How The Quality Conversation helps keep cable customers from cutting the cord

By Bob Davis

Cable companies are faced with competition today like never before. Not only do they have to deal with traditional competitors, they also have competition from content owners, game consoles and cloud-based competitors. All of this has led to the practice called cord cutting.

Whether or not you believe cord cutting is just beginning and will gain momentum, it is impossible to argue with the numbers. The cable industry has lost more subscribers in the last quarter than any other quarter in history.

The number-one driver of this loss is that customers are pursuing lower-priced alternatives. The second most common reason is that cable customers are leaving for bundled products and services elsewhere.

Requests for help versus true cancellation intent

So how do you save a customer who calls in to quit? Well, 50 percent of these calls begin with requests for help related to affordability. Customers start off by saying something like, “I have to do something about my bill! It is just too high and we need to cut back everywhere.” In these cases it is very easy for the agent to jump on the fix and eliminate the premium channels. In fact, this is the number-one solution presented. But is it always the best solution?

And what is the best way to handle calls from customers who have a clear cancellation intent?

My company, Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA), works extensively with customer contact centers for cable providers and many other types of companies, and we have found that the best approach for saving canceling customers is to enter into what we call The Quality Conversation with them. To do so requires certain attitudes on the part of the cable CSR.

The importance of showing genuine interest

The most important attitude CSRs need to engage in The Quality Conversation is one of genuine interest in customers and their wants, interests and needs. Much like you can hear a smile over the telephone, genuine interest comes right through to customers and sets the stage for the save. Unfortunately, not having an attitude of genuine interest comes across the phone line, too.

Discovering the true cancellation reason

Perhaps not surprisingly to anyone who has worked in a customer contact center, most callers don’t at first volunteer the real reason they are canceling. Our studies show that on 53 percent of all cancellation calls, the first reason a customer gives the CSR for cancellation is not the real one. Beyond showing genuine interest, The Quality Conversation is centered on a process that includes using discovery questions to find the true cancellation reason. This is extremely important. After all, if CSRs don’t know the true cancellation reason, they’ll focus on fixing problems that don’t resolve the real issues.

The real magic bullet is to use a complete process—full discovery—to help customers realize the value that they see in the service. For most customers, watching TV drives many positive emotions. The Quality Conversation and the full discovery that is part of the process get customers talking about these emotions and their underlying value.

Here’s an example of how it all works. Imagine that a customer is calling in to cancel HBO because he needs to save money. Through initial discovery, you determine that this is the true cancellation reason. Moving through full discovery, the next question you might ask is, “What show are you going to miss the most once you cancel?” More often than not, the customer will answer by saying something like, “Well, I was looking forward to the new season of “Boardwalk” (or whatever program is the customer’s favorite). Once customers start talking about what they’ll miss, it is very likely that they will reconsider their cancellation request. “You know what? I am going to find another way to save money,” the customer will say. “Let’s keep my HBO.”

Helping customers find the value they see in the service is so important, yet CSRs cannot lead them to it without engaging in The Quality Conversation.

Learn more about The Quality Conversation online at http://robertcdavis.net/process/ or call 678-548-1775.

Bob Davis is the president of Robert C. Davis and Associates (www.robertcdavis.net), a consulting firm in Alpharetta, Georgia, specializing in improving sales, customer service and retention results in customer contact centers across North America. Bob is also co-founder of Surpass (www.surpasscalls.com), a highly specialized outsource customer contact center serving the needs of business clients across the country.

The Quality Conversation is the key to turning service into sales

By Bob Davis

We were three weeks into a service-to-sales project in a large customer contact center when I overheard the following comment from an agent passing the training room on her way to the break room.

“I wasn’t hire to sell. I don’t care what they say,” the agent said. “I am not going to do it!”

This is not an uncommon reaction to change. My company, Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA), has been helping organizations turn service into sales for many years. We have found that this is a journey to win the hearts and minds of the agents—a journey that is well worth taking.

For example, we helped the billing department of one company move from zero sales to 90,000 sales in just six months. We helped the tech support organization of another company move from .02 sales per 100 calls to 1.8 sales per 100 calls—a 900-percent improvement!

How exactly do you obtain gains like these?

The main way to get there is to engage in what we call The Quality Conversation. If you don’t build a strong emotional connection with customers while solving their technical problem or billing issue quickly and efficiently, your chances of turning the service call into a sale are very small. On the other hand, if you use the following elements of The Quality Conversation on the call, your chances of converting the call to a sale increase greatly:

• Show genuine interest in the customer.
• Handle the call with sincere enthusiasm.
• Engage in full discovery of not only the issue at hand but also the customer’s wants, interests and needs.

The Quality Conversation seems quite simple. The big question is, what prevents agents from carrying it out?

First, you have to address the natural reaction to change. Any time you ask people to change how they do something, they react in stages:

1. Denial (“I can’t believe they’re making us do this.”)
2. Anger (“This really makes me mad. I’m not doing it.”)
3. Bargaining (“Can’t we just keep doing things the way we’ve always done for while?”)
4. Depression (“Why even try? I’ll never be able to do this.”)
5. Acceptance (“Well, it’s mandatory. I might as well learn how to do it.”)

If you understand and expect these stages of reaction to change, you’re better able to help team members move quickly to acceptance of a Quality Conversation initiative.

The other key to changing a team from a service orientation to a sales orientation is to understand comfort zones. People tend to keep doing what they are comfortable doing, regardless of whether or not it produces results. The role of the supervisor or coach is critical. The job is to help agents stay outside their comfort zone using The Quality Conversation approach until they are comfortable with it.

Here are some effective techniques for moving from service to sales:

1. Make a strong transition statement. Once agents have taken care of the issue at hand, they need to make a smooth transition statement. This means saying something like, “Now that we have fixed your billing issue, let me ask you a couple of questions to determine if we can add even more value on this call.” If agents make this statement confidently, the customer will usually react positively. This will help agents move to acceptance of the change, because they’ll see that it works.
2. Move to full discovery. Instead of just making a product pitch, agents must ask questions that will allow them to truly understand how they can add value for the customer. RCDA has been working on service-to-sales transitions with cable providers using this approach. Agents become amazed when they see how full discovery focuses on customer wants, interests and needs and consequently creates a positive experience for the customer. The agents see for themselves how willing customers are to answer discovery questions from the agent who drives that positive experience. The customers talk about their wants, interests and needs as related to their phone and Internet service—and how additional products and services can add value. In the end, the process helps customers sell themselves.
3. Coach for sustainability. Coaching from supervisors is critical during the roll-out of a Quality Conversation service-to-sales transition. They need to reinforce all of the new behaviors on a daily basis or the agents will revert back to their comfort zone—doing their job the old, familiar (albeit less effective) way. Side-by-side coaching, skill transfer, small group practice sessions, commitment sessions, and following up on those commitments are all key to succeeding with a service-to-sales transition and sustaining it.

More information on The Quality Conversation and how to make your service-to-sales transition work, visit RCDA’s website at www.robertcdavis.net.

Bob Davis is the president of Robert C. Davis and Associates (www.robertcdavis.net), a consulting firm in Alpharetta, Georgia, specializing in improving sales, customer service and retention results in customer contact centers across North America. Bob is also co-founder of Surpass (www.surpasscalls.com), a highly specialized outsource customer contact center serving the needs of business clients across the country.

Driving newspaper revenues higher: How to sell more multimedia advertising over the phone

By Bob Davis

Over the last few years, my company—Robert C. Davis and Associates (RCDA)—has been working with newspaper organizations to help them sell multimedia advertising. In some cases we have helped our clients build multimedia sales centers from the ground up. In others, the task has been to train and coach existing inbound classified reps to make outbound multimedia sales calls. Our experience in these efforts has taught us a great deal about what drives desired results.

Hire the right people. This may seem obvious, but it is clear that not everyone is cut out for outbound multimedia advertising sales. We have learned this the hard way when trying to convert inbound reps into outbound sales stars. Many simply do not have the personality for it. We believe in training and coaching people to do the job, but some individuals just do not have the right traits. When building an outbound sales team, it is critical to test reps for several key traits:

• Empathy

• Resilience

• Energy

• Persistence

• Social boldness

Use good lists. Studies show that as much as 40 percent of success in an outbound campaign is tied to good lists, and our experience supports these findings. Not all prospects are created equal. The multimedia sales rep’s job is to call prospects who are not advertising and are too small to be called on by an outside sales rep. But this does not mean to call on just anybody. Most markets have tens of thousands of prospects, and management must target the prospects and manage the lists.

It is unfortunate indeed to go into a multimedia sales center and see reps spending time on the Internet or looking through the yellow pages for the next prospects to call. They should be on the phones. Almost as bad is to see reps wasting hour after hour calling prospects who are unlikely to buy. You may have 397 nail salons in your market, but is this a list your people should spend a full day calling? Without a doubt, building good lists is hard work that requires exceptional management skills, but it’s much more profitable than using bad lists. Here are a few tips:

• Find businesses in town that do not advertise with you, but that look like your current advertisers.

• Determine the characteristics of businesses that advertise on radio and TV.

• Build a target profile and create a list of businesses that fit it. If you don’t have sufficient resources to generate the list in-house, work with a good list broker.

Create and manage a campaign calendar. Even with the very best lists, the right timing is essential. Calling the snow removal people in the fall and the lawn maintenance people in the spring seems like a no-brainer. But without a campaign calendar to coordinate what lists to call and when, many great dates and opportunities to sell will just slip by.

Insist on 200 dials daily. Keeping the right pace is another key to successful outbound multimedia sales efforts. We believe in the effectiveness of 200 dials daily per rep, and we insist on it. To reach their sales goals, reps must keep dialing and not spend time looking up or Googling the company they are going to call next. When management provides excellent lists and firm campaign objectives, reps hit this number of dials consistently, and it shows in higher sales.

Measure ROI daily. Like prospects, not all campaigns are created equal. To keep reps focused on the campaigns that can make the most profit for the organization, measure your return on investment for each campaign daily.

Have a Quality Conversation. This is the most important and interesting part of the process. As we have talked with thousands of prospective advertisers, it continues to impress and amaze us how many people—after just a minute or two—will open up to a stranger who has called them and asked with a caring demeanor about their wants, interests and needs. The most important thing that we strive to understand is the advertising motive. As we ask prospective advertisers the right questions with genuine interest, they open up and provide the road map to the sale. It’s all part of a proven process in five basic steps:

• An enthusiastic Greeting

• Discovery questions to determine the prospect’s wants, interests and needs

• A Solution conveyed by centering on features and benefits

• An Offer that shows how the features and benefits fulfill the prospect’s wants, interests and needs

• An assumptive Close

Manage the pipeline. It would be nice to think that every sale could be closed on the first call. However, the truth of the matter is that most of the biggest and best sales take several calls. With a level of activity at 200 dials or more per day, a pipeline of interest will grow very quickly.
This pipeline must be managed, and this is the job of the sales coach, who should ask:

• How many leads are being generated by each sales person?

• What is the value of each lead?

• What is the next step to take with each lead?

Then, the sales coach must manage each next step to help the reps close the sales.

Considering the number of advertisers a newspaper has versus the number of businesses in the market, the potential for driving multimedia sales is tremendous. But simply increasing outbound efforts is not enough. It must be done using a proven, targeted and well-managed process.

Bob Davis is the president of Robert C. Davis and Associates (www.robertcdavis.net), a consulting firm in Alpharetta, Georgia, specializing in improving sales, customer service and retention results in customer contact centers across North America. Bob is also co-founder of Surpass (www.surpasscalls.com), a highly specialized outsource customer contact center serving the needs of business clients across the country.

Building a long-term customer relationship—and better bottom lines—starts with a Quality Conversation

By Bob Davis

I had a positive customer service experience on the telephone this afternoon that I want to share because I believe it is an ideal example of how a call center representative can make not only a short-term gain for the company, but begin a long-term relationship that kicks off with a great impression.

I wanted to buy a thoughtful gift for someone who is an avid sportsman, and I went to the L.L. Bean website to see what I might find, but I was overwhelmed by the number of choices. So I decided to call the toll-free number to see if someone could give me some guidance.

Within two rings, a man with a pleasant voice greeted me enthusiastically, thanked me for calling, introduced himself by name, and asked me how he could help. I found it so refreshing that my initial greeting was not in the form of a recorded message telling me what button to press to place an order. In fact, I felt like I was talking to a merchant behind a retail counter, not a call center representative.

“I’m hoping you can help me,” I said. “Thinking ahead to the holidays, I am looking for gift ideas for someone who is very involved in hunting and fishing, and I was hoping that you could give me some guidance on finding a small but thoughtful gift for him. I was on your website but was overwhelmed by the choices and don’t know where to start looking.”

“Sure, I understand completely. I can certainly help,” he said. Immediately he began asking me questions, such as, “First, were you able to find our special section on hunting and fishing on our website?” He continued to ask me great questions to better understand how he might be of service to me.

Instead of pushing me toward a certain group of products to try for an immediate sale, he said, “Soon, we will have a special holiday section on the site with holiday gift ideas, but since that’s not up yet, and you’re not sure what you’d like, it sounds like we should send you our special hunting and fishing catalog that will give you plenty of ideas.”

Then he gave me a great solution. “Since I’m sending you the catalog, what you might want to do is order a gift card and then send him the gift card along with the catalog, so he could look through the catalog at his leisure, choose what he’d like, and then use the card,” he said.

“Sure, I hadn’t thought of that,” I said. “That’s a great idea.”

“I’ll also send you our general catalog, which may contain other holiday gift ideas for you,” he said, and then he proceeded to get my mailing address.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked.

“No, this is a big help. Thanks,” I replied.

“You’re welcome. And thank you for calling L.L. Bean,” he concluded.

He didn’t get an immediate sale, but he started a relationship with a pleasant exchange and a solution to my problem that I will remember when I receive the catalog. In all likelihood, I’ll be doing business with L.L. Bean in the near future and beyond. He has my mailing information so his company can stay in touch with me. And like many satisfied customers, I’m telling others about this positive experience.

I call this kind of interaction the Quality Conversation (a central concept for me, given the name of this blog), which has several key elements:

• Enthusiastic Greeting: It starts with a welcoming and appreciative greeting that makes the customer feel as though he found someone who is glad to help with a high level of personal service.

• Competence: The Quality Conversation continues with a representative who is competent—who knows how to do the job in a professional, quick and efficient way using all available tools and resources.

• Knowledge: Armed with thorough knowledge about what the company offers, the representative gives sound advice without hesitation or wasted time.

• Genuine Interest: The representative takes a keen interest in the customer and the problem to be solved. In my case, it made sense to help me even though it didn’t mean an immediate sale, but one down the road.

• Personal Recommendation: By listening and asking questions, the representative learns enough about the customer’s wants, interests and needs to make a personal recommendation that resonates with the customer and solves the problem in a meaningful way.

• Attitude Toward Objections: The representative views objections as concerns to work through in partnership with the customer. In my example, my objection was that the website overwhelmed me with options. The representative addressed my objection as a legitimate concern that he understood. Then, he came up with a solution that solved my problem and provided a positive experience that makes me want to watch for the catalogs and return to L.L. Bean time and again.

The thing is, the Quality Conversation doesn’t happen by itself. It requires the right training and coaching up front with supervisors and representatives, and complete buy-in by company leadership. Is it worth the effort? Well, I’ve seen the Quality Conversation approach add millions of dollars to the bottom-line results of client companies including USA TODAY, Cox Cable, America Online and yes, L.L. Bean. And much like what happened on my call to L.L. Bean, this approach yeilds long-term customer relationships that pay dividends for years to come.

What could a focus on the Quality Conversation do for your organization’s results?

Bob Davis is the president of Robert C. Davis and Associates (www.robertcdavis.net), a consulting firm in Alpharetta, Georgia, specializing in improving sales, customer service and retention results in customer contact centers across North America. Bob is also co-founder of Surpass (www.surpasscalls.com), a highly specialized outsource customer contact center serving the needs of business clients across the country.

High return on investment

Newspaper with growing circulation points to the value of follow-up on service errors

Recently I’ve been working in the customer service department of a large newspaper that holds the distinction of growing circulation. Sure, it has the benefits of a growing market and a good product, but the same is true for many newspapers with declining circulation. So what makes the difference? This newspaper might be considered downright fanatical about following up on all service errors, except that the results make their emphasis on follow-up quite rational.

Missed paper? A replacement arrives within 30 minutes. Same time the next day, a rep calls the subscriber to make sure that day’s paper arrived.

If a subscriber cancels for poor service, the district manager follows up to solve the problem and win back the business.

The newspaper empowers its customer service reps to make sure every problem gets fixed. They can call carriers themselves. They follow up personally on each service error call to make sure the issue is resolved.

Every district manager rides with new carriers for the first full week of delivery and for the first two Sundays.

I run a call center that makes outbound retention calls on behalf of newspaper clients to subscribers who are late in grace. By the time we get the records and make the calls, theses subscribers have made up their minds that they are going to quit the paper. It is our job to win them back. I listen to several hundred of these calls each week. Here’s what I hear regularly:

• “I got a new subscription and it was delivered OK for two weeks and then it stopped. When I called to complain, nothing was done. If you can’t deliver the paper, just never mind.”

• “I got a bill that was wrong, I asked for a corrected one, it never came. I refuse to pay this incorrect bill.”

• “I paid for a year in advance, and you have not given me credit for the payment. Now you have stopped my paper. If you can’t keep things straight, I don’t want to deal with you.”

• “We moved, but we never got the paper at the new address. You seem to be able to mail a bill to my new address, but not my newspaper! I have called three times, and still no delivery.”

Every one of these problems and hundreds like them would be solved—relatively easily and inexpensively—with a service error follow-up call. Yet newspaper executives tell me daily that their team members just do not have time or resources to follow up with subscribers to make sure their problems were fixed.

In response, I point to the newspaper I have cited here that requires its staff to make the time and invest the resources. Without a doubt the apparent returns to their bottom line and circulation figures have far exceed their investment of time and resources.

With the right approach, outsourcing customer contact works

The key is to partner with vendors in focusing on the behaviors that drive desired results

Demand for outsourced call center services is rising fast in the newspaper industry. The Newspaper Association of America reports that 60 percent of all newspapers outsource at least some of their sales efforts. While outsourcing has been common in sales for some time, the industry is turning increasingly to outsourcing for customer service. Most recently, newspapers who have outsourced to McClatchy Company’s soon-to-close C3 call center are seeking new customer contact partners. But can newspapers manage outsourcing effectively enough to get the top performance needed in today’s competitive media marketplace?

Newspapers that have formed true partnerships with the right outsource vendor answer that question with a definitive yes. But before they form such partnerships, the newspapers that are the most successful with outsourcing are doing their homework.

Key indicators and behavior management
Newspapers most successful at outsourcing customer contact determine key performance indicators in advance of the outsource partnership by benchmarking based on their in-house operations and industry research. Then they figure out how to manage the behavior that will drive those results.

The best way to explain this is to use an analogy. Imagine a baseball player in a tight game. The team manager could focus on the desired result by yelling, “We need a hit! Drive in that runner!” But it is far more effective to manage the behavior by saying, “OK, now stand a little farther back in the box and choke up on the bat!”

By the same token, if the newspaper wants to save 40 percent of its subscribers who call in to cancel, the rep needs to hear more than, “We need a 40-percent saves rate.” The effective call center supervisor will say, “OK, on the next call you need to ask more discovery questions to get the subscriber’s true reason for cancellation. Then you’ll know how to present a solution that addresses the subscriber’s wants, interests and needs. You’ll be able to win the save based on the newspaper’s value to the subscriber.”

But by and large, vendors need help implementing this behavior-based approach.

So the best outsource partnerships begin with clear agreement between the newspaper and the vendor on the behaviors that will drive the key performance indicators and desired results. Then, the newspaper takes a hands-on approach to helping the outsource partner practice those behaviors consistently.

Owning the numbers, calibrating the calls
What strikes me most about newspapers who do well with their outsource partnerships is that not only establish a system for managing the behavior of their outsource vendors, but they also own the numbers. They set aside time in advance to get the current numbers, study them and prepare to discuss them thoroughly with the outsource partner. The comes the behavior management—the weekly call calibration.

Call calibration means that the newspaper and the outsource partner—independently of one another—monitor the reps and score them on the agreed-upon behaviors including a consistently applied, robust call flow. Each week, they meet and compare the scores to make sure that the outsource partner is evaluating the reps’ behaviors properly and consistently. They not only communicate but over-communicate to ensure that the outsource vendor continues to buy into the key performance indicators and behavior that drives them.

Remote monitoring and coaching
I have found that it is critical for the newspaper to dial in and listen to reps without the outsource partner being able to select reps for evaluation, and to make site visits regularly. These steps increase the likelihood that the newspaper will hear lower performers on the phones and then take steps with the vendor to correct problems.

Recently I saw that monitoring alone by one newspaper increased its outsource vendor’s performance by 40 percent!

The most effective outsource vendors have their supervisors doing side-by-side coaching. This involves much more than wandering around and observing. The supervisors are experts at the call flow and desired behaviors. They model these processes and behaviors for reps and do one-on-one coaching between and during calls. They listen to calls on the spot and guide their reps to mastery. By all accounts, outsourcing works best when the newspaper has chosen a partner who has the resources to provide this type of coaching—and a proven track record for doing so effectively.

Indeed, outsourcing customer contact can have a dramatically positive impact on the newspaper’s bottom line. It works for all types of calls—from inbound to outbound, from customer service and retention to new subscriber sales. But like everything else in the realm of communicating with customers, it boils down to having a quality conversation, building rapport, and offering solutions. It means setting goals and delivering value. It’s about behaviors!

Based on what I have observed in the field, outsourcing is producing stellar results given the right approach—managing behaviors, owning the numbers, and working in real partnership with the outsource vendor.

By putting effectiveness before efficiency, newspapers grow top-line revenue

As newspapers strive to protect their bottom lines, I hear a lot of talk about efficiency. Should we centralize our operations? Can we outsource call center operations at a lower cost than we can handle it in-house? Should we send our work overseas? Yet I believe we should focus on growing top-line revenue—on effectiveness instead of efficiency.

Let me give you a few examples.

Call abandon rates versus top-line revenue
For newspaper classified call centers everywhere, the call abandon rate is a key measure. However, it is too efficiency-minded to manage the call abandon rate with head count alone.

A better approach is to examine call center effectiveness by asking what the call center can do to grow top-line revenue. Find out how many outbound calls your people are making in their extra time. In my experience working with classified departments across the country, the problem is that reps often cherry pick instead of calling all current prospects and advertisers. Nationwide, I see tremendous room for improvement in this regard.

Cost of winning new customers
At most newspapers, the number of subscribers who call in to quit each year represents at least 20 percent of circulation. That number climbs to 30 percent or more at some newspapers. At the same time, the industry saves only 17 percent of these subscribers from canceling. When it was cheaper to win a new customer than to keep an existing one, maybe these numbers were OK. Today we can and must do a better job retaining subscribers.

Significant improvement is well within reach for virtually any newspaper. After all, other subscription-based industries achieve 50-percent and even 60-percent saves rates regularly. And by focusing on effectiveness instead of efficiency, top-performing newspapers are earning 40-percent saves rates.

Say you have a circulation of 300,000 and receive 100,000 cancellation calls in your call center each year, and that you save the industry average of 17 percent of these calls. The efficiency-based measure would be talk time, and our work has shown that it takes an extra 30 seconds on the phone have a quality saves attempt.

Yes, spending 30 seconds more costs the paper around 50 cents. However, the extra effort will drive your saves rate up by 23 points. This means 23,000 fewer subscribers you will need to replace at $40 or more apiece, adding up to almost a million dollars per year. It’s a great example of how effectiveness beats efficiency hands down.

Online advertising expertise
Here is another example. Most newspapers have only a handful of online advertising experts. The sales force relies heavily on these experts to help them sell online ads. This is an efficient way to handle it, but is it the most effective? To answer that question, look at the amount of online revenue you receive today from existing advertisers. If it is not as much as it should be, maybe the efficiency model is not working well for you. To boost effectiveness, train all your sales reps to sell online ads effectively so you can maximize this revenue source.

When market conditions present challenges such as circulation decline and technological changes, the natural result is pressure to be more efficient. But in my experience in the newspaper industry, organizations that resist the pressure and focus instead on effectiveness see dramatic improvement in customer service, customer retention and sales. The return far exceeds the investment.

Listening before you leap

A problem truly understood is already half-solved

When subscribers call in with a cancellation request, the most common reason they give is that they don’t have time to read. In many newspaper call centers, reps hear subscribers give this reason and then immediately jump right on the fix—usually a downgrade in the frequency of delivery or a drop in the price. But they’re jumping far too soon.

The real reason
We have found in our extensive work with newspaper call centers that it is critical to begin a robust discovery phase on the call as soon as a subscriber tells us why he or she wants to quit. Why? Because very often, the first reason a subscriber gives isn’t the real one.

In a robust call flow, our first response to the subscriber not having time to read should be a restatement:

“So if I understand you correctly the reason you want to leave us today is that you don’t have time to read. Aside from that, are there any other problems with you newspaper or its delivery that would cause you to want to cancel today?”

More than 40 percent of the time, subscribers give a second reason that turns out to be the true problem that led to the cancellation call. So on almost half the calls we handle, jumping on the fix doesn’t address the true cancellation reason.

Lower cost, higher profit
It follows that if we find out the true cancellation reason and address it instead of papering over a problem with a quick-fix or a discount, we will have higher customer satisfaction, better retention, and a more profitable organization. After all, it costs much less to keep an existing customer than to go out and win a new one.

We have found that many subscribers don’t call in with a service and billing issue until it has happened numerous times, or they’ve called in previously but the problem hasn’t been corrected. In either type of case, many subscribers don’t reveal the real issue until we complete discovery by restating and assuring help, asking about additional concerns, and then isolating the true reason for calling.

Selling value
Finally, another common reason for canceling is the end of promotional discounts. This occurs when a subscriber gets a high bill for renewal and calls to quit but doesn’t reveal the real concern until we follow the robust discovery process. If we know that price is the issue, we can begin a value discussion with the subscriber that focuses on features and benefits. When we get the subscribers talking about features they enjoy, suddenly price becomes less of a concern because they recognize the value of the newspaper!

The bottom line is that we can’t solve a problem unless we know what it is. We don’t always know the problem unless we ask for more information. There’s an old adage that says a problem well-stated is half-solved. By engaging in robust discovery, we’re helping the subscriber state—and ultimately solve—the problem. We’re helping the subscriber see value. We’re winning loyalty and retaining our most profitable customers—the ones we already have.

Universal lesson: How Xerox turned a $273 million loss into a $978 million profit

Five years ago, Xerox was facing possible bankruptcy. Revenue and profits had declined, cash was going down, and debt was increasing. The company faced angry customers and defecting employees. On the day Anne M. Mulcahy (pictured at right) was named president and COO of Xerox, the company had lost half its share value. Looking back today, how Xerox changed its fortunes under Mulcahy’s leadership carries lessons for virtually any industry—including the newspaper business.

You can read the whole story in an article* by Mulcahy in the January 2007 issue of Leadership Excellence magazine, but here I want to emphasize several of her key points and how they apply to our business.

Mainly she covered five winning strategies Xerox used after deciding to focus on customers as the top priority in turning the company around. Let me paraphrase them and relate them to specific facets of newspaper industry.

Strategy 1:
Listen to your customers and determine their wants, interests and needs.

This may seem obvious, but I want to focus on the importance of newspaper circulation executives—not just call center reps—being in touch with subscribers. Leaders who make their offices adjacent to or in the midst of the call center can monitor easily and tend to be in tune with how well calls to and from subscribers are handled. This helps them understand things from the subscriber’s perspective and equips them to make informed decisions that serve subscribers more effectively.

One hour per week, every executive within the newspaper organization should listen to customers and the way customer service people talk to them. One easy way to do this is to record these calls and burn them to a CD that executives can play in their cars while commuting to work. Give these recordings to the whole executive team so they can spend time with the customers every week.

And while we are on the subject, it’s a good idea to get an hour’s worth of calls from your telemarketing vendors every week to hear what potential customers are saying about your product.

Strategy 2:
Invest in innovation.

Facing circulation decline, many newspapers argue that they don’t have the money to invest in customer service right now. Many push for outsourcing and reducing costs.

Yet according to Mulcahy, companies that retain an additional five percent of their customers will grow bottom-line profits by 25 to 50 percent. Furthermore it costs five times as much to win a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.

These views are consistent with what I have seen in decades of working with newspaper organizations on customer service, sales and retention projects. Newspaper companies that invest in proven, innovative customer service and retention training programs are earning a substantial return on such investment.

Strategy 3:
Make it every employee’s job to add value.

Xerox achieved its dramatic turnaround largely because it made sure that every customer interaction with employees—from top to bottom—was made positive by having meaningful person-to-person interaction and a genuine desire to help. This cannot occur without buy-in and support of value-based customer service and retention efforts at all levels of the organization.

Strategy 4:
Don’t sell quarter-inch drill bits. Sell quarter-inch holes.

How do we add value? Sell solutions. If you go to the hardware store to buy a quarter-inch drill bit, the assumption is that ultimately you want a quarter-inch hole. In my work training and coaching in newspaper call centers, one question rises to the top as a conversation-starter that has led to a six-fold increase in EZ Pay sales:

“What is your favorite section of the newspaper?”

We’re not selling newspapers. We’re selling the experience, the relationship, the part of the day subscribers enjoy with their newspaper. Asking them about their favorite section prompts them to remember the true value of their subscription. And it makes a dramatic difference in winning the save.

Strategy 5:
Exceed customer expectations.

Mulcahy cited data showing that 75 percent of customers who quit say they’re satisfied. She goes on to say that customers who say they’re very satisfied are six times more likely to stay on than those who are merely satisfied. And, she says, only 40 percent of customers who consider themselves satisfied buy again.

This confirms findings in a Harvard Business Review study showing that customers must be not just satisfied but very satisfied at the conclusion of every customer service contact to build loyalty and stability. According to the study:

• A customer who is merely satisfied resides in a “Zone of Indifference” where he or she has neither positive nor negative feelings toward the organization.

• By contrast, a very satisfied customer resides in “Zone of Affection” where he or she remains loyal to the organization and promotes it to others enthusiastically.

No matter what business you’re in, findings like these mean ‘good enough’ just isn’t good enough anymore. Effectiveness trumps efficiency. Value sells better than discounts and other gimmicks. We’ve got to dazzle them with service.

* Read Mulcahy’s article, “Customer Connection: You win when you listen to customers” in Leadership Excellence magazine, Vol. 24, No. 1. January 2007. Executive Excellence Publishing, www.eep.com.

Straightforward approach pays high dividends

I was delighted to serve as a major source for this trade article on InlandPress.org and was quoted extensively on the subject of how “Improving customer service starts at the top and pays huge dividends.”

No 'magic' – just commitment to serve
Wednesday, March 07, 2007 By Randy Craig | Editor, rcraig@inlandpress.org

Jon Louder, circulation director at the Mitchell (S.D.) Daily Republic, believes in the power of customer service. He shares a familiar axiom uttered by many over the years: A newspaper might boast Pulitzer Prize-winning news, but if the service is lousy, it will lose circulation. The converse is also true.

"You can have a mediocre paper, but if you have really great service, you'll probably gain circulation. This should magnify to everybody how important customer service is," he said.

Louder said the Republic is not perfect, but service has been good enough to keep the 12,000-circulation paper growing in a shrinking market. No magic bullets exist, he admitted. But years at the Republic have provided him some insight.

"There's no magic. Just focus," he said. "You have to focus on improving customer service every day. It's just getting employees and carriers to buy into it."

Louder's approach illustrates much about newspaper customer service. Everyone understands customer service is important. But how many realize its tremendous impact on readership and, potentially, circulation?

The most exhaustive examination of the effect of customer service on newspapers originated in the Impact Study of Newspaper Readership published by the Readership Institute in 2000. The study, which surveyed 37,000 consumers across the United States, determined that the greatest potential for improving newspaper readership came from raising customer service to the "exceptional" level.

Broken down, these service factors rank highest in terms of their impact on readership:

* condition and completeness of the paper
* quality of paper, ink and typesize
* when and how the paper is delivered
* accuracy of the bill
* cost of home delivery
* overall customer service

A newspaper's customer service strategy does not have to be complex to be effective. The primary element of any strategy is commitment. The initiative has to be ingrained in the culture.

Louder said customer service starts at the top with Publisher Noel Hamiel. Everyone at the Republic from Hamiel on down understands they are there to serve the customer. Of course, this attitude must be instilled in carriers, Louder said. District managers must clearly outline expectations.

"It may be time-consuming, but it's a necessity," he said.

Commitment must be to the right thing, warned Bob Davis, a circulation consultant based in Alpharetta, Ga. He said the overriding customer service mistake newspapers make is confusing efficiency with effectiveness.

Davis, whose clients have included Morris Communications properties, USA Today and the Miami Herald, said newspapers should not obsess over call time. Instead, they should concern themselves with metrics based on quality, not speed-metrics such as inbound saves rate, first-time resolution, service error followup or conversion to EZ Pay.

"There should be a drive toward having a quality conversation rather than a quick, get-them-off the phone conversation," he said. Commitment also involves training, Davis said. Customer service reps need to continually refine their skills with training and feedback. Motorola conducted an internal study that found that every dollar spent on supervisors coaching customer service reps returned $33 to the enterprise, according to Davis. At most newspapers, the employee charged with supervising customer service reps has as many as 22 tasks to perform any given day and spends only about 30 minutes engaged with the reps.

"Yet, (supervisors) readily admit that their No. 1 priority is coaching," Davis said. "But with all these other things they have to do, they end up with 22 different hats to wear."

One simple step trainers can take, Davis said, is to analyze how reps respond to a call. More than half of all customer service calls to newspapers are complaints. Yet, almost no matter what customers say, the first words they hear from a rep are "May I have your phone number please?" The first step must be to show empathy and issue an apology, Davis said.

"Start developing a rapport," he said. "We've become so task-oriented as opposed to people-oriented."

The payoff for coaching can prove tremendous. Davis said anywhere from 22 percent to 45 percent of a typical newspaper's circulation will call in to cancel over the course of a year. Newspapers should be able to recover 50 percent of these requests for cancellation, he said. The industry average for saving stops is around one in five, according to Newspaper Association of America. Part of the difficulty is determining the real cause for the cancellation. The top complaint is delivery problems. The No. 2 complaint is the familiar "no time to read." Davis said reps need to drill down past this excuse. He said in 53 percent of these cases there is a second reason prompting the cancellation. And in 80 percent of those cases, the second reason is the real reason the customers want to cancel.

Newspapers can tackle incremental changes in customer service like these or they can consider changes on a grander scale like the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.

After moving to a distributor-based system, the paper found that complaints dropped significantly, said Leon Barrineau, administrative manager in the circulation department. Instead of handling more than 500 carriers, the newspaper just had to deal with 20-plus distributors who hired their own delivery forces. Complaints wentto the distributors, not the paper, and carriers were divorced from bill collections.

With the lack of service calls coming in, the customer service department came to be overstaffed, Barrineau said. The paper decided to completely outsource its customer service.

As employees left through attrition, none were replaced. For those that remained, management found them other jobs at the paper. One employee left voluntarily.

The Post and Courier then contracted with the McClatchy Co.'s Customer Care Center (C3) located at The State, Columbia, S.C., to handle customer service calls.

Since the Post and Courier pays C3 on a per-call basis, the newspaper benefits from decreased call volume. To keep call volume down, the paper drives as many complaints and service requests as possible to www.charleston.net, its Web site. Customers can manage subscriptions here thanks to some basic tools found in the paper's circulation software from Data Sciences Inc. (DSI).

"The more Internet activity you have, the more automatic drafts that you do, the better customer service in the field, the better relationship distributors have with the customer-all of that plays into decreasing the phone volume," he said.

While the Post and Courier tops 95,000 circulation, Barrineau believes its strategy can work for both smaller and larger papers.

The online account access for subscribers is a "no-brainer" that can improve customer service at any paper, he said. But to substantially improve customer service, newspapers would likely need more people working more hours. Newspapers have to determine if they can generate enough business to justify the additional staffing, Barrineau said. If they cannot, then outsourcing might be an option if the transition is made with care.

"If you don't do it right, it can be gut-wrenching and can really upset your organization. But if you do it right and handle it tenderly, it can be a real success story," he said.

Outsourcing customer service remains a more complex solution than others. Louder at the Republic prefers attitudinal adjustments over anything else. Customer service is one of the things he can control at his paper. He can't control the news or what inserts will appear. But he can control the service customers receive.

"I've realized that in my years as a circulation employee, when it comes down to it the only thing you have complete control over is service," he said. "So that's what you focus on."

Contacts:
Jon Lauder, (605) 996-5514
Bob Davis, (678) 455-6812
Leon Barrineau, (843) 853-7678

Quick Tips: Customer Service Tips

* It might go without saying but when given a second chance, a newspaper must make good on its promise. Re-delivery must come through without mistakes.

* After a circulation problem has been resolved, offer the subscriber a coupon good for 5 days' credit the next time they renew their subscription. Include a personal note from the district manager or circulation manager. Show your concern.

* Don't be afraid to replace ineffective carriers.

* Always find out exactly what the problem or issue is with the subscriber. Always ask if there are other issues.

* Subscribers are more likely to respond favorably to a customer service rep if that rep shows a genuine interest in the subscriber. Ask the caller what his of her favorite section is. By tapping into the reader's emotional attachment to the paper, this question can shift the tone of the conversation toward the positive.

© 2007 Inland Press Association/Inland Press Foundation

Discovering higher profits

When you're on the phone with customers, it pays to ask questions

By Bob Davis

Newspaper customer care centers across the land today have an opportunity to mine real gold by asking subscribers the right kind of questions with every contact. In my work with major media companies in the U.S., I have proven time and again that asking these questions consistently-which means adding a discovery step early in the call flow-will lead to a dramatic boost in sales and customer retention.

The right message

For starters, when reps ask follow-up questions, customers get the message that they're on the phone with someone who is interested in them, wants to listen and cares enough to be truly helpful.

Let's say a customer calls in to report a problem and says, "I didn't get my paper today." With a discovery step in the call flow, the rep responds with enthusiasm, helpfulness, sympathy and interest in learning more:

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm glad I got your call because I can help you with that today. Tell me, is this the first time this has happened or have we disappointed you more than once?"

When customers call in with a complaint such as this, they are annoyed. The first benefit of this discovery question is that psychological studies have proven when people talk about something that upsets them, they become less emotional and more logical. Getting a customer into a logical frame of mind increases the likelihood that you'll be able to solve the problem. Then it's time for another discovery question:

"Again, I'm sorry to hear that. I know how important the paper is to you. By the way, what's your favorite section?"

Selling themselves

This is where the second benefit of discovery comes in. When customers talk about the value they receive, they sell themselves and become more receptive to the solution. If the customer answers, "You know, my coffee just doesn't taste the same if I'm not reading the Sports section," you're in a strong position to ask for a chance to fix the problem. The chances are much better that the customer will accept the solution and respond affirmatively to an offer. This comes in especially handy when customers call in to cancel. They sell themselves, and you get more saves!

The discovery step carries a third benefit when a customer calls to cancel. Studies have shown that as much as 50 percent of the time, customers don't give us the real reason for cancellation initially. Again, asking discovery questions get customers talking about their problems so they're less emotional, more logical and more likely to accept your solution and stay with you as a subscriber.

What's more, everybody reads a different version of the same paper. Some subscribers might jump right to the Arts and Entertainment section, world news or the community page. Others check the sports scores each morning as part of their daily routine. One reader may be searching for a new job and checks the classifieds before the headlines. Another zeroes in on business news. Another reads stories in the fitness and living sections first. The bottom line is, the paper is a valuable part of their lives. When customers start talking about the paper's value in response to discovery questions, they sell themselves.

Quarter-inch holes

It's all about relating features to benefits. Last year, there were probably a million quarter-inch drill bits sold in the U.S., but nobody really wanted the bit, just the quarter-inch hole!

One of the most common reasons for cancellation is when subscribers say, "Well, the papers just pile up. I'm too busy to read it." That's your cue to discover. If you understand what's keeping them so busy, you are better prepared to point things out about the paper that improve their lives. Does the customer work two jobs and can't find time to read the paper? Mention the employment classifieds as a good source for a higher-paying job so she wouldn't have to work two jobs. Is the subscriber too busy to read because he's searching for a house? Mention the Real Estate section. Are you talking to a working mom? Mention the Food section's quick-and-easy recipes. The reader says he can't afford the subscription? Talk about the value of Sunday's coupons. Chances are that the customer will respond, "You know, now that you mention it, that is worth it for me. Go ahead a renew my subscription." And you have the save.

Well worth checking

It pays to ask. In fact, I have seen discovery add millions of dollars to a company's bottom line. My advice is to take a half hour and visit your call center, listen in on a few calls and ask a few questions of your own. Are your reps reaping the benefits of discovery? If they are asking questions, are they the right kind? Could your call center be generating millions more in sales and saves by asking a few good discovery questions? Could be. At minimum it's worth a listen.

Untying Their Hands: Free Up Your CSRs to Solve Subscribers' Problems

Published September 13, 2006 by the Newspaper Association of America
By Bob Davis, president of Robert C. Davis and Associates

Recently a circulation director asked me how to get CSRs to apply more common sense to solve problems on calls. My answer is that CSRs by and large have plenty of common sense. They simply need more room to apply it.

Over the years I have found three reasons that CSRs are not able to provide what seems to be an easy, logical solution to a problem. First, they've been disempowered. Second, they are just the messengers. Third, the call center has a staffing and overflow capacity problem. Let's go through these issues one by one.

Disempowerment

The first reason is that CSRs are disempowered because they do not have enough authority to solve problems that they are capable of handling.

For example, let's say a CSR at a major daily newspaper has the authority to give only three days' credit. Yet many problems require more than three days' credit. Let's say a one-week vacation stop is not entered properly and the papers get delivered anyway. Perhaps someone with an ongoing delivery problem has missed a total of more than three days. Maybe a new start doesn't begin until a week after it is supposed to. The list of potential problems goes on and on.

In this situation, if more than three days' credit is required, CSRs would likely put in a remedy report that goes to an accounting clerk who decides whether or not more credit is warranted. The CSR never hears another thing about it. Why would a clerk in accounting be more qualified to apply credit than the person who has talked to the customer directly?

Additionally, I have seen CSRs with no authority to correct billing problems. Let's say a customer calls and wants to extend the promotion. Or perhaps the bill the customer received does not correspond to the promotion they thought they were getting. The CSR's only course of action in these scenarios is to print the screen and give it to the supervisor. Not only is the CSR disempowered, but this policy creates unnecessary work for the supervisors. CSRs are capable of fixing these kinds of issues themselves-they need only the authority.

Finally, when the situation calls for it, CSRs should be able get off the phones to fix problems and then call customers back. For example, if the customer threatens to quit unless delivery improves, the CSR should get the customer's contact information, call the carrier to clear up the problem, and then call the customer back to report what has been done. Taking the time to do this will not only please the customer, it will make the CSR and the carrier feel better about their jobs!

Just the Messenger

Often I hear exchanges between CSRs and customers that could be handled much more effectively if the CSR was more than just the messenger:

Customer: "This is the third incorrect bill I have received!"
CSR: "I will be sure to tell my supervisor."

Customer: "If you can't deliver my paper every day, than just cancel it."
CSR: "I will send another note to the zone manager."

Customer: "You said you would redeliver my paper over an hour ago. Where is it?"
CSR: "I will send another note to the carrier."

It would be much more powerful for the CSR to say, "Mr. Jones, do you have a pen and paper handy? Please write this down. My name is Susan and my extension is 8431. I am going to fix your problem myself. And if you ever have any other problems with the paper, I want you to call me personally so I can take care of it for you!"

Staffing and Overflow

Call centers often receives several calls to fix one problem for a subscriber because the issue doesn't get handled with the first call. Constant pressure of the next call coming in is leading the CSR to think, "I don't have time to fix this problem with all these calls coming in. I will file the report, hope for the best, and take the next call." Clearly, this problem indicates the need to examine staffing and include automatic overflow capacity for unexpected spikes in call volume. This way, CSRs will be able to take the time required to fix each problem once and for all on the first call.

In my experience, CSRs have as much common sense as anyone I know. They are tremendous asset for a newspaper company and can be of even greater value if you take the right steps. Empower them to do what it takes to satisfy the customer. Let them complete the feedback loop so they're more than just the messenger and know whether or not a problem has been solved satisfactorily. And last but certainly not least, allow them enough time to fix it right the first time.

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.

Stimulating Conversations

When it comes to communicating with your subscribers, quality beats efficiency

By Bob Davis

Recently, as I watched a newspaper publisher listening to the robotic way his customers service reps were dealing with subscribers, his eyes got wider and wider. Within 15 minutes he was on the phone to his customer service manager, asking astutely how rep effectiveness was being measured.

The answer was call time. The manager was looking for calls at 75 seconds or less.

Like so many leaders in the newspaper industry today, this publisher recognized that the efficiency model is outdated.

An effectiveness model, one that is based on having quality conversations with subscribers, is the way to drive dramatic improvement in EZ Pay sales and subscriber retention numbers. I've seen it work wonders in my experience with clients that include Morris Communications, USA TODAY, Knight Ridder, and America Online. What's more, I have observed that quality conversations are only possible when you combine training on a robust call flow with follow-up coaching.

I heard a joke recently about a call center interaction in which a subscriber calls in and says, "Your carrier just shot my wife!" The telephone representative replies, "Ok, may I have your account number please?"

While extreme, the joke contains some truth. We know that reps often have a robotic approach. They tend to ask for a customer's account number or telephone number too soon. Instead, we should greet subscribers with enthusiasm and exchange names right away. It leads subscribers to conclude they're on the phone with someone who cares and can help.

However, the greeting is just one vital step. In many customer contact centers, I have found that reps are not doing anything to discover what the subscriber values in the newspaper. The process of discovery enables reps to make a compelling offer based on the subscriber's needs, desires and preferences. Reps should be asking well-phrased discovery questions that elicit positive responses and help subscribers sell themselves on the value of the paper.

Here's an example. A subscriber calls to say the paper didn't arrive today. The rep apologizes, exchanges names and gets the subscriber's phone number. While the computer is pulling up the account information, the rep asks questions, perhaps starting with, "What is your favorite section of the paper?"

Most subscribers have an emotional attachment to the newspaper - a place, a time, a ritual. They may also have strong feelings about certain features or sections. A subscriber is much more likely to respond favorably to an EZ Pay offer or an extended subscription term if the rep shows a genuine interest in the subscriber and targets the offer to the subscriber's expressed needs, desires and preferences.

Quite simply, newspapers that ask their subscribers discovery questions have better conversations, more accurate data and greater understanding of what makes the subscriber tick. Ultimately, discovery equips us to serve and satisfy.

An enthusiastic greeting and full discovery are critical, but these skills do not come naturally. They require consistent practice via follow-up coaching. In fact, coaching is the most critical step in producing dramatic sales and retention results. It ensures consistent and excellent adherence to the call flow.

Most training programs are ineffective because new skills evaporate quickly when they are not reinforced over extended periods of time. Studies have shown that without follow-up coaching, average trainees forget much of what they learn:

* 25 percent forgotten within an hour
* 85 percent forgotten within a week

Repetition is the only way to make learned skill stick. An average adult needs 21 attempts to develop a pattern of employing a new skill. However, it takes 100 or more attempts for the individual to draw upon the skill routinely, or habitually.

Studies by Motorola found that consistent on-the-job coaching returned $33 for every dollar invested in training. My company has seen similar staggering results time and again with our clients.

It is critical that customer service and retention supervisors perform on-the-job coaching. Yet many efficiency-driven newspapers overwork supervisors to the point where they can provide little or no team coaching support. To generate unprecedented results, supervisors must be master teachers of the call flow and spend half their time on the floor coaching reps and inspecting what they expect.

A Harvard Business Review study showed that customers must be not just satisfied but very satisfied at the conclusion of every customer service contact to build loyalty and stability. According to the study:

* A customer who is merely satisfied resides in a "Zone of Indifference" where he or she has neither positive nor negative feelings toward the organization.

* By contrast, a very satisfied customer resides in "Zone of Affection" where he or she remains loyal to the organization and promotes it to others enthusiastically

Indeed, a quality conversation is well worth the effort because it is the key ingredient to creating a very satisfied subscriber who is stable and loyal. And with recent changes to how the newspaper industry is allowed to telemarket, retention is critical. Now more than ever, it is much less expensive to retain current customers than to go out and win new ones.

Boosting Sales and Customer Retention

When taking inbound customer calls, the greeting is critical

By Bob Davis

Customer contact centers have a golden opportunity every time a customer calls to make a request, register a complaint, or even quit. Yet far too often, companies lose these opportunities as fast as they come into the queue. The good news is that organizations can boost their sales and customer retention figures dramatically if they take the right steps. It is critical and highly profitable to have a consistent, quality conversation with every customer, every time.

Now this might seem like a no-brainer on first examination, but many customer contact centers are missing out because they're not giving enough attention to one of the most important steps in the call flow-the greeting. In fact, if this step is handled correctly, the chance the call will end with a sale or a save goes up significantly.

Let's start at the beginning. Industry research shows that people jump to several conclusions at lightning speed. During the first 15 seconds of a call, customers can decide the capability, competence, intelligence and helpfulness of the telephone representative. How the rest of the call goes is determined largely by these few seconds.

Fortunately, call outcome is greatly within our control. By and large, we can ensure that callers will jump to the right conclusions-that they have called someone competent, caring and who can really help-if we start out with a greeting with the following qualities:

* Enthusiasm. Representatives who answer the phone enthusiastically convey the positive message that they are glad the customer called and that the customer has reached the right person. For example, "Thank you for calling the Mayfield Chronicle. This is Betsy Jones. How may I help you?"

* Assurance of help, expression of sympathy. On inbound calls, representatives should immediately assure help after the customer has responded to the initial greeting. For example, "I'm glad I got your call because I can help you with that today." In the case of a complaint, the language should be, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, but I'm glad I got your call because I can help you."

* Name exchange, name use. Dale Carnegie said that a person's name is the sweetest and most important sound to that individual in any language or setting. So, although representatives have identified themselves at the beginning of the inbound call, it is critical that they reintroduce themselves, exchange names and use the customer's name during the call.

* When to get the phone number. Again, when customers call, they want to reach someone who cares about them and can fulfill their requests or resolve their complaints quickly and pleasantly. Before asking customers for the phone number, reps should express sympathy about a complaint, assure help with a request or complaint, and exchange names. Otherwise, we can come across as robotic or rude and interested only in processing the call and moving on. Customers must know that we are interested in responding positively to their wants, interests and needs.

* Attitude control. Many representatives take 100 calls or more per day. It is important to work with and coach them maintain as much enthusiasm and positive attitude on the 90th call of the day as they had on the first. Without being mindful of attitude and enthusiasm constantly, representatives can slip into a robotic delivery during the call.

Using the right greeting sets the stage for the next important step in a robust call flow-discovery. By beginning the call positively, we're in a better position to have a meaningful conversation with the customer and discover the individual's wants, interests and needs. Knowing this, we have the knowledge we need to add value to the customer's experience with us and our products and services. Achieving this helps customers sell themselves-and that's the objective!

If you want to maximize your bottom line, there's no better time than now to visit your customer contact center and spend 15 minutes listening in on some calls. Choose three reps and listen to how they're greeting your customers. Are they enthusiastic and do they maintain their enthusiasm from call to call? Do they assure help and express sympathy? Are they exchanging names, establishing good rapport and showing interest and concern? If not, you can boost your saves and sales by helping your people master a new, more robust greeting and call flow.