Dealing with vulnerable consumers

28 November 2012

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Thanks to our partners

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Welcome from the chair Jacqui Crawley, KMB Telemarketing

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DMA Contact Centres CouncilSteve Smith, trueCall & Elaine Lee, ReynoldsBusbyLee

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A bit about us

Elaine Lee

• Chair of the DMA Contact Centre

Council

• Working in contact centres since

1985

• Consultant specialising in customer

engagement and customer

experience

• Previously client side managing

outsource contact centre suppliers

A bit about us

Steve Smith

• Working in contact centres since

1985

• Carried out first ever research into

nuisance calls – 2005

• Invented trueCall (device to block

nuisance calls)

• Survived Dragon’s Den!

• A driving force behind this initiative

Agenda

• The ‘Care’ initiative – the journey so far

• The guidelines

• Next steps

The ‘Care’ initiative – the journey so far

Elaine Lee – Reynolds Busby Lee

Background

• The DMA’s contact centre council is an

elected body of practioners

• Volunteers

• Produce best practice guidelines for all

aspects of contact centre work

• Identified contact centre staff need

guidance on dealing with vulnerable

consumers

Who was involved in the work

• Started as a council initiative

• Framework document prepared with BT,

Alzheimer's Society & Rethink

• BSI and Business Disability Forum

Who are the vulnerable?

People affected by;

•Dementia

•Serious or chronic illness

•Recently bereaved

•Non-English speakers

•Bi-polar

•Armed forces – PTSD

•Transitory mental health issues

•Real people with real lives

What is the Care initiative?

• Practical, actionable guidelines

• A starting point for organisations to implement and develop

• Our industry is on the frontline of consumer contact

• Our members want to treat their customers appropriately

The guidelines

Steve Smith – trueCall Ltd

Who are we talking about?

• Dementia

• Intellectual, psychiatric, physical,

sensory, neurological or learning

disability

• Serious or chronic illness

• Recently bereaved

• etc

Key issue is that the consumer is not

at that time able to make an

informed decision

The problem

• May not understand the options that

you are giving them

• May be lonely and welcome the

opportunity to chat to someone

• May believe that a sales representative

is acting in their best interests

• May cave in to a persistent sales pitch

• May be unaware of identity theft risks

Vulnerable consumers :-

The problem“My mother of 87 years suffers from severe dementia and

nuisance telephone calls have been a nightmare over the last

five years. Because her loss of memory is so acute, she will

agree to any product offered by a telephone salesperson.

At one stage, she had five suppliers for her gas and electricity,

two holiday medical insurers and as a result of her saying yes

on the telephone, umpteen people were calling at the house

for new windows, double glazing etc.

I don't know if you can begin to imagine the dreadful muddles I

had to disentangle. I spent hours on the telephone to premium

numbers, and as fast as I had sorted it all out, the supplier

would ring my mother to confirm the cancellation whereupon

she would have it re-instated. So I have been going round in

vicious circles for the last few years. The frustration, time and

anxiety that this has caused me is acute.”

Anne (Surrey)

Three levels of call

1. Legitimate product / legitimate sales

pitch

2. Legitimate product / high pressure

sales pitch

3. Scams

All the pieces are in place …

• Most companies want to do this

right

• Most advisors have the skills

But

• Processes and procedures are not

in place to support this

Practical tips for advisors

Train call handling staff :-

– Identification

– Improving communication

– Double check before making the sale

Identification

• Appear not to understand even when

you have explained something

• Ask unrelated questions or wander off

topic

• Repeat themselves

• Say ‘yes’ before you have explained

something

Improving communication

• Speak clearly

• Be patient

• Don’t rush them

• Guide the call to keep it ‘on topic’

• Clarify understanding at every point

Double check before making

the sale

• Sometime ‘Oh yes’ means ‘I’m listening’

not ‘I agree to that’

• If in doubt ask them to explain back to

you what they think the deal is

• Ask yourself honestly – is their ‘yes’ real

agreement or just submission?

• Ask them whether there is someone

else they would like you to speak to

about this – a family member perhaps

Call centre management

• Train and support staff

• Consider setting up a special team to

deal with these customers

• Give recognition to staff who have

performed well – don’t penalise them

for taking longer on these calls

• Be on the look-out for multiple

subscriptions

Training ideas

• Young call centre staff may not

have the life experiences

• Colouring training with real people

scenarios

Databases

• Assessing and logging the quality

of communication

• Allow customers to make a

personal declaration

Assessing and logging the

quality of communication

• Allow the advisor to score each

call to indicate the quality of

communication they achieved on

the call

• If the quality of communication was

poor, then warn call centre agents

when they speak to that customer

again

Communication assessment

data

• Allows you to identify training

needs

• Allows you to positively

acknowledge advisors who are

handling these calls well

Personal declaration

• Allow customers to leave a free

text comment on their customer

record

“I, John Smith, wish anyone working in this

organisation to be aware that I currently have

mental health problems which might affect

my ability to make decisions. Please give me

some time to think about the decision and

call me back at a later date before continuing

with any sale.”

Personal declaration

• Allow customers to leave a free

text comment on their customer

record

“I am Joan, I am in the early stages of

dementia. On some days I will understand

what you are saying, but on other days I

won’t understand and may repeat myself.

Please will you take this into account and call

me back another day. I will also find it difficult

to understand you if you speak quickly or

rush me.”

Sharing information with third

parties

• Understanding when to share and

when not to share information

• Allowing carers access

• Taking a pragmatic approach

• Build this into procedures

More than ‘Do no evil’

• Used well the telephone is a great

channel for vulnerable people to

do business

• Often have mobility problems

• Often are not web aware

Who wants unhappy

customers?

• Not expensive to implement

• You will get enthusiastic support

from your staff

• Reduce confusion, complaints and

escalations

• Makes good business sense

Next steps

Elaine Lee – Reynolds Busby Lee

Getting started on change

• We’re at the starting blocks...

Getting started on change

• Senior management sponsorship

• Dedicated ‘desk’

• Positive acknowledgement of good

outcomes

• Share learning from difficult situations

• Welcome candid feedback

• Good service has its merits

Business process in your

organisation

• Don’t expect perfection from the outset

• Make it easy to complain

• Human beings can care, machines

can’t

• Look at how you can take these

guidelines and apply them to your

organisation

Next Steps

• Promote guidelines to industry

• Encourage clients build requirement

into their tenders

• Develop tools such as training modules

• Focus groups with Carers

• Evolve guidelines with feedback from

industry and consumers groups

• Roll out to other channels via DMA

councils

Thank you

Alzheimer’s SocietyKarishma Chandaria, Programme Manager,Dementia Friendly

Communities

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Understanding the needs of

people with dementiaKarishma Chandaria, Alzheimer’s

Society

______________________________________________________________________________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

______________________________________________________________________________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

Introduction

• The Alzheimer’s Society

• What is dementia

• The size of the challenge

• The Prime Ministers Challenge on Dementia

• Vulnerability of people with dementia and the

risks to businesses.

• What businesses can do to remove the

barriers for some of these individuals

______________________________________________________________________________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

The Alzheimer’s Society

• The Alzheimer's Society is the leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers

• The Society's fight for a better world for people with all typesof stakeholders takes a wide range of forms.

• Through our network of local services, we touch the lives of over 30,000 people every week, providing practical services and support

• Through campaigning and lobbying we strive to influence government policies and raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with dementia and the people who care for them.

The number of people with dementia will double in the next 40 years

______________________________________________________________________________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

Prime Minister's challenge on dementia

Dementia and vulnerability

• The declining ability to process information, which

results in forgetting PINs and passwords, and leaving

bills unpaid

• The trusting nature of many people with dementia,

which can leave them vulnerable and open to

exploitation from strangers

• If someone lives alone, with little support from family

or friends, their social isolation and loneliness may

lead them to answer the phone to anyone

______________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

•People with dementia may lose the ability to judge risk

and the value of money – common scenarios include

making huge purchases over the phone large cash

withdrawals, and/or keeping it in the house

‘Staff from the bank always ring asking to speak to my husband,

who I have explained is not well and has dementia. I have also

mentioned that I had permission to speak to them on his behalf as I

had a third party authority access on his account. They would not

listen to me so had to get my husband to agree and pass through

security before I could talk to them and answer the questions that

they wanted. It is very stressful when you are trying your best to

handle the situation and they make it so very hard.’

Common problems

• People with dementia who live alone repeatedly receiving

unwelcome or nuisance telephone calls commonly reported

by carers.

• Carers of people with dementia having to deal with telephone

cold callers who routinely target the person

• Being repeatedly called to change utility supplier

• High pressure sales tactics where people are repeatedly sold

multiple memberships and subscriptions

• Complex ‘boiler room scams’, involving false impersonation of

a company or organisation______________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

Potential risks to your business • Organizations can have little understanding of how to pick

up signs of a consumer with dementia, or how best to handle such situations with care and respect

• Staff may not be equipped to deal with the situation involving a person with dementia, and there is often no policy for addressing any problems that may arise

• Despite their best intentions, organizations may not give consistent quality service to a person with dementia.

• People with dementia can be trusting and believe that a sales representative (whose motivation is to sell) is acting in their best interests in an advisory capacity this leaves them

at risk of being manipulated by unscrupulous operators.

What can your business do? • Ensure that your staff are ‘dementia aware’ and

familiar with what the Mental Capacity Act is.

• Ensure that frontline staff are alert to the signs that the person they are talking to may not have the capacity, at that moment in time, to make an informed decision

• Provide practical tips for staff for communicating with people with dementia

• Using other methods of communication e.g. mail

• Use industry best practice guidelines and adapt them to your business

Thank you

karishma.chandaria@alzheimers.org.uk

________________________________________________________________________________________

alzheimers.org.uk

BTRichard Thomas, BT Retail Customer Service

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Meeting the needs of

BT’s vulnerable

customers

Richard Thomas

General Manager, Commercial

BT Retail Customer Service

We are committed to improving

customer experience for all our

customers, but especially for our

most vulnerable customers

Improving the

fundamentals and

enhancing

customer

experience for all

our customers

Making It

Easy

•Customer

Easy

•Sales quality

programme

•Complaint

handling

All customers

benefit

Meeting the specific

needs of vulnerable

customer groups

Vulnerable

customers

•CSDP

•Accessibility

•Text Relay

BT is proud to embrace the needs of our most vulnerable customers,

and their needs are helping to shape overall customer experience

We live in a changing worldIn 1950 the PSR was

12:1

In 2000 the PSR was

9:1

In 2050 for the

developed world it

will be 2:1

Potential Support Ratio (PSR) is the ratio of the number of 15-64

year olds who could support one person 65+

Cambridge University

BT has already adopted many of the

principles within the DMA guidelines

3.1 Senior Management

Sponsorship

3.2 Procedures

3.3 Staff Training

3.4 Communication

Needs

3.5 Post-call

assessment

3.6 Personal

Declaration

Guideline Item Status

• MD Consumer sponsorship

• Already aligned with the key principles - work to do to ensure robust

• No general ‘specialist’ team in Sales however we do have a CSDP team

• Scoping feasibility of introducing a customer segmentation model based on needs

• Making it Easy training rolled out in Consumer Sales (and Outsource)

• New entrant training updated – aimed at better understanding customer needs and

how to spot/manage ‘vulnerable’ customers

• At PoS we capture customers communication preference and if they have any

specific accessibility requirements

• Call recordings observed and assessed on soft skills, understanding customers

needs and regulatory compliance – for training and coaching purposes

• Customers can self-declare their impairments if they wish to do so via our website

• This information is recorded in the customers account

Making it easy - Video

We have a strong track record of vulnerable customer

support, and we continue to launch new services

Specialist Services Products Innovation

Rethink Mental IllnessClaire Lloyd, Head of Rethink Mental Advice & Information

Service (RAIS)

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THANK YOURICHARD.5.THOMAS@BT.COM

Business Disability ForumCatherine Grinyer, Director of Communications

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Catherine Grinyer

Director of Communications

Business Disability Forum

• Not-for-profit membership organisation set up over 20 years ago to help businesses become disability-smart.

• Around 400 members from across the private and public sectors.

• We support our members and advise on disability best-practice.

• Our Disability Standard helps organisations measure and improve their progress towards becoming disability-smart.

Disability, why bother?

• Good news – you’re either disabled now or you’re going to live long enough to acquire a disability.

• More than three quarters of disabled people acquire their disability as adults.

• 1/3 of people 50- 64 years have a disability; 1/3 of all employees are disabled or are close to a disabled person.

• Disability affects every part of your business - employees, customers, markets, suppliers and stakeholders.

Business benefits

• Disability-smart companies understand the needs and expectations of a diverse consumer base and maximise the productivity and creativity of all their employees; disabled and non-disabled.

• Research by Microsoft revealed that even people who do not consider themselves disabled can benefit from accessible and assistive technology..

• Spending power of disabled consumers is estimated to be £80bn in the UK and growing.

Catalyst for change

• Disabled customers should be able to expect the same level of customer service as non-disabled customers.

• We’ve worked with our members and Ofcomto produce guidance on accessible contact centres, ‘Your call is important to us’.

• Our best practice guide helps organisations to improve their call routing systems, contact centres and the customer experience of their disabled and older customers.

• We’re keen to support the DMA’s guidelines on dealing with vulnerable customers, we believe they are complementary.

Thanks for your time

Catherine Grinyer

Director of Communications

Business Disability Forum

Nutmeg House

60 Gainsford Street

London SE1 2NY

w: businessdisabilityforum.org.uk

t: @DisabilitySmart or @cgrinyer

e: catherineg@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk

Panel discussion

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Closing comments from the Chair

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Thank you for attending & please

visit

www.dma.org.uk

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Thanks to our partners

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