Project success story: Dallas Morning News

Client:
The Dallas Morning News

Internal Brand:
Work Better Here

Duration:
12 months

Challenge: Leadership at The Dallas Morning News engaged Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA) to support its retention effort by establishing an outbound call center. This decision was based on the tremendous success that RCDA had demonstrated in helping other clients establish new retention centers. The retention reps make calls to subscribers who are deep in grace and present compelling offers of renewal and EZ Pay conversion.

Approach: RCDA assisted The Dallas Morning News in all aspects of the new retention center. The process began with the hiring of a retention supervisor and 14 part-time retention reps. RCDA helped write the recruiting materials as well as helped screen, interview, and ultimately hire the candidates for this position. Once the team was hired, RCDA conducted training using materials customized for The Dallas Morning News. In order to reinforce the training and ensure that a world class sales culture is developed, RCDA provided follow-up coaching to the retention team each week for a year. The primary goal of the project was to ramp collection results over a three month period until the team achieved and sustained an average of three collections per hour per rep.

Results: RCDA helped the Dallas Morning News convert 70,000 carrier-collects to office-pay. After this was accomplished, RCDA worked with the reps and supervisors on handling retention calls. Currently the newspaper is achieving 3.2 saves per rep per hour and collecting thousands of dollars each night.

EZ Pay, EZ sell

Boosting sales and retention through EZ Pay is just what the name implies if you take the right approach. And the results are dramatic.

By Bob Davis

It's no secret that EZ Pay promotes subscriber retention. The latest research shows that EZ Pay customers are two times more likely to keep their subscriptions. The question is, how many of your subscribers can you sign up for EZ Pay?

I believe 60 percent is a very realistic goal. Now on the first take that may seem to be a high number, but not if you remember the advice of Jim Collins in his book Good To Great. "The enemy of great is good," wrote Collins. In my experience, most newspaper organizations are doing a good job - but not a great one - of selling EZ Pay.

Moving from good to great in this regard is definitely worth the effort. First, it is much cheaper to boost your retention than go out and win new subscribers over and over again. Imagine what it would mean to your organization in terms of higher revenue and lower churn if 60 percent of your subscribers were on EZ Pay. But is this really possible?

Absolutely. Based on my experience in working with newspaper organizations across the country, I believe you can achieve a home delivery EZ Pay average of 60 percent or even more by adopting a more robust call flow for every customer contact.
Five winning steps

Winning EZ Pay subscriptions - and consequently higher sales performance and subscriber retention - is not magic. Rather, it requires having a quality conversation with every subscriber on every contact. The quality conversation occurs when reps use a robust call flow that incorporates five winning steps:

Step 1 - Greeting. Deliver an outstanding greeting with a great voice tone and the exchange of names, showing a sincere interest in the subscriber.

Step 2 - Discovery. Understand the issues of concern to the subscribers. Find out one-on-one what subscribers are interested in, such as what sections they like best, how often they read the paper, and how the newspaper adds value in a way that applies to their lifestyles and their wants, interests and needs.

Step 3. Solution. Make a connection with subscribers that the newspaper is a valuable solution to the wants, interests and needs you learned about in the Discovery step. The key is to add value by telling them about features they may not be aware of. This is the essence of value-based, consultative selling.

Step 4. Offer. EZ Pay, as the name implies, gives subscribers an easy way to pay for the value they receive from the newspaper. We need to offer EZ Pay in a compelling way. If the first three steps have been handled correctly, the subscriber is likely to be very receptive to the offer.

Step 5. Close with an assumptive approach. Ask the subscriber how he or she would like to pay for EZ Pay - credit or debit card, or check-by-phone?

Selling value, not discounts

Additionally, using the robust call flow sells value and eliminates the need to sell at a deep discount. When customers examine the value proposition and the price, they are highly likely to realize that the typical newspaper subscription - even at full price - is one of best values for the dollar in America today.

Selling EZ Pay in and of itself adds value for subscribers and obviously benefits the newspaper. The bottom line is that reps should make a compelling EZ Pay offer on every call.

Overcoming objections to EZ Pay

Sometimes subscribers will have objections to putting their charges on EZ Pay. We do not want to pressure them, but real selling does not even begin until you have gotten an objection! The robust call flow includes a contingent process for overcoming objections. The call flow should be written around the idea that we can't accept the first no. Reps must work by a three-no's-and-a-go philosophy.

Achieving dramatic, sustainable results

Newspaper organizations that have implemented a robust call flow that includes the EZ Pay offer and assumptive close have achieved dramatic, sustainable results. For example, one of my clients - a major daily newspaper with national distribution - achieved a four-fold increase in EZ Pay sales. Another paper is now signing up 50 percent of its retention saves on EZ Pay.

Every conversation - whether it is a complaint call into customer service, new subscription contact, or retention call - is an opportunity to sell EZ Pay.

Without a doubt, the robust call flow and EZ Pay offer create a strong bottom-line impact on sales results and customer retention. The decision to put this approach into place would appear to be, as they say, a win-win proposition for newspapers and subscribers.

Project success story: Knight Ridder

Client:
Knight Ridder (Customer Care Center C3)

Internal Brand:
FOCUS

Duration:
9 months

Challenge: The Knight Ridder Customer Care Center (C3) in Miami, FL handles inbound calls for 22 Knight Ridder newspapers. Leadership at Knight Ridder has come to realize that the 4.5 million calls that this center receives each year should be seen as an asset and not a liability. They have engaged Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA) to help the company capitalize fully on this asset by teaching and coaching the C3 reps to follow a robust sales model.

Approach: RCDA's concept of a robust sales model is one that is new to the newspaper industry and seeks to leverage the results that can be obtained by having high quality conversations with subscribers. In addition to many other skills, RCDA trained the C3 reps in the importance of asking great discovery questions, communicating the compelling features of the paper, and creating bridges between the subscribers' desires and the paper's benefits.

Results: The FOCUS (Finding Opportunities in Circulation by Upselling Subscribers) project doubled the EZ Pay rate for C3. In addition, the saves rate for inbound cancellation calls has increased dramatically.