Situation:

Our client was looking to create an outbound tele-program to welcome new customers and help them set up their account to enhance customer engagement and usage. The goal was to get customers interacting with their company website early in their tenure to make them more likely to keep their membership active over time.

The challenge was that this strategy was to be executed in an outside call-center environment. As the program launched, the client’s team was underwhelmed with the new relationship and performance of their external vendor. That’s when they called us to help vet alternative vendor options and to re-launch the program with the objective of driving better performance. Ultimately, the client asked Direct Channels to manage the third-party vendor.

Direct Channels Solution: 

• We went straight to work recreating the hiring profile for associates and writing a series of targeted interview questions to help the vendor select the best candidates.
• We worked with the client to create tailored call guides for each caller segment.
• We created a new hire training program designed to help associates have a stronger connection with the organization, and a deeper, stronger working knowledge of the product and programs offered by the client.
• Lastly, we crafted informative call handling assessment guides for leaders and associates to better understand opportunities that would strengthen their performance.

Results:

After the re-launch, the new vendor relationship was paying off with agents proactively up-selling extended packages from a 3% conversation rate pre-Direct Channels involvement to 33% after Direct Channels involvement. Customer usage also went up 38% after just 60 days, where historically the client would see a usage decline.