The deal is…better service from call-center staff

Citation

(2009), "The deal is…better service from call-center staff", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 41 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2009.03741fab.005

The deal is…better service from call-center staff

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 41, Issue 6

More than 200 customer-service representatives at National Savings and Investments (NS&I) are working more effectively following a training course named Just Ask.

NS&I reckoned it was losing millions of pounds every day from defecting customers, many of whom inaccurately assumed it offered only Premium Bonds. Customer-service representatives were not asking callers questions and so were unable to correct false assumptions and build rapport.

NS&I’s head of direct channels, Jill Waters, said:

With stretching sales targets and many customers unaware of the full product range that NS&I had to offer, something had to be done to turn the tide.

With more than 3.5 million calls from customers each year, the intention was to use these links to build stronger relationships, promote new offers and services, and help customers to decide which products best suit their needs.

In summary, we wanted people to have the skills and confidence to engage their customers in light conversation about their investment choices.

Careful planning and a pilot helped to overcome serious obstacles, including a unionized call center and a culture where there was reluctance around direct selling and a risk of reduced productivity because of longer call duration.

Despite high resistance to the concept of sales through service, the training achieved a usefulness score of 87 percent from staff, and in a survey after the training, 61 percent of them felt their role offered more sense of achievement.

The training was rewarded in the UK National Training Awards.