By minimizing credit related risk up-front and throughout the account life cycle, managers can reduce operating costs and significantly improve profitability. They can also actively look to expand their service offerings to customers and increase customer satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that doing so will not cost the company and shareholders millions in increased uncollectible funds.

The Ascent Group conducted research during the winter of 2010 to uncover the most effective techniques and strategies for improving collection performance and reducing uncollectible debt. Our research explored how companies are balancing the cost of collection to reduce uncollectible debt and improve the bottom line. Topics investigated included both collection treatment as well as the credit policies that have been established to support collection efforts. We also examined the technologies that have retooled credit and collection processes for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

What did we find?

Only one-third of participants routinely use an external credit bureau to score consumers applying for service—to determine the need for a security deposit. Credit scoring can help companies balance risk and customer satisfaction—appropriately identifying the accounts that require a deposit and those that do not. Take advantage of this technology, it’s a win-win situation for companies and customers.

In addition to traditional Beacon scoring, Equifax offers credit scoring based on utility payment behavior. This energy score is a better predictor of energy customer payment behavior, increasing the likelihood that deposits will be secured for the appropriate accounts. Online Utility Exchange offers utilities a combination of services to address Red Flag rules as well as credit scoring.

In addition to scoring, many companies are actively participating in industry credit exchanges, such as the National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange. The National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange is a collection of utilities and telecommunications companies that have formed a common “database” of bad debts and new customer sign-ups. Participants are notified when information is available about a new applicant or uncollectible account. Investigate joining an industry credit exchange to further fine-tune your credit issuance process.

Continue to evaluate account credit over the life of the account to make sure you have adequate deposit coverage—increase security deposits as accounts become more risky and require more collection treatment.

Other findings will be explored in future posts. In the mean time, you can download our white paper for a summary of the research.

More information about this study can be found on our website.

Field Service plays an essential role in linking customers to a utility. Most Field Service organizations are responsible for connecting and disconnecting service, when customers move in, out, or around the company’s service territory. In addition, Field Service often assumes the responsibility for disconnecting customers for non-payment and reconnecting meters once accounts are brought current.

Aside from connecting and disconnecting, Field Service employees become the key investigative resource for a utility—to understand problems with an account, obtain usage readings for customers and to support internal billing, investigate potential leaks, deliver disconnection notices, identify tampering, and often collect payments in the field. Many Field Service organizations also fill an important role as first responders in emergencies and service outage incidents.

Customer expectations for faster or even instant service are putting more and more demands on field service organizations, making it more difficult to ensure on-time arrival and high productivity. In addition, the recent U.S. economic downturn has made it harder for many to pay for basic purchases, including utility and telecommunication services, placing more demands on field service organizations to provide revenue collection enforcement for the company to minimize risk.

Utilities are also faced with growing need for more timely access to usage information—to support real-time pricing initiatives, load forecasting, demand-side management, load control, competition, and customer demand. Additionally, status and usage information is needed on an event basis to improve reliability and service quality, or to identify outages or theft of service. These more complex data requirements are driving the need for advanced metering systems, smart metering, and field automation.

AMR (Automated Meter Reading) or AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) technologies can directly eliminate much of the traditional Field Service workload. More sophisticated AMI or “smart” metering devices can even accomplish some of the physical on-site Field Service workload through remote service connects/disconnects and tamper/theft detection. Because of these advantages, many utilities are actively pursuing these technologies.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Smart Grid Investment Grant Program is also spurring interest in “smart” metering, “smart grid”, and advanced metering infrastructure projects. The overall purpose of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG) is to accelerate the modernization of the nation’s electric transmission and distribution systems and promote investments in smart grid technologies. The ARRA was signed into law in February 2009. In late June 2009, The U.S. Department of Energy announced the availability of $3.4 billion in stimulus funding under the SGIG program. 100 utilities from 44 states were recently awarded grants to pursue smart grid projects.

Until these technologies are reality though, utilities will continue to send employees into the field to serve customers and keep the business running. Even after implementation, there will be a need to maintain metering equipment on a periodic basis. And as always, policy and procedures will need to be fine-tuned to take full advantage of these technologies.

Clearly the Field Service organization must evolve with the introduction of automation and continually look for ways to be more efficient and effective, and our study demonstrates that this is occurring. Most utilities are focusing on four basic approaches to field service improvement:

• Implementing automated mobile dispatch systems or service order management systems to better manage staffing and balance workload.
• Tying field laptops or other mobile devices into the Customer Information System to provide real-time information and update capabilities in the field.
• Reducing costs through productivity improvement, elimination of field trips, cross training, and safety improvement initiatives.
• Automated meter reading or smart metering – whether it’s a large-scale implementation or AMR/AMI to address “high read cost” meters, unsafe meter locations, and high-turnover premises, any degree of automation lightens the load on Field Service organizations. Remote disconnect/connect technologies dramatically reduce field trips, especially for utilities with high levels of delinquencies or seasonal transition.

To better understand how utilities are dealing with the challenges facing the Field Services function and its day-to-day operations, the Ascent Group conducted its third annual benchmarking project to evaluate Field Service performance and practices. Thirty-two companies participated in the research.

Study Findings & Recommendations

Field Automation Increases Productivity and Effectiveness

Automating service order fulfillment is an effective way to reduce cost, improve safety, and increase customer satisfaction. Systems easily eliminate manual entry of field-collected data, make data available on a real-time basis to both the field and the office, reduce errors, and eliminate the paper piles. Auto dispatching further reduces the need for manual dispatch and frees up valuable radio waves for more critical communications. GPS and GIS add further mapping and least-cost routing benefits, which can play a critical role in training.

Automation also brings more robust performance measures for field service. Management can track order completion times, productive time, travel time, service level performance, appointments met and missed, as well as backlog.

62.5 percent of our participants have implemented some form of field automation—mobile dispatch systems, laptops, field service handhelds, or automated service order processing. Another 21 percent have some form of field service automation plans in the works. Clearly field automation is gaining ground.  Additionally, several utilities are pursuing advanced metering initiatives that will eliminate a large portion of field service orders.

Setting Service Level Goals and Service Order Priorities Enable Field Service Organizations to Keep their Commitments

It is critical that service organizations issue field service orders wisely. Many problems can lead to an ineffective service order system, including a lack of priority working service orders, impatient or poorly trained customer service or billing representatives, and the failure to work or close service orders on a timely basis. When any of these occur, unnecessary or out of date service orders can quickly pile up and overwhelm the system, rendering it virtually useless. A sign that this is happening is when duplicate orders are placed, communications with dispatchers increase in the hopes of gaining priority on an order, “special request” service orders are used improperly in an effort to move to the top of the service order pile.

Field Service organizations must set realistic service level goals for all order types to ensure that all service orders are worked in a timely manner. Identifying high priority service order types is the first step in setting these goals. For instance, working all Service On orders on the same day as requested. This goal will help focus your organization to do all that is possible to complete these orders on the date requested, including making sure there are enough employees available to perform the work.

It’s equally important that all service order requests are worked or properly addressed so orders don’t hang in the system perpetually. Keeping a close watch on backlog and order age should help Field Service organizations keep their commitments.

Look for Opportunities to Reduce Field Trips

Our participants were asked to identify any recent improvements that have helped to reduce trips to the field. Toping the list, internal policy and process changes (38 percent).

Automating service order routing and assignment was also popular a field trip reduction technique among our panel. Twenty-nine percent of companies mentioned initiatives to implement automated dispatch and service order management software and hardware.

Advanced metering was equally as popular—29 percent of participants report automated meter reading or advanced metering infrastructure projects.

The next most popular improvement mentioned was the matching of in/out orders and soft closing of accounts through the use of estimates or prorated readings (14 percent).

Field automation offers many opportunities to optimize and even eliminate service orders. However, there is opportunity to reduce the number of field trips through process improvement and training. Companies should search diligently for ways to eliminate trips through better data integration between service order request system and billing system. For instance, systems can automatically match read in/read out orders and soft close accounts through the use of estimates or prorated readings.

Work with other groups within Customer Service to make sure that the service order system is being used wisely. Customer service representative training can be enhanced to encourage agents to cover the bases on all calls, before issuing a service order request for a check reading. Many companies offer “high bill complaint” training that helps representatives discuss usage and work with customers to better understand how services are being used in an attempt to eliminate unnecessary field trips.

Review your current business processes that affect the number of orders sent to the field in a continuing effort to identify opportunities to eliminate or reduce trips to the field.

Clear and Concise Measures of Performance Give Employees a Clear Idea of Job Expectations and Performance.

Best performing companies are deliberate in their measurement of employee, group, and departmental performance—cost, service, and productivity. Structured performance measurement frameworks provide employees with a clear idea of job expectations and performance.

Employees want to perform to expectation—make sure they clearly understand what is expected, the measures that will be used, how they are collected and calculated, and how they impact performance. Performance measures will change as processes and automation change—make sure your expectations and measures change accordingly.

For those reporting field service performance, the most popular metric was order completion rate—the number of orders completed, per day, and per employee. The second most used measure was order accuracy or order quality.

Most companies reported having multiple measures in place, a combination of effectiveness and efficiency metrics.

Emphasize Safety

Safety is an ongoing concern for Field Services and Meter Reading employees. Every utility has a moral obligation to protect the health and welfare of each and every employee. Employees that are required to work in the field face especially challenging safety concerns on a daily basis.  Safety training, awareness and safe equipment handling are critical to the successful operation of a field services organization.  Most utilities conduct periodic safety meetings to provide training on various topics to provide a safe and healthy workplace and to foster safe work behaviors and attitudes. Make sure your company has safety-training programs in place.

Participants reported safety improvements through focused training and remedial training following safety incidents, defensive driver training, one-on-one coaching, and routine safety meetings or tailgate sessions.

Other practices that are helping improve field service safety—safety incentive awards, safety field audits, peer safety audits, peer safety story discussions, and drive-cam.

Cross-train employees to supplement staffing and build skills.

Field Service organizations are typically staffed with very experienced employees, averaging 15 years of service, and more. As many of these skilled employees face retirement, companies are faced with the need to hire or transfer employees to fill the void. Companies can mitigate this by cross-training other employees, like meter readers, to provide some of the services of the field service organization. This creates career development opportunities for employees and provides the flexibility to staff up or down to better match the workload to available resources. Look for ways to train other employees to perform these field functions and grow your pool of qualified employees.

Invest in your front-line—provide them with the tools, equipment, and training to get the job done right the first time. Help them understand the customer perspective and how their job fits into the overall picture of customer service and satisfaction.

Refresh training periodically to keep employees in top performance and up-to-date on customer service and technical skills. Training is recognized as a key factor for success in reducing errors, eliminating rework, improving safety, and improving customer service.

Encourage the Right Behavior through Incentives and Rewards.

Forty-four percent of our panel offers incentives, rewards, or recognition to Field Service employees. Formal rewards are the most popular—field service employees earn bonuses based on superior performance. Informal rewards are the next popular—employees earn gift certificates, dinners, parking spots, trophies, and other non-cash items for superior performance.

However, more than half of participating companies offer no incentives or rewards to Field Service employees. Incentives, rewards, and recognition can be very effective motivational tools. Make sure you are motivating the right behavior and encouraging superior performance in the right areas. Incentives and rewards can also become stale with time, be sure to rotate emphasis on various measures to keep interest in the program. It is also critical the rewards are fair and worth the extra effort—ask employees for suggestions on types of rewards. Involvement is key to a successful reward program.

More information about this report can be found on our website—www.ascentgroup.com

• What initial training programs are used? Duration?
• What on-going training programs are used? Duration? Frequency? Pass/Fail?
• What job rotation processes are in place?
• What training techniques are effective in increasing customer satisfaction?
• What technologies are improving the training process?

Share your experiences by participating in our benchmarking research. See how your frontline training and development practices compare to our database of best practices and best performers. We are especially interested in companies that are innovative and successful in the training and development of customer-oriented front-line employees. The results of this research will be published in our upcoming report, Improving Frontline Training Practices 2009.

There is no cost to participate in this study and we will provide a complimentary copy of research results to all participants at the completion of the study. To participate, http://tinyurl.com/TrainingBmk

This is a blind study, your data will be coded and protected in the final report.

Please submit your responses before December 11th.

Research from prior Ascent Group IVR Benchmarking studies confirmed that “best-in-class” companies conduct extensive customer research in conjunction with any IVR design changes or additions. Best performers use customer focus groups and other research methods to establish customer expectations and the demand for self-service options—to test design prototypes, validate scripting and prompts, and confirm menu options. Not just once, but over and over—every time a change or enhancement is considered. IVR applications are fluid systems and customer expectations are ever changing. Make sure you have the ability to continually monitor customer needs so you can meet expectations.

1. Assess risk of new applicants through credit scoring and risk analysis.
2. Use risk modeling to segment and prioritize collection work.
3. Automate as much as possible.
4. Search write-offs when setting up new accounts to match uncollectible debt to applicants.
5. Network with credit bureaus and within industry to identify problem customers, recover debt.
6. Make it easy for customers to pay, at all hours.
7. Negotiate repayment plans and payment extensions with terms that are most likely to be met.

Recognition is like anything else, it requires time, attention, and a consistent approach. Management must have a process in place so that managers and supervisors are actively looking at employees to identify those opportunities to recognize and reward good performance. If you’re not looking, or you don’t have the time, you’ll never notice or praise, and employees will feel neglected. It’s a simple matter of showing respect.

The key to a well-designed, effective reward and recognition program is employee involvement. At a minimum, management should ask employees, via surveys, focus groups, group meetings, or team involvement, what they value most, in terms of recognition, rewards. The best organizations use a combination of these approaches when designing or refining their programs. This will form a baseline of employee expectations and value. Management can then align rewards with employee expectations to focus employees on behaviors to be rewarded.

Administration and communication also play critical roles in the reward and recognition process. A highly valued set of rewards is worth little without a consistent way to track and recognize superior employee performance. Poor or untimely communication devalues rewards and recognition, because other employees have not been informed or are not sure what was actually done to earn the reward. Companies need to make the process of employee recognition as easy as possible for managers, supervisors, and employees.

Recognition is about acknowledgement and appreciation for a contribution, improvement, innovation, or excellence—a message to employees that they are valued. The act of recognizing an employee affirms the values and spirit underlying the achievement. It’s also about reinforcing desired behaviors and increasing their occurrence. Attitude and performance are closely linked; the appropriate recognition at the appropriate moment will create a positive attitude that, in turn, will lead to improved performance.

Recognition and rewards can be formal and informal. Informal recognition, meaning, spontaneous or immediate—simple thank you’s or expressions for a job well done. In fact, most of a company’s recognition activity should be informal. It indicates a culture or atmosphere that acknowledges good behavior when it happens. Informal recognition is a critical component in human nature and the social structure—it’s a major motivator and results in people feeling good about themselves and their achievements. This should be carried over into the workplace, as a sign of respect and acknowledgement. While peer-to-peer recognition is important, supervisor to employee informal recognition is critical to the success of the organization.

Recognition signifies to the individual that someone noticed and cared. Communicating this to the rest of the organization creates role models and sets the standards of desired performance. Not everyone is good at this, and like everything, some are better than others. In fact, a recent poll by Maritz found that there is a gap in how employees are recognized and how they want to be recognized. Employees are motivated in vastly different ways. In order for a program to be truly effective, managers and supervisors have to be able to distinguish what motivates a particular employee and reward accordingly. Managers and supervisors should have the skills to recognize desired behavior and performance, and praise accordingly.

The Maritz Poll also found that employees who are completely satisfied with their company’s reward and recognition program are significantly more satisfied with their jobs, more likely to remain with the company, and more likely to recommend their workplace to others.

Benchmark Study of Employee and Supervisory Reward & Recognition Programs

With this in mind, Ascent Group conducted research during the second and third quarter of 2008 to better understand reward and recognition programs offered to front-line customer service employees and supervisors.

The main objective of the current study was to identify “best practices” in reward and recognition for frontline customer service employees and supervisors. In particular, focus was given to understanding how customer service organizations of all industries determine, design, and deploy reward and recognition programs to motivate and retain front-line, customer facing employees as well as encourage desired customer service behaviors and attitudes.

Secondary objectives included understanding:

• Reward and recognition programs goals and objectives
• Techniques to measure employee and supervisory satisfaction with programs
• Reward and recognition program costs
• Approaches to determining program success and performance
• Successful reward and recognition program design approaches
• Technologies that enhance reward program administration and communication
• Characteristics of best and worst programs
• Other motivating techniques for frontline employees

We asked companies to describe and define the reward and recognition programs for their front-line customer service employees and supervisors. Other items surveyed included:

• Annual turnover, internal and external
• Average tenure
• Starting wages for frontline employees and supervisors
• Reward and Recognition Program cost (per employee)

Participants were asked to share management tactics and strategies, as well as identify any improvement in performance. The study also asked companies to include considerations, successes, and plans moving forward. The result of this effort is captured in the report, Reward & Recognition Program Profiles & Best Practices 2008. More information about this report can be found on our website, www.ascentgroup.com

What Did We Learn?

Reinforce behaviors and reward results.

Recognize the right behaviors and communicate such that the employee’s behavior becomes a model within the work group. Sharing information on expected behaviors and rewards will establish trust. Employees will be able to understand what they need to do to be similarly recognized. Reward these behaviors so other employees are inclined to follow suit. Rewards are a better reinforcement of learning and risk-taking than punishment is for failure.

Our study participants favor ad-hoc rewards and top performer programs. On-the-spot recognition and reward programs are preferred by 29 percent of participants while “Top Performer” programs are favored by 21 percent. Performance contests, team events, and peer recognition figure less prominently.

Be timely, specific, and communicate!

Make sure you recognize behavior and reward results in a timely manner so that employees know exactly why they are being recognized. Be specific, clear, and communicate the event so that others will take notice.

Match the reward to the person and the achievement.

Do your homework. Talk to employees at all levels, in all job categories, to understand expectations and drivers of performance. Identify meaningful rewards for each employee.

Overwhelmingly, time off, is ranked as the top motivator by our participants. Not far behind, money and praise.

But every employee is unique. One size does not fit all in employee rewards and recognition. Provide a choice of rewards to accommodate all employees. Also make sure the reward is appropriate for the deed that the evaluation process is fair and objective.

Involve employees in the design and refinement of your reward and recognition programs.

Employee participation will strengthen your program. Not only will employees be able to provide ideas and feedback, they will also become a proponent of the program among peers. One key way to involve employees is to actively seek their feedback, opinions, and ideas regarding the program. Sixteen percent of participants do not gather feedback from employees about their reward and recognition programs.

Involve managers and executives in the reward and recognition process. Make sure you have buy in and interest from the management and executive team. Encourage them take an active role in the recognition process. Employees deeply value recognition and praise from management and senior management. A simple, “thank you” can go a long way.

Look to technology to facilitate program administration and tracking.

Online, web-based applications are available to help companies track employee performance and administer reward and recognition programs. From employee scorecards to gift selection, vendors are offering more and more products and services to help companies reward and recognize employees. In addition, other products like email “thank you” cards and digital certificate awards are making it easier to deliver spontaneous recognition.

Review your programs and rewards frequently to keep them aligned with corporate goals as well as employee expectations.

Employee expectations and corporate objectives change over time. Make sure your programs keep up. Reward programs can become stale. Look for ways to keep the program fresh by changing rewards and metrics as the business changes.

Design reward and recognition programs for supervisors and staff support groups so the entire departmental team is working towards the same goals and appropriately recognized.

Don’t just offer rewards and recognition for front-line employees—extend the program to cover all employees in the department so the entire group is working towards the same goals. Make sure your supervisors have the appropriate rewards and recognition opportunities to motivate leadership, teamwork, and employee development.

Train supervisors and managers so they are skilled in recognizing and rewarding employees.

One of the main responsibilities of a manager or supervisor is motivating employees to higher levels of performance. Not everyone is good at delivering praise and recognition. Provide training so supervisors have tools and techniques to make the process easy and fun. Make sure they set aside the appropriate time in their schedule to recognize employees and hold them accountable.

Measure the effectiveness and impact of your reward and recognition programs.

Create a performance measurement framework so you can measure the impact of your reward and recognition program. Track the performance metrics that form the basis of your reward structure and conduct surveys to gain qualitative feedback from employees and supervisors.

Nearly one-quarter of participants do not measure reward and recognition program success (24 percent). Of the companies that do, most routinely survey employees regarding programs and employee satisfaction to gauge the performance of the reward and recognition programs (55 percent) or review program performance results (52 percent). Fewer conduct focus groups or employee feedback sessions or review budget and payout information (41 percent and 21 percent respectively).

Measure your reward and recognition program impact and improve based on your results.

Characteristics of the “Worst Programs”

Companies reported several characteristics that can render a reward and recognition program useless or ineffective:

• Inconsistency
• Untimely recognition / reward delivery
• Unclear program qualifications or criteria
• Perceived unattainable goals or uncontrollable goals
• Rewards don’t match employee; limited choice or unvalued rewards
• Programs that don’t include support staff
• Programs with few winners
• Catalog award selection is limited

Engaged employees are the key to excellent customer service. Engaged employees are employees that feel as though they are truly valued at work; that their efforts directly contribute towards the mission and success of the company. Engaged employees are more productive and less likely to look outside of the company for employment.

However, employee engagement is beginning to deteriorate due to the failing economies of the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. A recent national study by Modern Survey revealed that that 21% of U.S. workers actively disengaged.
 Poor employee engagement can lead to absenteeism, a lack of teamwork, poor morale, and low productivity, among other concerns.

It is becoming more and more difficult to find and engage the right employees. Tight labor markets are making companies think twice about compensation packages, benefits, and incentives. Turnover and competition are pushing companies to focus on ways to keep qualified employees happy and motivated. Customer service management’s top priority is attracting and engaging top-performing customer service employees.

Learning plays a key role in helping employees to get and stay engaged. Many organizations have begun to rely heavily on the learning function for engagement support. While new-hire training can initiate an employee’s engagement with the company, refresher training and other personal development opportunities can help keep employees engaged. However, training and development alone does not guarantee employee engagement.

Recent research by The Ascent Group highlights several practices that can help organizations train and prepare their front-line, customer-facing employees, and move one step closer to employee engagement:

• Communicate Job Expectations Throughout New Hire Training—Do as much as possible to relay expectations to students during the new hire-training program. The more a new employee understands about the job, the work environment, performance expectations, and culture, the quicker they will be able to achieve standard. Use job shadowing, peer mentoring, or simulation to relay culture and expectations. Revise training content so the appropriate expectations are conveyed. Survey new students to better understand how to continually refine the process and minimize new-hire surprise.

• Emphasize the Importance of Customer Service in the Training Process—Make sure that students know up front about your organizational commitment to customer service. Stress the importance of customer service and customer satisfaction throughout the new-hire training program. Do as much as possible to integrate the “Customer Experience” into Training Program—so students understand customer expectations and appreciate the customer perspective. Use simulation, role-playing, and mentoring to convey the correct “customer experience”. On average, our participants spend about 20 percent of new-hire training hours on soft-skills, usually integrated into the new-hire training program.

• Engage New Hires with “Hands-On” Training, Customized to Individual Learning Styles—We’re seeing a growth in more interactive, hands-on training opportunities for new hires—role playing, simulation, peer mentoring. Hands-on experiences help internalize learning, incorporate more “learning by doing” opportunities into your new-hire program. Hands-on learning can also be used to drive assessment so that trainers can measure both factual knowledge and comprehension. Additionally, training comprehension is increased through individualized training—training tailored to each students individual learning style. Smaller class sizes, modular training, and self-paced activities help students learn at their own pace.

• Mentoring & Monitoring Ease the Transition to the Floor—Participants use a combination of one-on-one mentoring and frequent call monitoring to help new hires transition to the floor. Many companies also employ “nesting”—pod on the floor dedicated to new hires— to facilitate more extensive coaching and one-on-one assistance until the team is up-to-standard. Another approach that has been successful is the creation of an OJT manager to shepherd new-hire and ongoing OJT efforts.

• Maximize Intranet and Internet Resources and other Technologies to Enhance Training and Job Aids—Newer technologies offer the opportunity to customize learning and make it more accessible. Investigate opportunities to deliver online or computer-based training. Self-paced training is inherently customized to individual learning speeds and styles. Training that is portable, self-directed, and available on-demand, through pod casts, PDAs, or mobile phones, will be more convenient and more appealing for many employees. Simulation technologies allow learners to “try the job” before actually on the job, creating a more realistic training environment. We’re also seeing a growth in the use of web-based meeting applications, such as WebEx, GoTo Meeting, and LiveMeeting, to facilitate distance learning and to reduce training costs.

• Integrate Training with Quality Assurance and Operational Excellence to Facilitate Continual Improvement and Pre-emptive Targeted Training. To ensure successful continuous improvement, encourage your training group to work closely with your quality assurance and operational excellence groups. This will encourage the link between learning and performance—making sure the training group is equipping employees to successfully perform as well as making sure any operational changes are reflected in training. At the same time, underperforming employees can receive targeted training.

• Provide Supervisors with Training on How to Coach and Engage Employees. Organizations reporting more highly engaged workers actively promoting a culture of engagement by ensuring that organizational leaders, including immediate supervisors, are skilled in the area of engagement improvement. After all, having a good relationship between employees and immediate supervisors is a top driver of employee engagement. 
Yet, many frontline supervisors are lacking in basic supervisory skills, much less tactics for engaging employees. 
 Our study found that only 57 percent of participants have a formal supervisory (coach) training program for front-line customer service employees.

• Evolve Your Training Resources. As technology becomes more specialized and learning becomes more personalized, trainers will assume more of a performance consultant role. Make sure your trainers have the appropriate training and resources to make the transition. Many companies have a difficult time balancing the needs of the business to meet service level goals and the need to train and develop frontline employees. Make the time to adequately train your frontline customer service resources.

• Make Time for Training. Many companies have a difficult time balancing the day-to-day needs of the business and the need to train and develop frontline employees. Make the time to adequately train and prepare your frontline customer service resources. Make sure they are equipped and trained to handle all situations. Refresh training periodically to keep employees in top performance and up-to-date on customer service and technical skills.

To download the research summary from this research.

For more information on this research.

• “We will hire someone and teach someone the technicalities if they are willing to learn.  What we will not tolerate is a bad attitude.  People know immediately if they are not a good fit at Southwest.”  Southwest Airlines
• Apple’s retail store hiring criteria are:  Customer Orientation, Attitude, Above Average Literacy, Enthusiasm and Sales Background and Desire.  “Everything else can be and will be trained, we hire based on attitude”
• “Hire the right employees, based on the propensity to serve customers, not technical specialization.”  Wyndham Hotels
• First Direct hires based on communication skills then teaches them banking. “It’s easier to teach technical skills than it is to teach employees how to enjoy working with customers”.

Companies reporting significant increases in first call resolution were actively promoting FCR through internal communications, training and coaching, quality monitoring, and recognition programs.

• Routinely discuss FCR performance and the impact of repeat calls and rework with your agents.
• Review FCR performance during coaching sessions and other one-on-one sessions.
• Communicate agent, team and center-level results frequently to focus attention and rally the forces.
• Include FCR as a component in your agents’ performance to increase accountability.

Communicate FCR prominently throughout your organization—importance, performance, successes, and challenges. The more your agents know and are involved, the more success you will achieve.

To better understand how companies and different industries are approaching First Call Resolution, the Ascent Group conducted its fourth annual benchmarking study to evaluate First Call Resolution performance and measurement. More than 100 companies from 14 industries, representing 19 countries, participated in the research. The results of this research are contained in our latest report, Achieving First Call Resolution 2009. For more information about this report, visit our website www.ascentgroup.com.

The primary purpose of call quality monitoring is to measure the customer experience. Make sure your evaluation criteria represent your customers’ expectations, not what you think is important.

Do you know what your customers’ expect? If you don’t then find out though customer research—interviews, focus groups, expectations surveys, or even calibration sessions. Take the time and spend the money to understand how customers want to be served.

Keep in mind that customer expectations vary from segment to segment and that expectations change over time. Calibrating your call quality program with customer expectations should be an ongoing effort.

Measuring call quality through call monitoring is a labor-intensive process; it’s also high risk, in terms of human factors. Call monitoring is a key determinant of stress in call centers—especially if it’s perceived as being inaccurate, untimely, too frequent, or too intense. So in other words, if you’re not truly measuring what customers’ value then you might just be wasting your time (and money) and subjecting your agents to undue stress.

The Ascent Group’s conducted research during mid 2009 to better understand how companies are monitoring the quality of customer calls and other customer transactions. We asked companies to share their call monitoring experiences to help us identify the practices that make or break a quality monitoring process. More than 100 companies participated in our research—representing 14 industries and 19 countries. The results of this research are contained in our latest report, Call Quality Practices 2009. For more information about this report, visit our website www.ascentgroup.com.

Call Quality Practices 2009