Enhancing
the Customer Experience Through Training
In
today’s highly competitive marketplace, cable operators
are pursuing a variety of techniques to empower employees
to deliver a superior customer experience. In a just-released
customer service guide published by the Cable Center and
CableFAX, CTHRA provides a snapshot of strategies
deployed by some of the industry’s leading cable operators.
While we can’t give it all away, we’re pleased
to share some highlights from the book:
ACE in the Hole
Cox Communications Amazing Customer Experience (ACE)
training program is a performance-based training effort
that focuses on 10 performance standards or skills which
are aligned with the company’s quality monitoring process.
The three-week training program is implemented in four phases:
- Call center leadership engagement
- Supervisor training
- Calibration
- Frontline training
The order of these phases clearly demonstrates
the company’s belief that customer care starts at the
top. First, managers receive an overview of both supervisor
and frontline training, as well as instruction on holding
supervisors accountable. What’s unique is that supervisors
then receive the same customer experience training as their
representatives. This blended training focuses on the 10
skills required for creating an amazing customer experience
including active listening, effective questioning, problem
solving and building rapport. The training is heavily focused
on providing examples of what these skills really sound
like when employed correctly during a call.
“We go beyond saying this is what
you should do,” explained Jo Hooten, Cox’s manager
of curriculum development. “We try to illustrate what
a call should sound like, so employees can start modeling
that and truly understand the nuances between being a service-minded
professional and creating an amazing customer experience.”
The Supervisor
Like Cox, Time Warner Cable recognized the need to create
a consistent customer experience across its systems. The
company invested more than two years to identify the core
skills needed to deliver a consistently high customer experience
and develop robust training programs for all frontline employees
that focused on those competencies. Time Warner Cable’s
new curriculum for its supervisors incorporates the company’s
mission and seven values—excellence, teamwork, initiative,
innovation, inclusion, integrity and community—into
their work. Dubbed Foundations of Excellence, the training
program is required for all customer-facing supervisors
in call centers, technical operations and dispatch. The
operator then depends on these supervisors to lead the effort
to provide customers with a consistently branded experience.
“The customer experience is enhanced
because supervisors are responsible for our frontline employees,”
explained Alice Cutter, senior director of learning and
development. “Having our supervisors more engaged,
being better coaches, spending time with employees on the
job and helping them learn, gives our customers a much better
experience.”
Keep it Simple!
Bresnan’s internal quality control process, or Superior
Performance Program, is a key component of its call center
training. The cable operator analyzed potential pitfalls
to good customer service and built robust protocols to counter
those failures. It trains call center agents on those protocols
and regularly communicates to personnel the metrics it uses
to measure success.
Clearly communicating these protocols
through training helps employees succeed. For example, the
company has zero tolerance for rudeness on the phone. Any
such behavior results in automatic disciplinary action,
and a repeat offense leads to dismissal. Is this harsh?
Allan Leishman, vice president of call center operations
for Bresnan Communications, doesn’t think so, “Our
employees know what to expect. We tell them in training
that we won’t tolerate poor behavior. They know that
everyone is expected to work at a high level, and they like
that.”
“We’ve taken advantage of technology
to record video modules and present interactive webinars
to all of our retail locations,” explained Sean O’Donnell,
senior vice president of field operations. The company’s
best trainers present these 30-minute customer care sessions.
“Every week we focus on a different topic. It can be
as simple as how to get the order right to empathetic listening.”
This simple focus on quality training,
metrics, monitoring and accountability has paid off for
Bresnan. O’Donnell reported that the company achieved
a Net Promoter Score (NPS) (a widely measured customer service
metric) in the 60s, making it a leader in the cable industry.
Top 10 Tips
Want to know 10 tips for successful customer care training?
You’ll have to buy the book! Check it out at www.cable360.net/store/cfax/books/1.html
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