Customer Service Magic

Woodie PerkinsBatesville Casket Company

Agenda

• Who We Are• Our Desk-Side Business Problem• Our Desk-Side Vision• The Year Long Journey• Were We Successful?• What is Next?• Question/Answers

Who We Are

• Largest casket manufacturer in the US

• Award winning casket and urn manufacturing facilities

• Efficient customer demand pulled, mixed-model production system

• ~ 500 unit transportation fleet

• ~ 100 warehouses throughout North America

• Next day delivery service to 2/3 of our customers

• Batesville, IN – metal & urns• Manchester, TN – metal• Mexico City, MX - metal

• Vicksburg, MS – wood processing• Batesville, MS – wood• Chihuahua, MX – veneer

The Business Problem

• We outsourced desk-side support to a tier one service provider in June 2003

• Huge customer service issues

• 5 day resolution on desktop issues

• The “Help-Less” desk

• Tickets fell into the “Black Hole”

• Internal customers voiced concerns about the help-desk

• Lack of flexibility with the team

• Impacted associates from getting their jobs done

The Business Problem (continued)• Contributing Factors:

• Remote management - providing no discipline, accountability, guidance or vision to the team

• Yearly performance reviews were rarely given

• Relaxed monthly measurements were scrubbed to meet the service providers standards not business standards

• The team was not allowed to work on any issues without having a ticket to do so

• SLA turn-around was too relaxed and unacceptable by Batesville Casket standards

• Lack of pride and ownership in their work

• No process improvement mentality

So…Desk-side support was in-sourced in June 2006

We Know Bad Service When We See It

Customer Service Magic

We Know Good Service When We See It

Customer Service Magic

• The Pickle – Give ‘em a pickle

• The Fish Story - Tough Job, but people have fun

• Johnny the Bagger - Make a persons day

• Secret Service – John Roberts Spa – Great processes for when a failure happens

• Customers for Life – Sewell Cadillac - Under-promise over deliver

• Airline Baggage Handler- Mailed fallen off luggage tags to customers

• Wally the Taxi Cab Driver – Offers coffee/tea, newspaper, music

• Ritz-Carlton Associate – Customers PC, flew it to Hawaii

• Nordstrom Associate – Perfume from another store, no additional charge

The Deskside VisionBecome a customer centric organization. Provide a new and improved focus on Customer Service.

•Drive value for all business partners

•Make desk-side support a great place to work

•Support the mission of seamlessly integrating enterprise business solutions to create a competitive advantage

•Provide a stable and user-friendly environment where information is easily obtained and accessed

•Create an extraordinary end-user computing experience for all Hillenbrand Industries associates

•Utilized the Deming Cycle for process improvement to turn the vision into reality

Customer Service Magic

Action Plan – Year Long Journey• The vision for the team was developed and we boiled it down to

one word….WOW!!

• We implemented well-defined, logical steps to lead us to the vision. These steps weren’t easy and even seemed unattainable at first but you’ll never achieve great things if you don’t strive for challenging goals

• We utilized Deming's PDCA cycle to reengineer processes that were an impediment from reaching our vision

• We developed a five step plan which would take a year to complete but would ultimately assist us in attaining our vision

The Five Step Plan For Customer Service Magic:

1. Great Execution - Shock and Awe

2. Develop Customer Service Delivery Systems and Processes

3. Create A Passionate Customer Service Organization

4. Continuous Improvement

5. Measure

There is no “Silver Bullet” or “Magic Fairy Dust” used to create Customer Service Magic, just a simple five step plan.

Step 1. Execution - Shock and Awe

• Determine what the customer wants and give it to them

• Under-promise and over-deliver in a consistent manner

• Make it easy for the customer to do business with us

• Create a noticeable difference between the old and new desk-side support on Day 1 for our customers.

• Rapidly respond to issues and over communicate with the customer

Step 2. Develop Service Delivery Systems & Processes

• Poka-Yoke (Mistake-Proof) processes and systems

• Refined processes – removing time out of the process

• Developed process/systems to ensure that no issues fall through the cracks

• Develop proactive recovery strategies

• Don’t leave customers in limbo, developed processes that enforce timely resolution to issues.

• Over communicate. Developed specialized cards to leave with the customer

Step 3. Create a Passionate Customer Service Organization

• Customer service training via books and video

• When a customer asks, the answer is always YES!

• Discussions and meetings with our associates on the soft issues:

• Expressing the idea that true customer service must come from the heart because you care about your business partner’s needs

• Making a difference in someone’s day has a great impact

• The team was challenged to find their own unique ways to provide stellar customer service

• Promote positive attitudes and how they become contagious for others

Step 3. Create a Passionate Customer Service Organization (continued)

• Each month an associate from the team is given a special award for their extra effort in providing enhanced customer service…WOW Award

• Each associate is empowered to do whatever is necessary to get the job done to meet the customer’s needs

• Monthly living the ideology series…Never forget that we are a service organization!

• Performance Management - Build the best team

Step 4. Continuous Improvement• Often pleased, seldom satisfied!

• Ran “Kaizan” sessions to improve service offerings

• “Spare in the Air” Program – 5 days to 1 day turnaround

• New Hire process – PC,Phone,Name-Plate,Email,etc is ready when a new hire starts instead of waiting a week or more

• Warm-Transfer to a desk-side technician instead of waiting for a return call

• 7X24X365 Deskside Support instead of 8 to 5,

Monday - Friday support

• Expert Support for shrink wrapped software

Step 4. Continuous Improvement (continued)

• Provide “White Glove” treatment to each business partner by wiping down monitors and keyboards during their support visit.

• Technician’s leave their business card attached to stationary listing the details of the work performed during their support visit.

• Requiring each technician to carry a nice leather toolkit that contains small tools, stationary, business cards, cleaning wipes pens, etc to ensure they can fix the issue during the first visit

Step 5. Measure• Measure Everything!

• Implemented a customer satisfaction survey

• Share weekly and monthly statistics with associates to ensure the team is focused on the proper goals and aligned correctly.

• A metrics board is updated weekly with current statistics of all technicians, which is in the open and available for all to see

• Report results monthly to team, department, CEO staff

• “You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure”

Step 5. Measure (continued)

Were We Successful?You judge from the unsolicited remarks from our

customers…

“Wonderful Service”“Fantastic Job”

“She is Truly an Asset To Your Department”

“I am immensely appreciative of there customer service courtesy and professionalism”

“Your Prompt Attention is Greatly Appreciated”

“Thank You!, A Happy Internal Customer”“Thank You”

“Consummate Professional”

“Professionalism”

“Thanks For All Your Help!”“Wonderful Service”

“Delivered as Promised”“Phenomenal”

“Excellent Customer Service”

“Very Pleased”

“I Was Blown Away…”

“Phenomenal Job”

“You Never Fail to Respond”

“WOW Service”

“Awesome Service!!!”“You Are The Best!”

“This is Perfect!! WOW!!”

“I Appreciate Your Responsiveness”

“A Super Team Effort”

“Tremendous Help”

“You Were Great!”

“Your customer service and follow-up were exceptional”

“Keep Up The Great Work!”

“Patient and Positive” “Far Exceeded My Expectations”

“EXTREMELY Helpful”

“Much Smoother”

“Very Cheerful”

“Pat On The Back”

“Blown Away”

“Fantastic Job”

“GREAT Help”

“Sincere Appreciation”

What Is Next• Insourced the Service Desk (Help Desk) on June 17, 2008

• Very successful

• Improved service levels while reducing overall cost

• Insourcing Intel support on December 1, 2008

• Includes Intel, Citrix, Active Directory, VMware support

• Reduce overall cost

• Increased service level

• Developing a three year IT Infrastructure roadmap

Questions