First Person Resolution benefits both customers and employees
by Barbara Porter, Vice President, Customer Experience & Business Development, Nicor National, an AGL Resources Company
In our industry, understanding and acting upon the key drivers of engagement for both customers and employees is an ongoing effort. At Nicor National, we listen to what our employees and customers tell us because this commitment creates a rewarding experience for them. Late last year, we introduced our First Person Resolution (FPR) program, which is working well for two reasons. Not only are we enhancing the level of customer service we provide, we’re giving our senior agents the opportunity to make decisions without going to their supervisor. This is a great example of empowerment at work.
Empowerment is an important part of our culture. Our agents tell us that they want to feel helpful and knowledgeable when talking with a customer, and we’re glad to report that FPR is increasing their level of job satisfaction. What prompted this new program? An assessment of our senior agents’ skill set confirmed that they had the knowledge and experience to make what traditionally have been supervisor-level decisions. FPR benefits both agents and customers because our agents can handle the call more quickly. We track our levels of customer service by category and have found that there’s an 8.7 percent increase in customer satisfaction when the customer’s needs are met in just one call. Furthermore, there is a 17.5% increase in customer satisfaction when the customer isn’t transferred to a supervisor or escalation specialist.
Before rolling out FPR, we developed guidelines and conducted training. The curriculum covered negotiating, the art of compromise, establishing common ground, and several other behaviors that continue to help us respond to a customer’s inquiry on the first call. An additional benefit associated with FPR is that our supervisors have more time to coach other members of their team. Below are the sequential stages of our FPR calls:
- Listen carefully
- Clarify critical points
- Reiterate what has been discussed to confirm mutual understanding
- Offer an alternative, and confirm the customer’s acceptance of the proposed solution
Everyone is pleased with FPR because it’s one more dimension of providing exceptional customer service. A cousin of FPR is First Call Resolution (FCR), which is a bit different in that while customers may get transferred for further assistance, their needs are still satisfied in just one call and we’re pleased with our FCR results as well.