Most people reading this article will agree that one of the cornerstones of long-term success is satisfied customers. Despite this, there are still many businesses which deal with customer service as a secondary service, with sales processing or complaint handling, measured by simple ‘how fast’ and ‘how many’ metrics and perceived as a cost.

In this two-part series, we are asking ‘what are the benefits of having a customer service representative on the Board?’ To find out we have interviewed two Director level customer service business leads, from progressive forward-thinking organisations, to find out their views.
In our first article, we find out the opinions of Ben Lappin, Director of Retention and Customer Experience at The Guardian and Chair of the DMA’s Contact Centre Council. He tells us about The Guardian’s refreshing prioritisation of the customer and gives insight into how they engage with customers.

We began by asking Ben how he felt his Board valued customer experience. His response was “I was pleased when our CEO called out customer experience as our third strategic priority, as to me that was genuine . And we got the funding and support to make things better. Many companies claim to put customers first but that’s rarely delivered in practise.”

“By really representing the customer in our business, we’ve been able to attack the issues that really affect customers rather than just responding well to failure. Our approach is much more holistic now, compared to the traditional model of working hard to improve things like response times and numbers of calls handled.”

We then asked Ben whether customer service channels for The Guardian News & Media Group had evolved in recent times, as social apps and instant communications have become more prolific. “We take a simpler approach to this issue. Everyone has access to email and the channel works for dealing with queries. Are other apps necessary? We feel that there’s a dash to apps and other channels driven by Corporate FOMO: the ‘fear of missing out’ combined with the need to make something look like a success because a team has invested in it. Why do you need a new app if you have an effective web chat on your website which also works on mobile?

“Unless you have a compelling case to use a channel, it’s better to retreat from channels where you cannot perform well. There is sometimes a case to switch from Twitter to live chat simply because the customer experience via Twitter isn’t as good, or as personal.”

We questioned Ben about his experience of customer experience being represented at the company’s Board: “I’ve been at The Guardian for three years now. Customer experience is discussed at Board level. We appointed Anna Bateson as Chief Customer Officer, who is responsible for all of reader revenues, but with a clear brief to be focused on customers. At first, the customer statistics used didn’t reflect the real issues. I was able to lobby and place issues where they really belonged and where they could be addressed. For example, newspaper delivery issues were placed with delivery providers to solve, rather than being reported as a customer service statistic. Our teams were recognising the problems through the customer service process and we’re able to improve things by driving real solutions, not by working hard to answer the problems more quickly!”
Ben continues “Company Boards are busy. To prioritise real issues, you have to be concise and punchy. The stats can help by pointing to problems. We have to propose ways to solve those problems. Without that voice on the Board, customer service would probably be a regular set of reports, watched for simple trends and costs but not as a way to really make things better.”

We asked Ben if he thought that the KPIs used in most customer service operations could result in unrealistic expectations?
“Yes. Without meaningful interpretation, customer experience is seen as a cost centre rather than a chance to add value. Traditional KPIs push towards cost management, whether that’s for an in-house department or an outsourced operation.”

He stated “Don’t have contact volumes as a KPI. Measure problems and how you solve them, not volumes. Responding brilliantly to failure should not be seen as success.”

Finally, we asked Ben if he thought other businesses were missing out on not having customer experience representation within their Board meetings?

“Almost certainly. Even if it’s not a permanent Board member, there should be representation at the level where there is regular interaction with the Board. Customer acquisition can almost always be improved by spending more money on it, but customer experience and retention require a more long-term view.”

Ben continues “We can measure our successes, because we’ve made an effort to recognise the value of what we do. We’ve self-funded some initiatives which generate real value for the business, making our customer-facing teams a value-adding department, not perceived as a cost centre. Being able to articulate this allows us to request what we need from a position of authority, and to ask from a position of moral authority, representing the customer properly. Expressing a request by explaining how it’s going to reduce customer time wasted and improve retention makes the problem human, which makes the decision-makers much more likely to react favourably.”

Ben’s experiences made it clear to us that having the customer experience discussed in Board meetings is an important chance to not just represent customers, but to highlight real business issues and initiate improvements which drive better bottom-line results. Helping the Board to understand the value added by improving customer interactions can encourage a problem-solving culture, rather than a cost-management one. This is a way to gain and maintain genuine competitive advantage.

In our next article, we’ll be talking to Liam Smith of Rank Group to find out what advantages his company has found from letting the customers’ voice be heard at the top table.

Get involved

Does your Board listen to your customers? We’d be interested to hear about your experiences. Get in touch. Call us on 0114 209 6120 or email hello@contactcentrepanel.com

As the UK comes to terms with the likelihood that the coronavirus, Covid-19, is set to spread widely across the UK, it’s time to assess how your business will cope in the event of significant disruption. At Contact Centre Panel, we’re acutely aware of the value of a robust Business Continuity Plan. We have a number of members on our network that specialise in the rapid deployment of customer service agents to help businesses react to unforeseen business disruptions. Coronavirus might stretch the resources of the sector though, so it’s vital that your business has plans in place to deal with the potential effects of this illness. In an article published by the BBC, on 3rd March 2020, the government estimates that “up to a fifth of the UK workforce might be off sick during the peak of a coronavirus in the UK”. This is a sobering prediction for any organisation running a significant customer service operation. With this in mind, we have interviewed a leading expert within the field, Dr Lisa Ackerley, Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner, Trustee of the RSPH and adviser to UKHospitality, to get her advice on the Coronavirus, its potential impact on the workplace and the types of control measures that should be put in place to avoid spread. Dr Lisa started by saying: “The symptoms are like flu but this is behaving much more like what we would call pandemic flu which is why we need to take more action now.  Because there is no vaccine at the moment, there is no immunity in the community, making this more serious than standard seasonal influenza.

What about your workforce?

In a communication from the Government[1], the effect on the workforce was mentioned: “Given that the data is still emerging, we are uncertain of the impact of an outbreak on business. In a stretching scenario, it is possible that up to one fifth of employees may be absent from work during peak weeks. This may vary for individual businesses.” So far, it seems that elderly people or those with underlying illnesses are the most at risk of suffering seriously and needing hospitalisation after being infected. It is thought that many people will suffer mild symptoms, but of course could still transmit the illness. Although talk of mortality rates is alarming, so far, the effect on most groups except the elderly has been much less severe. Sickness is expected, though, which will almost certainly affect the workplace, as will self-isolation which could keep individuals at home for many weeks.

What will your organisation do?

In the event of a significant disruption to your business, what plans are in place to meet your customer service needs? Many businesses are reviewing their Business Continuity/Disaster Plans in the light of the coronavirus outbreak and although only 51 people in the UK are confirmed infected as we write this article, estimates by scientists from 60% to 80% of the population catching the virus make worrying reading. Thankfully, many of these infections will be minor but clearly there is a real and present danger that operations will be impacted. For many organisations, outsourcing to meet customer service demand will be an option. If you have not explored this yet, now might be the time to evaluate potential partners. Contact Centre Panel can help you with this process. It’s at the heart of what we’ve always done.

What can you do now to minimise disruption at work?

Dr Lisa Ackerley offered the following advice: “The important thing is that we all wash our hands or use a hand sanitiser not only regularly but at the right time… In particular I refer to “ – this means when you arrive home, for example, or when you arrive at work; at these points, that’s where you’ve got really good benefit because you are not bringing micro-organisms such as viruses or bacteria into your home or work. Also encourage people to wash their hands before leaving home and before leaving work, to help reduce spread in public places. At work, this might mean making hand sanitisers available to all employees and visitors (on the reception desk) and providing signs to point the way to the nearest washbasin, and thus encouraging handwashing as soon as people enter the building. You really want everyone to have clean hands before they get through to the main workplace. Make sure that the washbasins are cleaned frequently – depending on use, but checked hourly, and have soap and drying facilities for thorough hand washing. If you have a security system to enter the building, then this is a good place to offer hand sanitiser. Dr Lisa says “When washing your hands, wet them first[2] and then apply soap. Rub the soap in your palms to get the lather going and use the lather to scrub your nails in the palm of your hand, wash your thumbs, in between your fingers and the top of your hands. Then rinse and rub the soap off under running water and the germs will go down the sink. The rubbing action is very important. This video shows you how: https://youtu.be/LGasejm3_9c. The whole process should take 20 seconds. (The video is slower to demonstrate). If you can’t get to a washbasin easily, the next best thing is a hand sanitiser, and generally speaking, the higher the alcohol content in the hand gel, the better. Current advice is that sanitiser should have an alcohol content of over 62%. Hand washing and hand sanitising won’t protect you from picking up viruses later on, so you need to be always aware that if your hands are dirty you want to keep them out of your face… in particular, stop rubbing your eyes, nose or mouth. You can carry hand gel with you because that’s a really good way to keep your hands safe as you’re travelling. Dr Lisa explains what to do if hot desking “I have a packet of antibacterial wipes that have anti-viral properties as well, and I will actually wipe down the work area including equipment such as keyboards, mouse and phone. This is important because during the day we could inadvertently touch our faces many times whilst we are concentrating on work. The same applies to business travel – clean around your seat area and tray before setting up your laptop, and of course, sanitise your hands at this point.” For the daily clean, ensure that cleaners are using disposable cloths or paper towels and are using sanitisers on hand touchpoints such as door handles. Additional cleaning during the day around high use and high touch point areas would not go amiss. If anyone develops symptoms of cough, fever and shortness of breath, then they need to stay at home and dial 111 for more information. “If you feel a sneeze or cough coming on, get a tissue ready to catch it, or failing that use the crook of your arm, and don’t spray everyone! Tissues need to be single use and binned responsibly – don’t leave them on office surfaces. Wash your hands after using a tissue or use a hand sanitiser”. To help slow down the transmission of Covid-19 and all viral illnesses, we need to follow government advice as it emerges, but office hygiene and cleanliness is the simplest and most cost-effective method at work. This global issue is a reminder that practising good health and hygiene is good business.

Do you need to evaluate your options?

If your business doesn’t have a plan to deal with the risk of major disruption to your customer service provision, get in touch. At Contact Centre Panel, we can match your business needs to our network of specialist crisis management outsourced contacts centres, to find the right match and give you peace of mind.  If you need help either call us on 0114 209 6120 or email hello@contactcentrepanel.com

For official advice on Coronavirus

If you need an updated national picture from the UK Government, find the advice given by Public Health England.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/869827/Coronavirus_action_plan_-_a_guide_to_what_you_can_expect_across_the_UK.pdf [2] Water temperature doesn’t play a part in killing germs – just have it so it is comfortable. Mixer taps are best as you can control the temperature. If water is too hot, people won’t wash their hands. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Unicef needs call centres and volunteers on the night to help manage incoming donations from supporters by telephone, so Contact Centre Panel are going to help. In 2019, there were over 10,000 telephone donations made on the night. This is Unicef UK’s most vital source of income and will help us to raise millions of pounds to help keep even more children safe from danger in 2020.

What is Soccer Aid for Unicef?

Soccer Aid brings together two teams of celebrities and football legends for the biggest charity football match in the world, broadcast live on ITV.

What is it for?

Since 2006, Soccer Aid has raised more than £38 million for Unicef, helping it to be there for more children than any other humanitarian organisation.

Childhood should be one endless playtime. But around the world disease, hunger, conflict, poverty and disaster are disrupting play for millions of kids.

Soccer Aid for Unicef helps provide children with vaccines, clean water, education, safe spaces and protection from violence and in times of crisis so that they can grow up happy, healthy and able to play. Just like children should.

Soccer Aid 2020: how you can help

This year, Soccer Aid will return to its original home: the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford. The match and all the exciting build-up will be broadcast live in a multi-hour prime time weekend slot on ITV and STV, watched by millions of viewers across the nation.

On the night, viewers will be encouraged to donate to Unicef UK. That’s where you come in: we need several call centres and volunteers to manage incoming donations and help us raise millions for children all over the world.

The 2019 show peaked at 4.6 million viewers, resulting in over 10,000 calls and donations.

We are looking to our Network to join Soccer Aid for Unicef by supporting the telethon this year to raise even more.

CCP are assisting Unicef UK on a voluntary basis, so we will not be taking a fee for our work. This also applies to Network members who wish to support this worthy cause.

Appreciation Station

For the first time last we had a celebrity ‘Appreciation Station’ live from the stands of Stamford Bridge stadium. Olivia Coleman, Gemma Chan, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Warwick Davis, joined a line-up of stars who received calls from people phoning to donate. Giving Unicef UK donors a chance to speak to one of their favourite celebs drastically increased the volume of calls received and helped raise even more funds to give children everywhere a childhood full of play.

We’re bringing the Appreciation Station back for 2020, live from the stands of Old Trafford Stadium. It’s set to be even bigger and better, meaning more calls and more donations!

Interested? Find out more

To register your interest or to find out more, please contact us on either 0114 209 6120 or by email.

For more information about Soccer Aid for Unicef, go to www.socceraid.org.uk

New annual survey highlights key trends within the industry

The survey focuses on the key topics affecting customer service interaction. It will be run annually to monitor, track and highlight any market changes in areas such as customer interaction, digital transformation, purchasing, business process optimisation and macroeconomic influence.

2020 survey results are in…

The first Automotive Customer Service Survey was launched at the end of last year and has been completed by a number of leading vehicle manufacturers and retail businesses, including Aston Martin, Avis Budget Group, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Renault, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Pendragon.
The results are now in and have highlighted a number of interesting insights into the current and future shape of customer service delivery within this highly competitive global marketplace.

Communication channels and AI adoption

It may be no surprise to learn that voice, social and web chat are used by almost all the businesses that responded. However, only 50% currently use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Bots within their customer service provision, this is a surprisingly low proportion given the well-publicised accelerated adoption rates of AI and its suitability for repeatable inbound enquiries.
Although, the survey also showed that 60% of participants believed the use of AI and Bots would rise at the expense of agent handled Webchat, over the next 3 years.
This is a statistic we will watch closely in the future, to see if these predictions become true and the industry starts to take advantage of the cost and speed benefits made possible through the adoption of AI and Bots.

Showrooms: value-add or cost-inefficient?

Showrooms came out as the second most popular customer service channel in the automotive sector. Whilst this is not surprising news, it does raise a point for manufacturers and dealerships in regards to the limitations of providing customer service from the showroom.
Many businesses are benefiting from centralising customer service – enabling the measurement of enquiry types in a ‘hub’ environment and the building and implementation of standardised processes to solve the most common issues faced by their clients. Centralised models help customer service departments to maximise training and development benefits, building strong customer service focused teams without having the added distraction of handling sales.
However, adding value to customer relationships through the showroom must not be undervalued. Vehicle manufacturers and retailers are faced with the dilemma of delivering consistent, centrally controlled customer service, against the more personal and familiar showroom experience, which many of their older demographics, Baby Boomers and Generation X, have become accustomed to and often prefer.
It will be interesting to see, from future surveys, how the rise of the millennial and the introduction of new technologies, such as Virtual Reality showrooms, will impact on future customer service interaction.

Environmental factors driving purchasing

Unsurprisingly, surveyors thought that environmental factors and changes to vehicle tax and legislation would be the main drivers for vehicle purchasing in 2020, with results showing a move away from diesel to electric as the top reasons, followed by finance offerings and a move to second hand.

Get involved

We are always looking for new participants for our surveys so if you represent an automotive manufacturer, retailer or are involved in delivering customer service for a business in the sector, and would like to provide your own insight into the topics shaping customer experience in your industry, get in touch. All participants will receive a full report on the findings of the survey. Call us on 0114 209 6120 or contact us by email.

The introduction of automation within the customer service industry continues at a rapid pace. Whilst it’s always well intentioned and designed to increase efficiency and improve the customer experience, what happens when things go wrong? We take a look at some of the potential pitfalls of automation and put forward our thoughts on how to avoid the poor use of technology within your customer-facing operations.

What’s going wrong with customer service automation?

When the customer experience is not managed well, the consequences are serious. According to Accenture’s 2018 research, 60% of customers had not made a purchase due to poor customer service, and 61% of customers had completely stopped doing business with at least one company in the last year for the same reason.

As customers ourselves, most of us can recall experiences where our interaction with a brand has been harmed by poor automation. Poor handover between automatic and human systems; confusing and over-long sequences of button-pressing either on the phone or computer keypad; excessive recorded announcements… the list goes on. It’s situations like these that are often badly implemented, which should be designed with the customer in mind to avoid potential loss of purchase or cancellation of a service.

Common mistakes include:

• Replacing a system instead of complementing it. Recognising when humans are needed is important, because it’s not practical to expect automation to address all issues and enquiries.

• Relying on a single channel. Put simply, customers use multiple channels and they expect to be able to receive customer care through the one they’re using right now. This means that information has to be available across all your channels, which need to be able to share data between each other.

• Automating complex support issues. Some issues are just too complicated to automate. Humans are better at understanding complex issues, negotiating and solving difficult problems. Good agents are also much more effective at empathising with frustrated customers. A well-handled complaint can be worth ten issue free transactions.

• Using outdated systems and information. Not maintaining data in customer-facing systems can easily result in bad information being passed to your customers. Up-to-date information allows your agents to act quickly and correctly.

Caring for your customers

From research by Salesforce and Interactive Intelligence Group – 83% of consumers need some degree of customer support while making an online purchase. The most important factors for customers who use your customer service channels are:

1. Short response times
2. Consistency across channels
3. Knowledge of staff

It’s vital that you provide an effective customer service, which addresses these factors.

Implementing robust systems to deal with the most common enquiries quickly and effectively will improve your customer experience, enabling your human agents to deal with the more complex situations with empathy and expertise, resulting in happier customers. This handover from systems to humans can also be improved with good IVR, call recording analysis and usage monitoring to enable predictive call handling.

How can your business avoid pitfalls?

There are clearly some things to avoid when implementing technology and automation in your customer service operations. If you want to improve your customer experience, not harm it, then consider the following before implementing your next automation programme:

• Automate your FAQs. The most common questions that people ask of your business should be built into an automated FAQ system, or a chatbot. This will help to solve most customer issues quickly and reduce the burden on your customer care team.

• Build automated follow up. Most visitors do not become paying customers on their first visit. By automating follow up, in the form of surveys, emails and/or targeted ads on social media, the time consuming process of sales conversion can be made much more effective.

• Predict customer behaviour. Many customer issues are predictable. By capturing data on ever interaction, repeated enquiries can be predicted and customer service times can be minimised whilst keeping customers happy.

• Design systems that are able to handover seamlessly to humans. 72% of customers blame their bad customer service experience on having to explain their problem to multiple people. This also applies to systems. Make sure that data is handed over to your agents from your systems, so that the human interaction adds value, rather than starting over again.

• Track confidence scoring. Automated systems can record words and actions which flag low confidence and negative feelings towards your brand. By redirecting selected enquiries to a human agent, customer satisfaction can be maximised.

• Update a knowledge base for every customer. After every customer interaction, update the purchases, questions, location and preferences so you can cater to their needs in future. This is as important to straightforward no-nonsense buyers as it is to customers who make frequent enquiries.

• ASK FOR FEEDBACK! Automation is not easy. Regular testing and requests for feedback from users not only helps you to improve your systems, it makes customers feel more valued while you find better ways to serve them.
While there are certainly bad examples of automation hindering the customer experience, a well-designed, tested and implemented set of systems will help you to increase customer happiness, reduce costs and improve sales. If your automation is having a negative effect or you require help finding and implementing a system, get in touch. At CCP, we have access to a network of highly skilled technology and automation experts who will be able to assist.

In recent weeks, the UK has been impacted once again by floods. For the hundreds of people in South Yorkshire and the East Midlands who’ve been forced to leave their homes or businesses premises, this disaster has been costly both emotionally and financially.
On a practical level this has meant that the government has had to deploy hundreds of extra staff to flood-hit areas, reducing the resources available for other initiatives. With water tables still very high and flood warnings by the Environment Agency still in place, the risk of further damage has not yet abated.

According to this well-researched Guardian article, a combination of climate change and manmade modifications to the landscape mean that floods are increasingly likely to affect the UK in the future. As employers and employees, we therefore need to consider how our businesses will react to both ‘natural’ and ‘human driven’ disasters when they occur.

Is your business ready for a disaster?

If you haven’t done so already, there are ways to prepare your organisation to the potential challenges to business continuity including extreme weather, cyber-attacks and sudden loss of access to your premises due to unrest or crime.

Are you helping people with their emergencies?

Many businesses, especially in the insurance, IT and finance sectors are faced with an increase in demand when extreme weather events affect the UK. The recent flooding, harsh winter events like ‘The Beast from the East’ and moorland fires can all result in an influx of enquiries and pleas for help.

In such cases, it’s vital to ensure that your teams and systems can cope with the additional demand and that you have contingency plans in place should the workload exceed your capabilities, whether that’s in-house or by working alongside an outsourced specialist who can represent your business competently and professionally.

So, will you be ready if your business is impacted?

If you believe your business isn’t prepared for all eventualities and is exposed to unnecessary operational risk, then it’s important you act quickly. The ‘it’ll never happen to us’ mantra can be very costly, both financially and reputationally. Downtime impacts service delivery, which reflects negatively on your business and brand.

If you need help preparing some business continuity in your operations or contact centres, get in touch with CCP today.

In the run up to Christmas, online and offline retailers will, as usual, be desperately vying for consumer attention and wallet spend. Whether you’re a fan of the phenomenon or not, there’s no denying that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are an increasingly important part of the build up to Christmas. Since Black Friday’s introduction in 2014, online sales have risen steadily from £0.81bn to £1.49bn in 2018. Black Friday falls on 29th November this year, so is your customer service provision geared up and ready for the sudden rise in demand?

How big is the spike in sales around Black Friday?

As reported in a recent article on SaleCycle.com, the last few years have seen a pattern of increasing sales in the days leading up to Black Friday, with a marked spike on the day itself. Sales have continued at very high levels throughout Saturday, then risen again on Cyber Monday and the Tuesday too. So Black Friday isn’t just one day – it’s a sustained period of high spending and activity driven by promotions, the last pay day before Christmas and consumer responses to perceived limited offers.
According to a survey by SaleCycle, 70% of UK retailers will be taking part in Black Friday in 2019. This participation will be driven by increased sales promotion by those retailers, which will have a knock-on effect throughout retail sales as a whole, as buyers react to the pressure and increase their shopping online.

How does Black Friday impact your customer service teams?

Peak shopping days like Black Friday and the intensely busy days afterwards can put a huge amount of strain on customer service. This is not just because of increased volume, according to Business Matters, but the promotions used. To make an impact, many retailers will launch new products and/or promotions increasing the amount of new information that customer service agents need to deal with during a very busy time. As a consequence, this can result in negative customer experiences if challenges are not handled well.
The potential for success is significant, but the risk of failure is also heightened by the sheer volume and variety of transactions and issues in the few days around Black Friday. The limited timescales of this huge spike in retail spending mean that there’s not enough time to respond to and recover from failures. Therefore, it’s vital that retailers prepare for this period carefully and comprehensively.

How can you prepare customer service success?

1) Plan to succeed

If your organisation has experience of the Black Friday weekend, use all the sales and customer service data you have available to make predictions for 2019. In addition to reviewing sales made and calls handled, make sure you analyse abandon rates and calls received. This also applies to social channels and any online chat services you use. Plan your resources for the anticipated inbound spikes to ensure that you don’t miss opportunities to sell more products and make more customers happy.

2) Test your transactions

For most retailers taking part in Black Friday, their website will be the most critical part of the sales process. A site which performs well will maximise sales, whereas a poorly-performing site will not only lose opportunities, but will result in customers not coming back. The whole premise of Black Friday is limited availability, so your potential buyers will quickly move elsewhere!

3) Find flexibility

Not able to grow your customer service team to cope with the increased demand? There are other options available, so recruiting new team members does not need to be the only choice. Consider working with an outsourced contact centre to cope with the spike in volume, or to handle specific parts of your business processes. This can leave your experienced agents to deal with complex enquiries, while your additional team handles the more predictable tasks and interactions.

If your data from 2018 suggests that coping with Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019 will be difficult, let us know. We can talk through the options available to you.

The challenges of maintaining good customer service against a background of industry failures

The UK energy industry has seen massive changes over the last 20 years. Since the energy supply sector became competitive in the 1990s, there has been an unending cycle of consolidation and failure as the largest players have sought cost savings and new entrants have miscalculated the demands of the industry.

Energy supplier failures

The advent of supplier choice for consumers was supposed to usher in lower costs, more freedom and innovation in the industry. However, new entrants have found it extremely difficult to sustain growth and maintain customer service against a backdrop of low margins driven by the creation of a highly competitive environment.

Many consumers do not switch suppliers, which means winning new customers can be expensive for energy businesses. This has driven hard sell tactics, particularly from some new entrants, which has caused complaints from consumers. For those suppliers who have won new consumers in good numbers, there has been a consequential increase in back office work, to manage the onboarding of new customers, through established industry systems and when these fail, there are consequences for the supplier. There is also the need to issue accurate and timely bills, where a mixture of inaccuracies, mistakes and consumer misunderstandings can generate high volumes of customer service enquiries.

The established ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers in the UK have a long history of supplying electricity and gas to consumers. Their systems, staff and support are well tested and their large customer bases enable them to cope with fluctuations in consumer numbers. For new entrants, however, a major success or failure in signing up new consumers can have disastrous effects on the customer service and back office teams. This can cause unpredicted increases in costs and as a result we’ve seen a number of high profile failures of new supply companies:
• Eversmart Energy – 29,000 households affected
• Solarplicity – 7,500 households
• Brilliant Energy
• Our Power
• Economy Energy
• One Select
• Spark Energy Supply
• Extra Energy
• Usio Energy
• Gen4u
• Iresa
• National Gas and Power

With the introduction of a price cap and high wholesale energy prices on top of unexpected costs, more suppliers are expected to fail over the coming months.

Suppliers of last resort

Ofgem, the energy industry regulator, assigns a new supplier to the consumers of every energy company which fails. That new supplier then has to cope with the onslaught of new enquiries from consumers who weren’t expecting to switch again so soon and, quite understandably, have some questions they want answered. Taking on a failed competitor’s customer can therefore be tricky, resource intensive and less attractive than you’d imagine.

Consolidation

The recent sale of SEE to Ovo Energy has created a new member of the ‘Big Six’ with 5 million customers. This will add around 8,000 staff to Ovo’s business, and as expected there are likely to be some cost synergies driven out of the combined business. It’s vital that to retain their status as the 2nd biggest UK supplier, customer service levels are kept high throughout the transition period.
In a further shake-up of the ‘Big Six’, Eon has moved to take on Npower’s UK energy supply business. They’ll face the same challenges as Ovo Energy as they look to transform Npower’s loss-making operation and take on their consumers.

Smart metering misery

In recent years, the roll-out of smart meters to homes has caused additional problems for consumers and the industry alike. Just last week, it was announced that the deadline for installation targets in UK homes has been extended to 2024. Alongside the delayed installation programme, many householders are unhappy with the smart meters they have received. Problems with meters failing when consumers switched supplier have rendered the devices almost useless for people who have tried to minimise their household costs, resulting in unhappy customers and customer service issues for energy suppliers.

What does all this mean for customer service?

In an industry which supplies an essential service to every household in the UK, customer service is going to remain under the spotlight for energy companies. The ability of suppliers to cope with fluctuating demands from consumers will affect their ability to win and retain business.
Energy suppliers face a number of challenges when planning the future for their customer service operations:

Customer numbers – can future numbers be reliably forecasted, especially if the supplier is bidding for new business as Ofgem’s ‘supplier of last resort’? How will they cope with large variations in numbers?

Resource planning – if a supplier has merged with a competitor, how are the conflicting demands of providing excellent customer service and realising cost savings for shareholders going to be balanced?

Systems integration and development – how do you choose which systems to adopt following a merger? Can systems be improved to deliver better service and integrated with existing back-office operations? How will this be done within the limits of GDPR regulation?

Skills transfer – can the strengths of a more experienced team be passed into the combined business? How can this be done without harming customer service and minimising staff dissatisfaction?

Outsourcing – is it possible to supplement the team with experts from experienced energy industry outsourcers?

In an essential industry which is regularly in the news, energy companies must strive to maintain not only margins and customer numbers, but high levels of customer service. The high failure rate of new entrants is testament to the unpredictability of the sector and its extremely competitive nature. Ultimately, it will be a case of survival of the fittest; effective planning and management will be necessary to succeed and to cope with the inevitable challenges of the industry and its consumers.

Not even the ‘Big Six’ have been safe. We now have a new group of companies heading the industry and who knows if they’ll still be there in five years’ time? New entrants and old stalwarts alike need to consider customer service as an integral, essential part of their business make-up.
It’s going to be interesting being involved.

Building a competent contact centre team, whether for customer service or sales, is not easy. Thankfully, with over 6,200 contact centres operating across the UK, making up over 4% of the country’s workforce, there is a wealth of resource to attract talent from.

How do you attract the right candidates?

When recruitment specialists Launchpad, who work with brands such as AXA, Microsoft and Three Mobile, introduced a new innovative recruitment method, which focuses on behaviours rather than experience, they noticed a positive impact to their clients’ team building. They found that having an appetite for new technology, empathy for customers and great listening skills were more important traits for agents than having had previous experience. These selection techniques have also been adopted by businesses who have contact centres, with some using online questionnaires and novel interview styles to find the right attributes in candidates.

A guide called ‘Recruiting Special Agents’, published by assessment specialists Cut-E, highlights that many contact centres replace up to a quarter of their workforce every year. Such high attrition rates are clearly not good for business. The CEO of Cut-E, Andreas Lohff says “The bad news is that the people who apply for agent positions are often unsuited to the job… This not only has significant financial impact but can harm your metrics and performance indicators.”

Giving potential candidates a realistic view of the role before they apply plays an important part in setting expectations. “When they find out that the role wasn’t what they thought it would be, they’ll either become bored and unproductive or they’ll leave” says Lohff. To avoid this, some organisations use online self-assessment tools, which let candidates see how they match to the job requirements before completing a full application.

Ian Lasplace, Director, Longreach Recruitment, identified in this CallCentreHelper.com article, a number of key points to think about when recruiting:

Agents of the future – what are the challenges?

As customers become more used to self-service, via apps and websites, agents will be required to handle only the more complex enquiries. Therefore, it’s important that tomorrow’s customer service teams are capable of handling detailed questions, meaning that staff with training and experience will add real value. By recruiting agents who fit your business well, the chances of retaining them and building well-trained loyal teams for the future are vastly enhanced.

What are the alternatives to running your own recruitment?

There are many ways to get help recruiting the right people for your organisation. Using a reputable recruitment agency, that fully understand your industry area and requirements, can really help when trying to find the right candidates. When vetting agencies it’s important to find out how they operate and the levels of experience they have within your sector and area of business.

If your needs are short term, seasonal or sudden, outsourcing some or all of your contact centre needs can provide a solution. Established contact centres or telemarketing agencies have already invested resources in recruiting strong teams, which means they might be a perfect match for your business needs. By ‘recruiting your outsourcers’ carefully your business can avoid many of the pitfalls and costs of the recruitment process.

So, in summary, building a skilled, loyal and dynamic contact centre team can be tricky. However, using the right tools and techniques you can avoid many of the pitfalls which may come your way. Having clearly defined job role requirements and focusing on personality fit as much as industry experience will pay dividends. And there is always the option to outsource your contact centre or telemarketing, if and when required.

In today’s ever-changing workplaces, news travels fast. Instant communication makes it possible for great experiences, fantastic opportunities and notable successes to be shared either in an instant, or at the perfect time to make the most impact. Unfortunately, the same applies to bad news, failures and terrible experiences. For employers, this is highlighted not only by the most commonly-used social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, but by websites aimed specifically at employees, jobseekers and employers, such as Glassdoor.co.uk.

A huge potential pitfall for customer service businesses with sizeable teams is how do you keep your employees happy when demands on your business might rise and fall significantly?

So, what is the Glassdoor effect?

Websites like Glassdoor and Indeed were set up to take advantage of the internet’s power to increase transparency in the jobs market, as explained in this article by JP Griffin Group. However, as those who work within customer service will know -whilst a happy customer might tell one or two friends about their experience, an unhappy one is likely to tell many more. This works the same way with employer review sites, where anonymous employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor enable them to tell many more!

In a helpful article by David Banks for Navex Global, there are two possible reasons given for why employees might prefer to post bad reviews anonymously online rather than dealing with them at work. One is the fear of retaliation within the workplace, but another perhaps more important reason is that reviewers receive more immediate affirmation from the audience outside the organisation. It just feels better for them to tell people and to receive sympathy online from random readers.

Job seekers are more likely to trust a review from someone like themselves than the published statements of a potential employer, so poor reviews do influence the ability to attract a good quality workforce.

Can you avoid it?

If you have team members who are dissatisfied, bad online reviews are not a problem caused by websites which allow anonymous reviews. They’re a problem caused by making employees (and ex-employees) unhappy enough to hit the keyboard. Bob Corlett, President and Founder of Staffing Advisors and HRExaminer Editorial Advisory Board Member in the US, says “If you own a restaurant, the solution to your bad restaurant reviews is not found online – you solve it in the kitchen”.

The Navex Global article lists some excellent strategies for businesses to minimise the chances of employees resorting to posting bad reviews online. These include focusing on any issues raised in reviews; showcasing and providing evidence of positive core values; enforcing a strict no-retaliation policy for anyone who reports issues internally and creating an environment where senior management supports employees in raising issues for the improvement of the business.

What if your workforce fluctuates to meet demand?

If you have a seasonal customer service business or if your demand is determined by a churn of clients, your risk of suffering from the Glassdoor Effect is higher than operations with steadier workforces. With every round of workforce reductions, there is a chance of poor reviews. With every poor review, there is a chance of others affirming complaints or posting their own.

Outsourcing to meet your needs at times of peak demand might be the answer. Not only does this allow you to focus on keeping your core workforce happy, it enables true flexibility so that customers can be looked after too. Of course, you have to identify and engage with outsourcers who can service your customers’ needs to a high standard and that can be a challenging process. Doing it right, though, helps you to protect your own reputation as an employer as well as meeting customer needs.

At Contact Centre Panel, we’ve built our business on helping brands to choose their perfect outsourcing contact centre match. Our scientific approach and industry expertise results in long-lasting, rewarding business relationships, whether that’s to help with seasonal demand variations or to deliver permanent customer service solutions – watch our short video to see how this works.

If you’d like a free no-nonsense, no-obligation evaluation of your current Contact Centre setup, or just a quick chat about how you could improve things, contact us:

Phone 0114 209 6120 or email info@contactcentrepanel.com today.