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Case Study
A Regional Multi-state Bank
Expanding a Call Center Devoted to Small Business
Imagine a call center that needs to triple the number of bank products
it services within 90 days, as well as expand the number of calls it
handles by a factor of 5 -- without sacrificing quality.
The client, a regional multi-state bank, has expanded rapidly through internal
growth and acquisitions. They recently began an initiative for increased
expansion into some of their existing business lines, one of which was
small business customers, or those with less than $10 million in revenue.
A recent small business customer survey reported that when customers have
questions or need service, they often have to make numerous calls in
an attempt to identify individuals who can assist them. Since the bank
prides itself on delivering excellent service, senior management wanted
to improve the quality of service provided to these customers.
In order to improve service and meet expansion goals, management determined
that a call center devoted entirely to small business customers was
needed. The Robert E. Nolan Company was called in to assist the bank
in this project.
The Small Business Call Center
A Strategic Team was formed to develop project goals and select the products
and services needed to support the new call center. As determined by
the team, the major project goals were to:
 | Retain
small business customers through improved and standardized service,
|
| Create
a model for the new Small Business Call Center, |
| Build
a scalable infrastructure capable of handling 20% annual growth,
|
| Create
a Voice Response Unit (VRU) to answer 80% or more of customer questions
without human intervention, and |
| Map
the systems and handoff workflows to support customer calls not
handled by the VRU. |
The
Approach
The Tactical Team, comprised of a core group and a group of subject matter
experts, was formed. The core group, people with expertise in VRU technology,
call center scripting, training and functioning, attended every meeting
while the subject matter experts attended only meetings appropriate
to their area of expertise. The involvement of people with different
disciplines was essential to the successful working relationship of
the team and the acceptance of changes that would be recommended.
The Tactical Team drew upon their experience and technology to help shape
the new Small Business Call Center. However, the most valuable assistance
came from the rudimentary small business call center that was already
up and running. This call center was established as a result of a past
acquisition. While this call center only answered DDA questions from
customers who were part of the original acquisition, it provided unique
insights into the behavior of small business customers who use call
centers.
The Tactical Team met twice a week for 12 weeks, covering a single product
per meeting. For each product, the team reviewed the product characteristics
and related sub-products, the current and anticipated volumes of product
usage, and a list of probable customer questions. Armed with this information,
the team went to work to identify the proper answer to each question
and how to best provide the answer to the customer.
The
Mighty Tree - VRU Functionality and Call Treatment
One
primary project goal was to create a Voice Response Unit that would
answer 80% or more of customer questions. Meeting this goal after adding
twenty products to the servicing menu meant approaching incoming call
treatment with an open mind as to which functions should be performed
by the VRU and which required human intervention.
The
treatment for incoming calls was visualized like a tree. At the base
of the tree is the VRU, which is designed to answer as many calls as
possible, in this case, 80%. Each additional level of the tree is designed
to take a lesser and lesser percentage of the calls. Once the Tactical
Team determined the correct answer to a likely customer question, the
next step was to determine how far down on the tree the answer could
be handled. For example, the Team discovered that a relatively high
volume of calls was being received asking for a re-faxing of daily information.
In this case, the Team decided to allow the customer to automatically
order the refax through the VRU without human intervention.
As
a point of information the "call tree" sequence is:
-
Answered
by the VRU.
-
Answered
by the Call Center Specialist (CCS) completely.
-
Answered
by the CCS completely with an on-line form completed by the CCS
and the actual research or file update being made by another area.
-
Answered
by the CCS but the technical nature of the call (detail product
or system knowledge) requires a transfer to another area. In this
case the CCS stays on the telephone until the customer and technical
area establish rapport. This is known as a "warm transfer".
-
Answered
by the CCS but the request requires a customer’s signature. In this
case, the CCS tells the customer to fax the request on the company
letterhead to a fax number the CCS gives them.
-
For
calls that must be answered by the customer’s account officer,
the CCS gives the customer the correct number to call. These are
the only calls where a customer is given another telephone number
to call.
The
new VRU was designed to be extensively more robust than the
VRU used with the original rudimentary Small Business Call Center. The
new VRU increased the automated functions from 17 to 57 while adding
an additional 20 products to the servicing menu. Furthermore, the number
of scripted procedures used by the Call Center Specialists increased
from 50 to over 200.
Results
One
outcome of this collective approach was a major reduction in the number
of VRU levels a customer would need to plow through in order to have
their question answered. As a result of this project, 90% of customers
have their question answered by selecting just three options or less.
After
three months of operation, the number of incoming calls has increased
by over 500%. More importantly, this call center has improved overall
customer service.
The
Future
Many
exciting plans are being developed for the next phase of this Call Center.
The bank will begin to sell and cross-sell directly to their small business
customers. They will have access to a check imaging system and will
be able to view actual checks that the customers have questions about.
Additionally, the VRU will have the capability to automatically fax
these images or screen prints to the customer. Perhaps most exciting
plan of all will be the blending of the call center operations with
Internet technology to create a whole new level of superior banking
service.
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