliver happy customers ... or at least that is what I profess just about every day at www.PerfectCEM.com. Thanks for telling us about Continental. Is there a follow-up story coming about how this actually created happy customers?