For years, contact centre specialists have insisted that quality matters more than cost. With so much media comment on poor customer service this year, more clients are taking heed, and the best agencies are seeing the benefits.
None more so than the favourite of the Marketing's judges, The Listening Company, whose turnover soared 40% to 拢36m in 2007. Established in 1998, the agency has long been one to watch, and its recent figures would propel it into the top 10 of Marketing's annual league table. The good news is likely to continue, with turnover projected to rise as high as 拢45m in the next financial year.
The agency won 20 pieces of new business this year from high-profile brands including Toyota, AOL, O2 and Radisson Edwardian Hotels, with more in the pipeline.
It is opening a second site in Richmond, Surrey to accommodate 240 extra staff needed for its work with Sky. The agency now employs more than 1700 people across four sites in Richmond, Portsmouth and Tonbridge, up from 1300 a year ago.
The Listening Company has recognised a major shift of thinking, as businesses take note of consumers' gripes about poor telephone service. Companies are much more protective of their brands than in the past, and are nervous about outsourcing on price only. 'Clients want to know if their prospective partner will enhance the brand,' says chief executive Neville Upton.
The agency's clients believe it can. It has been a crucial element of the success of Advanced Payment Solutions (APS), for instance, which launched the UK's first prepaid chip-and-pin card for consumers with credit difficulties two years ago. This sensitive market requires flexibility and prudent cost management. Innovative use of technology helps provide both, with customers serviced though phone calls, including interactive voice response, SMS messaging, email and the web.
As well as contributing to APS' revenue growth, the agency has saved it 拢200,000 a year by using automation to shorten calls. 'The results show there is a mutual passion to provide the highest level of service through a superior customer experience,' says APS chief executive Rich Wagner.
For car parks operator NCP, the agency streamlined the handling of 8000 monthly calls by customers seeking to buy or renew season tickets. Many had found the automated procedure too difficult, with more than a third of calls being abandoned. The Listening Company quickly got this rate down to less than 5%.
NCP's season ticket manager, Andy Kythreotis, praises the agency for the speed with which it grasped the nature of its business and the value of the brand. 'It is without doubt a customer-focused organisation with a keen willingness to adapt to, and cater for, its clients' needs,' he says.
Key appointments this year have shown a commitment to quality in leadership and overall management. One is James Wickes, founder of web software company Interex, who has more than 20 years' experience in IT. His job is to help integrate the telephone service with internet and other channels, helping ensure that clients' customers can communicate in the way they prefer. This is the kind of 360 degs thinking that makes the agency stand out.
'A lot of companies can provide email and SMS campaigns; these tend not to be linked to other channels,' says Upton. 'The agency believes its ability to work with them all simultaneously is a big advantage.' It is training more of its staff to send emails to callers, which means they can spend less time on the phone explaining products and services.
Another striking appointment is that of England rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio. As director of motivation, he is designing incentive programmes to recognise and reward outstanding work by agents.
The Listening Company also scores well in thought leadership, carrying out key research this year into what customers want from call centres. More than half of the 1000 consumers interviewed said they preferred to speak to an agent, not a machine, while 60% said they would stop dealing with a company that provided poor telephone service. The agency is using these findings help clients develop their strategies.
Previous winners
2006: LBM
2005: CPM
2004: Garlands
2003: MM Group