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melvinfellerstuff · 6 years ago

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Melvin Feller MA Looks at Customer Service as a Profit Center not a Cost Center

Melvin Feller MA Looks at Customer Service as a Profit Center not a Cost Center

Melvin Feller is known as “The Entrepreneur’s Mentor” because Melvin walks his talk. Melvin Feller has been there and done that and more importantly, Melvin Feller knows how to transfer the skill set for success. This is main reason that he has been the sought after coach to hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Realtors, Real estate investors and service professional internationally. Melvin Feller’s main talent is to show you how the step by step process to build and enjoy a successful 6-figure plus business while having a balanced life. Melvin Feller maintains an office in Texas. Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree as an MBA.

This is a case study showing how Padgett-Thompson, a seminar company, increased revenue by 47% by refocusing the call center on outstanding customer care.

By: Vincent Amen is the former president of Padgett-Thompson and Scott Hornstein is president of Hornstein Associates.

Padgett-Thompson is a respected learning institution with an impressive track record of providing popular, skill-building training that has dramatically improved the way people work since 1977.

With a database of 6.2 million customers and prospects, Padgett-Thompson annually has conducted over 8,000 public seminars with over 380,000 attendees. In addition, each year they have conducted over 2,200 on-site customized training programs for individual companies. Their most popular seminars are:

How to Legally Fire Employees with Attitude Problems

Basics of Accident Prevention and OSHA Compliance

Communicating with Tact and Diplomacy

In line with a corporate mandated belt-tightening, Padgett was asked to reduce cost. Specifically, because the call center constituted the largest percentage of overhead or payroll budget, Padgett was directed to reduce this specific cost. This traditional thinking views the call center as an order taking operation. Additionally, customer service — especially as administered through the call center — has always been viewed as a cost to be controlled — there should always be downward pressure on the cost of an order, to increase margin.

We’d like to present a different view — which the purpose of the call center is not to take orders. The Internet is much better. The real purpose of the call center is to deliver outstanding customer service. Because superior customer care drives high customer satisfaction, which in turn increases near-term sales and loyalty. Loyalty, in turn, is a key component of long-term profitability.

Thus, the call center should be viewed as a profit center — a key component of the media mix, measured and rewarded for revenue, customer satisfaction, and lifetime value.

Here’s some supportive research illustrating the impact of poor customer service on customers, revenue and loyalty. Accenture commissioned International Communications Research to survey customers in the US and UK about their customer service experiences, focusing on telephone and Internet customer service interaction (5/18). (Source: e-Marketer, 8/01/17). Almost half said that poor customer service led them to change a service provider in the past year.

Following are the reasons cited for switching:

Poor service or product quality (61%)

Get lower prices (46%)

Service rep’s lack of knowledge about a provider’s services or products (39%)

Lack of customized solutions (22%)

Our guess is that poor service, just like poor product quality, refocuses the customer from the benefits of the product to the price. Value-added products compete on benefits, commodities compete on price. Lack of product knowledge is, not surprisingly, a training issue. Training is also a substantial variable in the call center budget and a target of cost-cutting. Customized solutions are an outgrowth of a company’s commitment.

According to this research, following are the most frustrating aspects of interacting with a customer service representative:

Being kept on hold too long (78%)

Needing to repeat information to multiple CSRs (75%)

Inability of the CSR to solve problems (69%)

Additionally, 43% cited “not personable” and 43% cited “lack of personalized solutions”.

The results of this research certainly seem to uncover substantial opportunity. And that opportunity starts with investing in, and tasking the call center with providing outstanding customer service. Instead of cutting cost, let’s generate more revenue under the existing cost structure. While intellectually this is a “no-brainer”, implementation involved basic but substantial change in three areas: positioning, measurement and process.

The call center needed to be repositioned as a corporate resource, providing outstanding customer care as a strategic product of the corporation. Representatives then became a corporate asset, moving from a “customer service representative” to ��Learning Consultants”. Measurement must include the basic call center metrics as well as a system for recognizing and rewarding achievement in customer service and revenue.

Process had to change to view the customer differently. Prior, the customer was viewed as a call, as a transaction. Take the order and move on to the next. The process now had to encompass a view of the customer lifecycle — the customers’ wants, needs, and aspirations from the time they are thinking about training; to the research and investigation of specific training programs; to the actual seminar; and back at the office when they use the skills and concepts taught. Instead of just recording a sale, the learning consultants were expected to help customers make informed decisions based upon their goals. Necessarily, ongoing training became the catalyst for change.

Melvin Feller MA is in Texas and in Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Group and Melvin Feller Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes and a positive outreach with grace and as a ministries. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.

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