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Network Solutions Re-branding: Customer Service & Support 360An interview with Network Solutions, a provider of Web-related solutions for small businesses trying to create online presence, gleans proof of the company's re-branding as customer-centric after years of renowned shameful customer service. By DAVID R. BUTCHER, Assistant Editor, Customer Interaction Solutions Toward the end of 2001, Web-related solutions provider Network Solutions had a pretty significant problem: its customer service department was ... how does one put this judiciously? ... perfunctory. In fact, it was horrible. At least, according to Network Solutions CEO Champ Mitchell during a recent interview, it was. The poor record, dysfunctional operations and lousy attitude of employees combined were causing the company to decline in sales and market share. The average wait time for a caller was longer than an hour, and abandonment rates reached a migraine-inducing 30 percent — in fact, higher than 30 percent. The company, which assists small businesses in setting up online presence through Web sites and domain names, had spread its customer service across four outsourced locations and one in-house, causing the customers who called in with problems to have inconsistent experiences. Today, however, Network Solutions has shifted "from automation to consultation," a new branding initiative that has raised the customer satisfaction rate to higher than 90 percent. Ninety percent of inquiries are answered immediately, and every e-mail is answered, resulting in a current abandonment rate of one percent. Consequently, the company was a finalist for the 2005 American Business Awards for Best Customer Service Organization. Mitchell came on board as CEO in late 2001 with the goal to make Network Solutions the customer-centric company. Between September 2001 and June 2002, Mitchell replaced 70 percent of the company's employees and overhauled the entire customer service department. He brought in now VP of Customer Service & Support Shelley Rawlings to help. "I was a Network Solutions customer before I was its CEO, and I hated it ... totally lousy," said Mitchell. "I came on board and we absolutely had to get control of the customer experience. "And we have." The two set up an intensive six-week training program, which only half of applicants pass, to ensure that the company’s service has only the top, highly skilled customer service and support agents performing. Bragged Rawlings over the phone: "Half the applicants drop out before even reaching the 'academy,' which comes after the five-week classroom training." This "academy" is hands-on experience for potential agents, wherein they are supervised while doing what they may be hired to do for the company — or, in fact, do for the company's customers — which is to provide quality customer service for a broad range of questions. Under Mitchell and Rawlings' supervision, the company also took its service and support staff from the outsourcer and opened up a 300-seat in-house facility center in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Mitchell enacted free 24/7 customer service, where the average customer calls about three times a month and spends approximately 20 minutes on the phone per call. The service handles customers' inquiries and problems via phone, e-mail and fax. Network Solutions uses a "homegrown" desktop tool that sits on top of Siebel for agents to quickly attain and view callers and their issues. The company uses Siebel 7.5 for call tracking and escalation. A group from the company's technical team is using Citrix GoToAssist for novice callers' inquiries and issues. The Citrix solution will soon be used by Network Solutions' entire technical team, according to Rawlings. In two years, Mitchell and Rawlings transformed Network Solutions into a customer-focused company, leading the company to improved revenues and market share. Because the company surveys every caller, Mitchell and Rawlings know that 87 percent of customers rank the service and support as "high" — not bad for a company whose agents only two years ago apparently confused "customer service" with "customer malevolence." ----- David Butcher is Assistant Editor of Customer Interaction Solutions. To see more articles by David Butcher, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100008&nm=David%20 R.%20Butcher |