The Client

The client is a global leader in the design, marketing and servicing of comprehensive customer engagement and loyalty programs for many of the world’s most respected companies.

Managing Experience

OVERVIEW

Industry: Retail

Geographies: North America

Solutions: Inbound B2C sales

Results:

- Aegis is their #1 outsourcing partner and

outperforms their captive centers

- Aegis quality identified ways to increase

conversions and CSAT

- Sales conversion improved by 8 points and 200

sales per week

Case Study | Outsourcing | Retail

Inbound sales expertise for a B2C leader

Business ChallengesInbound business-to-consumer selling is a specialized skill. Agents work at a frantic pace to answer a high volume of repetitive calls while countering numerous rejections. The highly emotional atmosphere requires them to always be onstage. These are not traits that every sales person possesses, and attrition rates are high. The client chose to outsource this capability rather than grow it in-house.

Services Provided By AegisThe client selected Aegis to manage its consumer acquisition sales campaigns in November 2000. Over more than a dozen years, Aegis has excelled in many areas. Today Aegis has more than 130 agents (Spanish and English) on this engagement. The three main categories of inbound acquisition calls are:

- Phone transfer programs: The client transfers calls from its partners to Aegis, with a goal of converting callers into a loyalty program. Aegis agents additionally up-sell callers on privacy protection plans and travel discount programs.

- Web programs: Many of the client’s programs advertise on consumer-focused websites. The toll-free numbers on the advertising are answered by Aegis agents, who sell and up-sell callers.

- Direct mail campaign follow-up: The client conducted direct marketing campaigns in specific markets, including stickers on Sunday newspapers and bag promotions at selected retailers. Aegis agents perform inbound calls to convert these prospects into customers.

Solutions Delivered By Aegis- Aegis quality: The Aegis quality approach as designed by COPC was

implemented into the engagement in late 2010. This approach drives improvements in customer satisfaction, sales, cost and compliance. Sales agents were trained on strategies to maximize sales while reducing handle times and improving close rates. Experience has shown that implementing the COPC quality approach in a sales engagement offers insights into why a sale was not made while identifying specific and actionable areas for improving conversion rates.

- Redesigned quality form: The quality form was redesigned to capture detailed information about the sales process and the customer’s reaction to the sales approach. For example, if the sale was not made during the transaction, reasons were divided into Agent related issues (e.g., appearing too scripted, not using rebuttals, or lack of knowledge) and Non-agent related issues (e.g., caller didn’t have a credit card, or the caller was already a program member). The Non-agent related issues are typically not captured through traditional, agent-focused monitoring programs. However, it is critical to understand non-agent issues to quantify the true conversion rate opportunity.

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Managing Experience Case Study | Outsourcing | Retail

Figure 1 shows the reasons why sales were not made. While 84% of calls without a sale are due to Non-agent issues, there is still a significant opportunity to improve conversion by improving agent skills - by focusing on the 16% of the errors related to agent issues. The Non-agent issues were also analyzed and provided to the client; 61% were due to non-interest from the customer after the agents attempted an effective rebuttal.

- Conversion rate disparity: The client believed there were differences in conversion rates between tenured and new agents but did not know the root cause for the differences. While their existing quality process was reporting high quality scores, there was a significant performance gap between the high quality scores and the low actual conversion rates. To address the differences in conversion rates between tenured and new agents, the team chose two sampling groups (tenure of less than 90 days and tenure of greater than 360 days) and randomly selected transactions within these groups to evaluate the sales effectiveness from the customer’s perspective. The team analyzed the results to identify causal factors for the differences in conversion between the two groups.

Figure 2 depicts the difference between tenured and new agents. 94% of agent-related sales errors are made by new agents, with the majority of the errors related to scripting. Reviewed calls showed that new agents appear too scripted and insincere, often talk too fast, and sometimes don’t attempt a rebuttal.

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Managing Experience

Figure 1: Reasons Sales Were Not Made

84% of the sales conversion were Non-agent issues

Non- agent issue Agent issue- agent appears scripted

Agent issue- did not attempt rebuttal

Agent issue- did not appearsincere

Agent issue- talked too fast

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16% of the sales conversion were Agent issues, primarily with scripting issues and rebuttals

Case Study | Outsourcing | Retail

84%

Figure 2: Tenure Comparison of Agent Related Issues

Appeared to bescripted

Did not attemptrebuttal

Did not appearsincere

Talked too fast

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New agent (<90 days) Tenured agent (<360 days)

100% of scripting errors are from new agents (<90 days)

An action plan was developed to add conversational scripting, rebuttals, increased role play and mock calls, agent re-training and mentoring

Results- Top outsourcing partner: Aegis has consistently outperformed the client’s

other outsourcing partners as well as their captive centers. The client has also consolidated its outsourcing relationships and has moved much of its business to Aegis.

- Aegis success: In the 12 years Aegis has served this client, 10 different outsourcing partners spanning 16 different contact centers have failed at the business.

- Action plan results: Sales conversion improved by 8 points in the 6 weeks following the implementation of the action plan and training. The incremental increase was approximately 200 additional sales per week.

About AegisAegis is a global outsourcing, technology, and engineering company committed to impacting clients’ business outcomes by focusing on enhancing customer experience across all touch points and channels. Aegis was founded 30 years ago in the US and now has operations in 56 locations across 13 countries with more than 55,000 employees. Aegis services over 300 clients from verticals such as Banking and Financial Services, Insurance, Technology, Telecom, Healthcare, Travel & Hospitality, Consumer Goods, Retail, and Energy & Utilities. The company is wholly owned by the Essar Group, a USD 27 billion conglomerate.

For more information, write to us at info@aegisglobal.com or visit www.aegisglobal.com

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Managing Experience Case Study | Outsourcing | Retail