Project success story: Florida Times-Union

Client:
Morris Communications (Florida Times-Union)

Internal Brand:
Customer One

Duration:
18 Months

Challenge: For years, the Morris Communications newspapers relied on conventional methods to attract renewal subscriptions. They sent second notices to subscribers at the beginning of grace and then hoped that the subscribers would return the notices with a check for a renewal. About 90 percent of subscribers do in fact respond with a check to the second notice. For the remaining 10 percent of subscribers, a third notice has little effect. Morris has found that only 13 percent or subscribers renew their subscriptions in response to a third notice.

Leaders at Morris were well aware that it costs far more to attract new subscribers than it does to retain old ones, and the company engaged Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA) to help them build a pilot outbound retention center for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.

The goal for this center is to call the 10 percent of subscribers who respond to the second renewal notice, and to use a robust sales model to encourage these subscribers to renew their subscriptions over the phone.

Approach: RCDA assisted with the hiring of 16 part-time retention sales reps and their supervisors for the new retention center. RCDA then trained and coached the new reps to call subscribers five days before carrier stop.

The retention sales reps use a robust sales model to discover why a subscriber might wish to cancel, as well as the subscriber's wants, interests, and needs. Each call includes a targeted offer and an effort to collect payment over the phone.

Results: The retention sales reps achieve from 1.22 to 3.32 collections per hour, with the average being around two collections an hour per retention sales rep. This is particularly remarkable because they make these calls without the aid of an auto-dialer.

Overall at the Florida Times-Union, permanent stops are down by 26 percent, grace expense is down by over $200,000 per year, and collections exceed $100,000 per month.

Project success story: The Miami Herald

Client:
The Miami Herald

Internal Brand:
Herald SAVES

Duration:
6 months

Challenge: The Miami Herald has had a dedicated retention team for several years. While this team was doing an adequate job of providing service to subscribers, reselling subscriptions, and renewing subscriptions for future service, leadership felt the department was underperforming its true potential. They decided to engage Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA) to create a training program and culture change that would bring about the consistent application of a robust sales model.

Approach: The Herald SAVES (Satisfy And Value Every Subscriber) project was designed to spark an intense focus on providing excellent customer service geared toward solving problems and increasing subscriber loyalty. The program emphasizes EZ Pay and long-term renewal opportunities. It also establishes an expectation of superior service on every call. For this project, RCDA authored customized training manuals for the retention reps and their supervisors. Since training material will quickly fade from memory if it is not consistently applied, RCDA has reinforced the training by providing consistent follow-up coaching to the reps and supervisors. RCDA has also helped initiate a culture change which redefines how the supervisors spend their time. Supervisors are now urged to spend half of each shift on the floor providing side-by-side coaching support to their reps.

Results: In less than six months, the Herald SAVES project has produced a 110-percent increase in collections per hour per rep (CPH). Prior to this project, reps were averaging 1.38 CPH. They now average about 2.90 CPH, and even greater gains are expected. A detailed ROI analysis that considers the increased commissions as well as the training and coaching costs associated with this project indicates that increasing CPH from 1.38 to 2.90 delivers an additional $1.1 million per year to the Herald's bottom line.