CRM - May 2008 - (Page 45)

The Right Numbers CRM, together with telephony technologies, leads to better sales for a direct marketer ith two distinct business systems to correct that. Among them was units covering very dif- a CRM application from Oracle’s Siebel ferent markets, Launch- division, automatic call distribution from pad Communications telephone carrier Mitel, and CT Connect understands the value of keeping sales from Envox Worldwide. CT Connect proleads separate. A Los Angeles–based di- vides the computer telephony integration rect marketer of real estate listings and middleware that unites Launchpad’s medical/pharmaceutical supplies to more CRM data and contact center operations. Now, “when a call is answered, Siebel than 100,000 consumers and small-tomidsize businesses, its contact center is able to determine which ad it relates to and direct the script to rehandles more than 2 million calls a year in response to Before they answer spond,” says Chris Holbert, Launchpad’s chief information direct advertising campaigns a call, agents know officer and chief operating on behalf of its clients. officer. “It’s all recorded and Ninety percent of those calls what information available to the agent as a are sales-related, made by cus- they need to screenpop. They know before tomers responding to a mail they answer the call what they or advertising campaign. The present to the need to present to the customother 10 percent are service- customer. ers to service [the customers’] related; about 170 agents field those calls—50 for the healthcare prod- needs. It makes it easier to [open] the ucts and 120 for the real estate listings. call on the right note from the start.” Agents do not have to be specially For sales calls, the number that the customer dials corresponds to a specific trained on specific products because the ad or product, so it’s important, first, screenpops give them all the informathat each call gets routed properly and, tion and scripting they need. As a result, second, that agents know what the call is Launchpad was able to eliminate the silos between agent groups; each agent about before picking up the phone. Customers were being routed to spe- can now handle a wider variety of calls. cific agent groups trained to handle indi- “From a service perspective, our agents vidual products or services, which often handle about 25 percent more calls than left some agents waiting for calls while they did previously,” Holbert explains. And the agents are handling the calls others were swamped. So, in September, Launchpad implemented a number of faster and better. Call resolution improved www.destinationCRM.com W 32 percent, customer service ratings improved 1.2 points on a five-point scale, and costs per call were cut in half. Also, training time for new hires was cut by 40 percent, Holbert says,“because there’s just one look and feel to all the applications.” In replacing all the previous disparate systems with the new ones, there were some integration issues at first, but the biggest difficulty was building agent support for the change. “We had to change their mindsets,” Holbert says. “They were comfortable doing it the old way, even though it was so inefficient.” Holbert had to get agents to understand that change was imperative and the new systems would make their lives easier. “We’re more efficient now; we need fewer people to do the same work. We’re servicing customers better now without having to create a bigger team. We would have had to add five more bodies if we had not done it,” he says. Launchpad can now collect and analyze more data in less time, and is better able to gauge the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns almost immediately. As a result, the company can better target ads and adjust its sales messages on the fly, seeing how the changes affected sales—all in a matter of hours. This has increased revenues for both divisions. Moving forward, Launchpad will enhance its ability to collect caller information (such as age, gender, geographic location, etc.) before the call is transferred to the agent.“This way, we can match the customer with the agent to serve [the customer] best,” Holbert says. “It will mean a better experience for the customer— and for the agent, [it] will work better within their skill set.” —Leonard Klie the payoff BY EMPLOYING A SIEBEL CRM SYSTEM, MITEL ACD, AND ENVOX’S CT CONNECT, LAUNCHPAD COMMUNICATIONS: $ improved call-resolution rates by 32 percent; improved customer service ratings from a 2.2 to a 1 (on a five-point scale where 5 is the worst); cut costs per call by 50 percent; reduced agent training time by 40 percent; and gained productivity, as agents now handle 25 percent more calls. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MAY 2008 45 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - May 2008

CRM - May 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Is CRM Too Hard for Microsoft Vendors Go Virtual For Feedback Sense-sational Marketing How UGC Can Benefit CRM DestinationCRM Dashboard Price Check, Aisle 5 Required Reading The Moving Target The Excellence Myth Seven Steps to SOA Success And They're Off! Are You Ready to Party? Skin in the Game The Right Numbers Secret of My Success Re: Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - May 2008

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