PathfinderSM
Case Study: Weather Effects on Customer Behavior
Abstract
The goal of PathfinderSM effort was to make assess current operational procedures and recommend a strategy for improving customer satisfaction. Through the course of data gathering and analysis it was determined that repair calls had the greatest impact on overall satisfaction ratings. Further, customers with existing repair requests were the most dissatisfied. Upon detailed study and investigation it was determined that weather patterns were responsible for elevated repair calls. High energy storms were generating emergency repair service calls and thereby pushing out the repair timeline for the pre-existing work orders. By isolating the source of customer dissatisfaction and weather related variables, the client was able to make significant changes to improve customer satisfaction.
Approach
This effort leveraged data collected from customer satisfaction surveys over a period of time. By studying results of the survey, to include verbatim comments, the team isolated the leading factors contributing to customer dissatisfaction. Repair calls were a leading cause of dissatisfaction, and specifically pre existing repair calls were determined to be the highest contributor.
Based on the isolation of dissatisfaction drivers the team looked into processes, additional data sources, and conducted discussions with the client’s team. It was determined that when storms strike an area, the resulting repair calls “push off” pre-existing repair calls. A study of customer ratings relative to weather patterns returned results that indicated certain wind speeds and rain amounts correlated significantly to the amount of repairs needed in that area, thereby triggering the domino effect of delayed repairs.
Based on the isolation of dissatisfaction drivers the team looked into processes, additional data sources, and conducted discussions with the client’s team. It was determined that when storms strike an area, the resulting repair calls “push off” pre-existing repair calls. A study of customer ratings relative to weather patterns returned results that indicated certain wind speeds and rain amounts correlated significantly to the amount of repairs needed in that area, thereby triggering the domino effect of delayed repairs.
Achievements and Improvements
The results of the process resulted in an “early warning” system for outages whereby pre-existing repair customers can be notified of delays when weather events meet the trigger criteria. Additionally, IVR improvements and changes to dispatch scripting were developed.
Case Study: Travel and Leisure
Abstract
A major travel and leisure company was beginning to feel the crunch of competition and needed to find a method for improving bookings per hour by at least 20%. Upon conducting a due diligence the PathfinderSM team discovered that sales attempts were not nearly approaching the potential high level.
The team felt that if they could instill new and effective performance management competencies within leadership team, they could dramatically improve sales attempts, and therefore bookings. Within a few short weeks of implementation, the client realized their goal.
The team felt that if they could instill new and effective performance management competencies within leadership team, they could dramatically improve sales attempts, and therefore bookings. Within a few short weeks of implementation, the client realized their goal.
Approach
The PathfinderSM team conducted a sales culture assessment that produced pinpoint accurate information about what is causing underperformance. That was followed by working closely with the site management team to clearly define critical objectives, which included quantifiable results and specific behaviors necessary for success by supervisors and agents.
The team provided time and task management tools to leadership staff and delivered consultative curriculum to all agents and supervisors. That was followed up by aids that included closes and rebuttals.
The team developed a side-by-side sales coaching form and conducted multiple on site audits. Finally, the team worked with the leadership team to craft a highly motivating incentive/recognition programs and contests.
The team provided time and task management tools to leadership staff and delivered consultative curriculum to all agents and supervisors. That was followed up by aids that included closes and rebuttals.
The team developed a side-by-side sales coaching form and conducted multiple on site audits. Finally, the team worked with the leadership team to craft a highly motivating incentive/recognition programs and contests.
Achievements and Improvements
Within a short period, the site doubled the average daily sales attempts from 35% to 70%. With this increase of attempts came record-breaking numbers of closes per sales attempt. The final result was that bookings per hour improved dramatically, with the site reaching an impressive 450% improvement. The earned the client’s confidence in the
PathfinderSM team’s ability to quickly generate elevated sales rates.
PathfinderSM team’s ability to quickly generate elevated sales rates.
Case Study: National Telecommunications Company
Abstract
A national telecommunications company engaged a PathfinderSM team to increase their sales rates. Upon engaging in implementation of the solution, the team realized that by making specific recommended changes they could not only improve sales, but could also reduce the call back cancel rate. Within 90 days, the team increased overall sales performance by 20% and reduce 72-hour call back rate by 10%.
Approach
As with every engagement the PathfinderSM team conducted an in depth site audit to understand underlying opportunities for turning around underperformance. Among many organizational opportunities that were uncovered, the team also discovered that certain products were being significantly undersold, and could result in higher than average margins.
The team was able to quickly develop tools to assist supervisors in day-to-day management of team members. They further embedded effective performance management disciplines into the site culture and strengthened overall skills by teaching consultative sales and how to coach that process with agents. Finally, the team worked with the site management team to link performance to rewards by developing incentive and recognition programs that drove targeted sales.
The team was able to quickly develop tools to assist supervisors in day-to-day management of team members. They further embedded effective performance management disciplines into the site culture and strengthened overall skills by teaching consultative sales and how to coach that process with agents. Finally, the team worked with the site management team to link performance to rewards by developing incentive and recognition programs that drove targeted sales.
Achievements and Improvements
As a direct result of the engagement overall sales performance spiked as high as a 68% increase in the first month of the project, and later settled into an overall improvement of 20%. Some areas improved much more dramatically, like gaming sales which increased by 101% in first month and DSL Migrations which increased 31% also in initial month. Equally important was the reduction in call back cancels. The 72-hour call back rate was reduced from 39% to 31% in 9 weeks and eventually hit a 10% overall decrease.