Improving Customer Satisfaction Scores Through Better Processes and Coaching
Prime Therapeutics is a pharmacy benefit management company dedicated to providing innovative, clinically-based, cost-effective pharmacy solutions for clients and members, covering approximately 14.7 million people.
Challenge
In 2007, Prime Therapeutics’ contact centers were faced with customer satisfaction scores that, though
adequate, left room for improvement. They didn’t have a structured process in place that enabled agents to
manage customer issues in a consistent way. And, they knew they needed to refine their coaching process to
ensure that changes to the frontline were supported and sustainable.
Solution
In 2008, Prime Therapeutics, led by Bob Menhart, vice president
of call center operations, turned to Ulysses Learning for contact
center training and coaching solutions. Menhart realized that his
contact centers needed a structured process to measure calls
and further improve the customer experience. Ulysses’ team began
by developing a training program for Prime Therapeutics’ agents.
The team showed agents and their supervisors how to handle
calls in ways that were more customer focused, and then let them practice these skills through simulation-based
role playing.
Next, Ulysses Learning looked at the way the company was using coaching. They found that managers were coaching their agents in single, hour-long feedback sessions once a month. Research shows that when agents receive coaching on multiple behaviors in a single session long after they occurred, they don’t know where to focus their attention and therefore don’t make changes. Therefore, Ulysses’ team showed the company how to maximize the effectiveness of coaching by making it just in time, focused and in smaller segments following a call observation.
To ensure that this culture change was a success from the top down, Menhart served as the executive sponsor. He participated in the coaching calibration sessions and made sure that the company’s leadership team attended the training sessions. Plus, he listened to transcripts of great calls and personally congratulated individual agents, which greatly increased morale.
Results
• The company receives approximately 5 contacts a day from members complimenting an agent’s
performance which was unheard of 12 months ago
• The “Ability of Customer Service Representatives to Explain Things Clearly to You” rose by 56% from 2007
to 2009
• The “Ability of Customer Service Representatives to Handle Your Question or Problem in One Call”
increased by 51% from 2007 to 2009
• The measure of “How Satisfied Are You With Agents’ Courtesy and Friendliness” rose by 32% from 2007 to
2009
“Our 2009 Member Satisfaction Surveys came
back and we scored in the superior range for
member satisfaction two years in a row!
Clearly, we have made the call strategy part of
our normal business. We owe much of the
credit to your solutions and your team.”
– Bob Menhart, Vice President,
Call Center Operations