First-Class Service at 30,000 Feet and Below Case Study: CONTINENTAL AIRLINES Andre Harris Director,...

First-Class Service at 30,000 Feet and Below

Case Study:CONTINENTAL AIRLINES

Andre HarrisDirector, Reservations Training and Quality AssuranceContinental Airlinesaharris@coair.com

Continental ProfileContinental Profile

Fly to Win Fund the Future

Make Reliabilitya Reality

Working Together

““No Cash,No Cash,No Future”No Future”

OperationsOperations PeoplePeopleProductProductRevenueRevenue

THE GO FORWARD PLANTHE GO FORWARD PLAN

Contact CentersContact Centers

Three Domestic and 18 Int’l Contact Centers

2,500+ Agent Workstations

4,600+ Reservations Agents

60 Million+ calls annually, including airline

reservations, frequent flyer program and third

party customers

Annual Call Volume: 55,000,000

VRU / SRU: 7,000,000

Average Handle Time: 280 Seconds

Inbound Toll-Free Traffic: 95%

Inbound Calls Handled by More than One Center: 83%

Call VolumeCall Volume

Domestic

Executive Desk

Rates

Customer Care

Wholesale

Hearing-Impaired

Government

FAA

International

OP Service Center

Elite

Rewards

Foreign Language

Grandeur

Chairman’s Circle

Groups

Support

Spanish

Electronic Service

Partner

Prepaids

Military

Oxygen

MeetingWorks

Call FunctionsCall Functions

885 Employees (600 FTE’s)

General Sales, International, OnePass Partners, ePass & Support

6AM – 12AM Local

Salt Lake City ReservationsSalt Lake City Reservations

1153 Employees (794.5 FTE’s)

General Sales, International, Queues, Service Recovery & Support

24 Hours

Tampa ReservationsTampa Reservations

North Houston CenterNorth Houston CenterNorth Houston Center

2,604 Employees (1,882 FTE’s)

General Sales, International, Groups, MeetingWorks,

Support, Electronic Support Desk, Foreign Language, etc.

24 Hours

Product Provider Areas of Installation

ACD Rockwell

Spectrum

All Centers

PBX Lucent G3 North Houston

Intelligent Call Router Cisco All Centers

Toll Free Sprint, AT&T All Centers

Voice/Speech Response

Units

Innervoice /

Nortel

Tampa/North Houston

E-mail Management Firepond

Technology Infrastructure - VOICETechnology Infrastructure - VOICE

Product Provider Areas of Installation

Workforce

Management

Aspect version 5.0 All Centers

CTI Concerto All Centers

(screen pop)

Predictive Dialer Concerto Tampa

EZR (GUI) CO Technology All Centers

Call Monitoring Witness Systems

eQuality Balance

All Centers

Technology Infrastructure - DATATechnology Infrastructure - DATA

DeskTopsWIN XP

WIN NT

ServersWIN 2000

WIN NT

Routers / Switches 3Com / Cisco

Database Structure SQL

Application Development VB6 C++ .net

Access to Application

LAN / WAN

Terminal Server (in

development / testing)

Technology InfrastructureTechnology Infrastructure

Customer Service

Measure What’s Important to the Customer

Key Customer Drivers

Train, Reinforce and Expect Superior Customer

Service

Customer ServiceCustomer Service

Newsflash: Customers don’t care if we say, “Thanks for Calling Continental.”

So… we don’t measure it!

No More “Absolutes.”

Results-Oriented and Big Picture Strategies.

• Honor Individual Styles that Achieve Positive Results.

No Scripting.

• Promote Best Practices & Success Secrets from Best Agents.

Measure What’s Important to Measure What’s Important to CustomersCustomers

“What do customers value? We asked them!”

Before we spent $ on our product or made changes to our quality and training programs, we asked our customers what they value…

Customer Focus Groups & Interviews.

Our definition of FIRST CLASS SERVICE is simple… it’s the Customer’s!

Ask Your CustomersAsk Your Customers

Customers want to speak with CSR’s that will:

1. Provide Accurate Information

2. Understand Needs

3. Answer Promptly

4. Provide Friendly and Courteous Service

5. Provide Assistance with Finding “The Best Deals”

6. Provide Efficient Service

7. Be Responsive

Key Customer DriversKey Customer Drivers

New-Hire Training Revamped to Include Key Customer Drivers

Created New Training Programs, “Sellebration” and “Ex$ellence”

Recurrent Training = 4 Hours per Agent, per Month

Training @ ContinentalTraining @ Continental

Measuring the Measuring the Right ThingsRight Things

“What gets measured and rewarded,

gets done.”

-Gordon BethuneContinental Airlines Chairman & CEO

Customer Service

Sales Bookings per Hour eTicket %

Production Calls per Hour

Quality Rating / Customer Feedback

Key Result AreasKey Result Areas

Above Target 1 Coaching Session X 3 Calls/month

On Target 1 Coaching Session X 5 Calls/month

Below Target 2 Coaching Sessions X 5 Calls/month

Probationary 2 Coaching Sessions X 5 Calls/month

Agent Status & Quality Agent Status & Quality Monitoring FrequencyMonitoring Frequency

1990 = 65 Questions / Attributes

• A World of “Absolutes” & Micromanaging

1995 = 34 Questions / Attributes

• Scripting, Robo-Res & Mixed Messages

2000 - Present = 14 Attributes

• Balance Customer Service, Sales & Production

• Big Picture / Results-Oriented

The Evolution of Quality The Evolution of Quality MonitoringMonitoring

Provides and Documents Accurate Information

Provides Courteous Service

Provides Appropriate Options or Solutions

Uses Customer Care Guidelines to Resolve Problems

Satisfies DOT & CustomerFirst Commitments

Customer Mishandling

Customer Service AttributesCustomer Service Attributes

It’s all or nothing; partial information or 99% of the information is not good enough.This “attribute” replaced 16 questions on a previous call evaluation form.

1. Quoted Minimum 2 Flight Schedules

2. Advised Complete Fare Rules

3. Documented Fare Rules

4. Advised Correct Policies & Procedures

5. Documented Correct Ticket-Time-Limit

6. Documented Correct Credit Card #

7. Documented Correct Billing Address

8. Documented Correct Phone Number

9. Recapped Itinerary

10. Assigned Seats

11. Documented Special Service Requests

12. Booked / Rebooked Flights Correctly

13. Advised Correct Travel Documents

14. Documented Travel Documents

15. Documented Citizenship

16. Documented Correct OnePass Number

Example: Accurate InformationExample: Accurate Information

It’s all or nothing; partial information or 99% of the information is not good enough.This “attribute” replaced 16 questions on a previous call evaluation form.

1. Quoted Minimum 2 Flight Schedules

2. Advised Complete Fare Rules

3. Documented Fare Rules

4. Advised Correct Policies & Procedures

5. Documented Correct Ticket-Time-Limit

6. Documented Correct Credit Card #

7. Documented Correct Billing Address

8. Documented Correct Phone Number

9. Recapped Itinerary

10. Assigned Seats

11. Documented Special Service Requests

12. Booked / Rebooked Flights Correctly

13. Advised Correct Travel Documents

14. Documented Travel Documents

15. Documented Citizenship

16. Documented Correct OnePass Number

Example: Accurate InformationExample: Accurate Information

Asks for the Sale

Offers eTicket

Offers Alternatives to Overcome Objections

Offers Special Promotions

SalesSales

Remains Focused on the Business Purpose of the Call

Research Using Available Tools and Resources before contacting Customer Service Manager

Best Possible Navigation of Computer System

Identifies Customer Needs

Guides the Call in a Logical Manner

ProductionProduction

ResultsResults

Happy Employees = Happy Customers

Results & ROI

Quality As A Qualifier

Reward Excellent Customer Service

Results & RewardsResults & Rewards

Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for – 6 consecutive years!

Awarded Call Center of the Year 2003 by Call Center Magazine!

Less than 5% Annual Turnover!

Happy Employees =Happy Employees =Happy Customers!Happy Customers!

1. Sales• Reservations Revenue increased 17% vs.

15% YOY• 24% increase YOY in “car transfers”• Named Avis & Hertz Transfer Partner of Year

2002

2. Quality Assurance• 10% jump in average Quality Scores YOY • 50% increase YOY in calls evaluated• 29% increase YOY in Coaching time

Results & ROIResults & ROI

3. 3. Productivity

• 1 to 32 Team Leader to Agent Ratio 4. Customer Service / Productivity

• Reduced Calls to Support Desk from 5.8% - 4.8% YOY (2001 vs. 2002)

• Ended 2003 with 3.8%

• $0 in DOT/CustomerFirst Fines in 2001-2003

Results & ROIResults & ROI

0%8%

92%

1 2 3

What is the number 1 KeyDriver from Our Customers?

1. Courteous Service

2. Efficient Service

3. Accurate Information

92%

4% 4%

1 2 3

How many questions are on the current call monitoring form?

1. 14

2. 18

3. 22

63%

25%

13%

1 2 3

How many calls are evaluated in a month for a Below Target employee?

1. 35

2. 10

3. 15

11% 11%

79%

1 2 3

How many years has Continental been awarded a “Best Company to Work for?”

1. 4

2. 5

3. 6

11%

75%

14%

1 2 3

What quality monitoring tool does Continental use?

1. Tape Recorders

2. Witness Systems

3. Nice

Questions?