Customer Service Takes the Lead

Claudia Thorpe looks at why water companies are switching their focus to customer service – and what they have learnt from the P&Q Challenge.

The focus for water companies until now has been on engineering – on making sure water flows every time a tap is turned on. However, they now have a new additional focus: the customer.

This is because, by 2017, UK residents will be able to choose which company provides water services to their home. What’s more, the industry regulator OFWAT is making customer service one of the key ways it assesses water firms.

This has prompted three water companies to take part in the P&Q Challenge – a contact centre industry initiative sponsored by Nexidia.

Case Study #1 – Thames Water

Before the P&Q Challenge:

• Performance monitoring consisted of tick-box exercises, managed by a centralised quality team – with no involvement from team leaders.
• No customer experience coaching was taking place at all.

After the P&Q Challenge:

• Customer service team (rather than the process team) has developed a new set of quality standards, and team managers are now responsible for coaching teams and helping individuals develop.
• Repeat calls have dropped and individual performance is improving. Customer survey feedback from customers shows that they’re moving in the right direction.

Case Study #2 – Essex & Suffolk Water

Before the P&Q Challenge:

• Quality evaluations were very process driven using a yes and no tick list to assess the advisors.

After the P&Q Challenge:

• Employees are trusted to do what is right for the customer, rather than rigidly sticking to process.
• Performance reviews are now monthly coaching sessions where agents can openly discuss what has gone well as well as areas to focus on.

Case Study #3 – Northumbrian Water

Before the P&Q Challenge:

• Focused on technical aspects of the call, driving the wrong behaviours as advisors tried to get the process right, rather than getting it right for the customer.

After the P&Q Challenge:

• Advisors are encouraged to think outside of the process and do what’s right for the individual customer.
• Customer feedback is used as a performance measure, which is more meaningful for agents than an arbitrary score from a manager.

Case Study #4 – Echo Managed Services

While not a water company, Echo is an outsourced services provider specialising in customer service for utility companies, public sector and media.

Before the P&Q Challenge:

• Even though the company had widespread quality standards across the business, it was identified that advisors didn’t always feel directly empowered and involved in the process.

After the P&Q Challenge:

• Emphasis is now on personal responsibility for individual agents. They are given a set amount of time each month for development and they can choose how they spend that time (e.g. one-on-one coaching sessions, online training, or classroom training).

Each company has realised the importance of the voice of the customer

Each of the companies has realised the importance of the voice of the customer in measuring quality – and they now allow agents to present their view of the customer experience.

However, management will only hear about things the agent deems important.

The next step is to analyse every customer interaction to reveal trends impacting on business performance.

If these companies can see a big difference simply by asking agents for their opinions, just imagine what could be achieved by harnessing the voice of each and every customer.

With thanks to Claudia Thorpe, on behalf of Nexidia