Improving the Customer Experience One Sales Associate at a Time

Maritz Customer Feedback Tool Helps Client Improve Customer Experience – One Sales Associate At A Time

Situation
This leading telecommunications client had the objective of becoming the most highly-regarded retail wireless company. They understood that the customer experience created by sales associates at their company-owned, and retail-partner locations, would be key to achieving this ambitious goal.

While the client had conducted some mystery shopping programs in the past, comprehensive data about the level of customer satisfaction was not available. They were committed to gaining a much deeper understanding of the current customer experience, and finding ways to engage and motivate the front-line sales associates who represented their brand.

Solution
Maritz worked with the client team to design a program that would engage the customer and provide rapid feedback through a survey tool. Sales associates and managers were provided with the data and developmental tools necessary to address customer experience improvement. The program specifics included:

Location and Individual Feedback:

  • Location-specific customer experience research
  • Transaction data for every associate - from every store - entered into an outbound interactive-voice-response (IVR) survey system
  • Every customer has the opportunity to assess their experience by location and associate through the Customer Feedback Tool

Sophisticated Online Reporting:

  • Customer feedback results automatically populate an online reporting tool within 48 hours
  • The portal provides coaching tools for the managers and links to specific training modules that the associate completes to help support them in achieving their goals
  • For a more robust view of each associate managers also see five key sales metrics, including the number of leads, the number of opportunities closed, and overall sales volume
  • The manager and associate use this information to jointly decide which key metrics to focus on for the month

Actionable Intelligence:

  • The ability to coach associates on individual performance needs
  • The understanding of what it will take for individuals to achieve their sales and customer satisfaction goals
  • Customer feedback rolls up from the individual level to the store, district, region and national level
  • Scores from the Customer Feedback Tool are added to metrics for determining winners of the top-performer travel incentive program

Results

  • The Customer Feedback Tool has given the company their first comprehensive customer satisfaction measurement
  • Over 1 million customer surveys are being completed annually
  • Sales and service issues are being addressed at the front-line touch point
  • Managers within the company have embraced the robust online tool
  • Senior leadership uses program as key performance indicator toward corporate goal of retail excellence