The challenge

When customers have a question, they increasingly turn to their mobile device to connect to a brand using in-app messaging. And in one instance, a large wireless carrier’s sales division missed key sales and upsell opportunities within its own messaging channel.

Sales associates struggled to adequately engage consumers over the messaging channel, which impeded their ability to sell additional devices and services to both new and existing customers. For example, instead of asking open-ended questions to better understand a customer’s request, associates focused on expediency and processing sales orders. In fact, when customers asked a question outside of an existing sales opportunity, the associates transferred them to the care department.

Customers often had to seek answers through other channels, which led to a low Net Promoter Score (NPS) for mobile messaging, and sales revenue was down. The company needed an experienced partner to turn the messaging channel’s performance around and increase revenue.

Our solution

As a long-time partner, TTEC proposed changes to the sales associate coaching structure to allow coaches to zero in on the key behaviors impacting NPS and revenue. We restructured coaching sessions to include senior leadership in coaching session planning and the sessions themselves. The senior leaders shared key insights and advice, such as identifying one behavior that would have the biggest impact.

In delivering the coaching sessions, the senior leaders allowed managers to lead but were available if managers needed assistance. After the session, senior leaders and managers would debrief, highlighting successes and missed opportunities to develop the manager’s coaching skills with associates.

We also added side-by-sides (i.e., a manager reviews an associate’s responses in person or virtually) after the session to ensure the associate successfully applied the new strategies that were introduced in the coaching plan.

Finally, we implemented a Messaging Scoring Rubric to increase the efficacy of the coaching sessions. Previously, it was difficult for coaches to accurately measure and evaluate an associate’s skill level in order to tailor the coaching accordingly. To resolve this problem, the Messaging Scoring Rubric included progressively advanced conversation skill levels as well as a scorecard to grade and track each associate’s consistency and progress in obtaining Level 1 to Level 3 skills.

The results

By leveraging our training expertise and industry insights, TTEC successfully optimized and refined the coaching sessions to equip associates with information and skills to provide a better customer experience. Now, instead of transferring a customer to the care team when a customer’s initial question isn’t sales related, the associates address the concern, if possible, look up the account for sales opportunities, and transfer the message only if they’re unable to provide a resolution. In other words, the sales associates had a full conversation with the customer and set the expectations that a care associate had the tools to best address their issue or question, increasing the customer’s sense of value from the brand.

In restructuring the coaching sessions and introducing the Messaging Scoring Rubric, we quickly increased customer NPS scores and outperformed other partners that the client engaged for similar work. Quarter-over-quarter, NPS improved 18% and revenue per chat (RPC) increased 31%.

Through our partnership, the client gained insight into more effective coaching practices as well as consultative scoring at the associate and team level to enable better sales and customer support.

We continue to work with the client to add value to the customer experience. Having demonstrated that associates could successfully engage customers over messaging to sell devices and services, the client approved doubling its head count for this line of business to serve even more customers.