A very well-known and regarded musical instrument manufacturer was pivoting its’ business model from selling through a dealer network to selling directly to consumers (DTC). Their original operating model of supporting their network of dealers could not work when selling to millions of consumers. The company was simply not prepared to service and sell to individuals. To make this transition from a B2B mindset to a B2C e-Commerce mindset required many changes in culture, technology, processes, and methodology. The customer service centers were a key component of the transition and we were engaged to help with the transition.
Our consultants began at the beginning, a full end-to-end review of the people, processes, methodologies and technologies within the contact center infrastructure. We identified huge gaps between the current servicing of dealers and the near future need of servicing consumers. We discovered homegrown and antiquated CRM systems that was sufficient to deal with the current state, but could not scale. We also found channel coverage limited to voice and email, an inability to let customers “self-serve”, an antiquated telecom system not designed to handle large volumes of calls, and a center management team unprepared for the new vision. We quickly transitioned from making recommendations to implementing the solutions we recommended. All of this had to transpire in a highly compressed timeframe to coincide with the quickly approaching launch of the new business e-Commerce platform.
Starting with technology, we recommended (and then implemented) a CRM platform to help them “know” their customers, a self-service IVR to help consumers self-serve (and deflect contact volume), and a cloud-based contact center platform to manage the volume of contacts across multiple channels, with minimal infrastructure changes. The IVR was integrated to the CRM platform where consumers essentially created and then solved their own tickets automatically, without having to speak with an agent. This both extended hours of service and deflected contacts while lowering costs for the contact center.
We also created new consumer-facing processes to drive accountability and efficiency and then worked with center staff to change the customer facing conversations to support the brand in this new environment. In addition, we expanded the channels where they have these conversations beyond voice and email to include the ability to offer online chat and self-serve.
The recommended solution launched in less than 60 days and was ready before the new e-Commerce website was ready to launch. The new technologies were fully integrated. In the first year of implementation, the company realized significant efficiencies and operational improvements and the service center was at the forefront of the transition to a B2C company.
