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Transitioning Customer Service Representatives to Sales Advocates

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Presentation on theme: "Transitioning Customer Service Representatives to Sales Advocates"— Presentation transcript:

1 Transitioning Customer Service Representatives to Sales Advocates

2 Agenda SEMCO Energy Gas Company at a Glance
Concept Introduction of Sales Through Service Benefits of using utility Customer Service Representatives Integrating New Ideas Filling a need Finding the right partner product Implementation Challenges Finding Solutions Training Incentives Testing the Right Approach Conclusions 2

3 SEMCO ENERGY Gas Company
SEMCO ENERGY Gas Company, headquartered in Port Huron, Michigan, is a regulated public utility that delivers natural gas to approximately 290,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in service territories in the southern half of the state's Lower Peninsula (including in and around the cities of Albion, Battle Creek, Holland, Niles, Port Huron, and Three Rivers) and in the central, eastern, and western parts of the state's Upper Peninsula. SEMCO ENERGY Gas Company is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of AltaGas Ltd.

4 Concept Sales Through Service
Expand service offerings to customers by engaging the utility’s customer service team - smartly capitalizing on this resource and continuing to increase its value to the organization Create a no-cost incentive programs for representatives Improve representative satisfaction—reduce turnover and associated recruiting/training costs

5 Benefits Using the professional, dedicated and talented SEMCO Customer Service team to promote and sell Line Protection and Total Repair plans Why SEMCO Representatives? Extensive and intimate knowledge of customer base and issues No one knows them better Trust and loyalty of customers Offering customers another solution Skilled problem solvers with excellent phone skills Already know how to “talk” with customers Already have customer’s attention Easy transition to a very soft “sell” Limited impact Offer ONLY when appropriate

6 Integrating new ideas Strong Customer Service Changing the Culture
Strong Partner Customer Service Metrics Great Product Customers wanted

7 Filling in a need Each day over 10,000 Americans reach retirement age and transition to fixed income -Pew Research Center 64% of American’s don’t have enough cash on hand to handle a $1,000 emergency expense -CNN/Money Magazine 1 in 5 households are putting off repairs -Ipsos Public Affairs

8 Finding the Right Product
Knowing that changing behavior into a more sales focused organization was better for the utility, its employees and its customers, finding the right product and partner was just as critical to make this initiative work The Partner HomeServe USA, a company whose mission it is to free its members from the worry of home emergencies Over thirty five utility partners with nearly two million policies and perform nearly 300,000 annual repairs The Product HomeServe Warranty Protection Programs Furnace Water heater protection AC protection Interior Gas Line Protection Expanding to include Interior electric Exterior water line

9 Implementation Challenges
Apathy Lackluster Sales No Enthusiasm Incentives Competitions Goals Teams Training

10 Finding Solutions Knowing it was good for both the company, its employees and its customers, we made the decision to do one more “full court press”… Secured senior management support Secured partner support Worked directly with call center management, supervisors and employees to determine how to structure the program Timeline Training Incentives Visibility Confidence

11 Training Group Training Product Sales Training Why its ok to offer
Detailed overview of the products and combinations Sales Training Suggested transitions Close tools Why its ok to offer Customers of a utility expect it to have answers for these issues When a utility offers these programs it increases customers satisfaction by at least 30% 1 on 1 The 1 on 1 training proved most valuable in helping reps understand the transition Helped avoid deciding for the customer Provided encouragement to make that all important 1st offer Allowed for individual call review

12 Incentives Bigger isn’t always better Overall best seller
Ongoing weekly incentives Random selection as well as individual selection Top of Mind Keep the goals and the incentives in front of the reps at all time Incent the Ask Helped overcome the biggest hurdle The agent just didn’t want to ask

13 Testing the Right Approach
Defined beginning and end Two month timeframe to start Grand opening and a celebration ending Not during peak periods Sell Only when on-call-hold times are short Lessons learned Turned out 2 months was too long and created some fatigue Our next effort was 1 month and was received much better

14 Conclusions Utilizing sales through service is effective because
Increased rep awareness of various products Strategically utilized call center time We are testing the use of it in Electronic bill payment and presentment programs Budget billing programs Evaluating its potential for burner tip conversion programs Warranty products continue to be the right product given it’s a natural extension of the core commodity we provide Numerous testimonials Savings our customers thousands of dollars in repairs Generating non-core revenue HomeServe continues to be the right partner for this initiative


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