It is clear that Datatronics, following their acquisition of E-Z RP, is not concerned about customer service, at least, not as much as E-Z RP was, nor in the same manner or implementation of methodology as that of E-Z RP. Matt has been given a chance, through his new role as manager of the customer service center, to detail the different ways that such a program could be changed, modified to work to ensure a higher level of customer service at Datatronics.
In order to build a case for the improvement of customer service at Datatronics, Matt will need to collect specific pieces of information; these will include customer satisfaction ratings, employee satisfaction ratings, the reasons that customer service should be improved, and specific targeted metrics working to show the differences between the levels of customer service provided by E-Z RP and that provided by Datatronics. Matt will need to implement, within the current budget, some form of customer satisfaction survey in order to show that not only is there room for improvement, but that customers would prefer improvement in the basic levels of customer service received for all of the products now under the Datatronics umbrella. This may be as simple as implementing a push button survey through the Pamela system, which will allow for anonymous customer polling at no additional fees. Next, Matt will need to gather information from employees regarding whether or not they think the current process is working, whether or not such a process is effective, and the different suggestions that they would have for working to improve the process.
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This may be accomplished through the use of one of the many free survey companies, like Survey Monkey (Surveymonkey.com, 2014), allowing Matt to gather the necessary metrics, again at no additional cost, with surveys short enough that they will not interfere with employee productivity. In order to present a convincing argument regarding the reasons for customer service improvement, Matt may create a summarization of qualitative and quantitative surveys, indicating profit increases through customer service increases, which may be completed on his own time at no additional cost to the company; this data may then be utilized to create a new series of targeted metrics that will be addressed by the new levels of customer service.
The top ideas that have been selected for Matt to present to Joel are the improvement of training for employees, increased organization within the call centers, and a shift to customers who are satisfied with their service as opposed to a focus on decreased call times and increased total volume of calls per individual per day. It is no secret that the cost of training an employee is greater than the cost of retaining an employee (Garcia, 2012). Increased training works to decrease the likelihood for a higher turnover as those who are not suited to the job or the environment are weeded out during the training process, and increased training works to increase employee performance on the job; this increased performance leads to greater customer satisfaction while saving on labor costs and working to improve the company’s competitive edge (Garcia, 2012).
Specialization and variety in repetitive call center tasks has been shown to offer increased benefits to the customers, employees, and organizations as a whole (Staats & Gino, n.d.). By working to determine which individuals within the call center are best versed in certain projects, creating new queues for each of the individual projects through the preexisting IVR, something that takes minimal time to setup, it will be possible to not only work to increase customer satisfaction by providing them with the most knowledgeable individuals possible, but to also work to reduce wait times, decrease frustrations, and increase overall productivity (Staats & Gino, n.d.).
In the implementation of these two basic practices, the quality of customer service provided to all Datatronics customers will increase, employees will be better trained to complete their jobs, and will be less stressed, therefore less likely to quit (Powell, 2012). In this manner, Matt will be able to get what he wants, specifically better customer service, while Joel is able to get what he wants, lower overhead costs without a need to increase the budget first, and the potential for increased profits from an area of the company that is seen as present only because customers would leave it if was not.
As long as Matt is able to explain these two main ideas in a manner that not only makes sense to Joel, but clearly shows how each works to affect the third process, providing benefits to not only the company, but to the employees, to the call center, and to the customers as a whole, Matt should not have any issues in getting Joel to see the benefits of implementing these concepts. It is recommended that Matt present all three of the explanations to Joel at once, complete with a recommendation of which he would like to work on first, that way he is able to show Joel that it will be a process instead of an all at once project that will require massive up front capital. In this manner, not only should Matt be able to accomplish all that he desires, but he should be able to show that he is willing to work within Joel’s system to accomplish the tasks that he has set forth, changing it for the better while still being able to work within the confines of the tasks as set before him by Joel and, subsequently, by management.
- Garcia, W. (2012). Return on Investment for Customized Training. [online] Retrieved from: http://coned.howardcc.edu/business_and_workforce_development/customized_training/ROI_for_customized_training.html [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014].
- Powell, J. (2012). Top 5 Reasons for Employee Turnover | Scontrino-Powell. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.scontrino-powell.com/2012/top-5-reasons-for-employee-turnover/ [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014].
- Staats, B. & Gino, F. (n.d.). Specialization and Variety in Repetitive Tasks : Evidence from a Japanese Bank. [online] Retrieved from: http://public.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/Faculty/staatsb/focus.pdf [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014].
- Surveymonkey.com. (2014). SurveyMonkey: Free online survey software & questionnaire tool. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.surveymonkey.com/ [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014].
