Support Services Group - Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year
Company: Support Services Group, Waco, TX USA
Company Description: Support Services Group was founded in 1998 and is a leading provider of various types of Consumer Support, including Technical Support, Help Desk Services, Customer Service, Ecommerce and Retail Support, Lead Generation, B2B/B2C Sales, Sales Support, Chat Support, Email Support, and Knowledgebase Management. We have 7 contact center locations across the United States, Latin America, and Canada.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - All Other Industries
Nomination Title: SSG's Frontline Team delivers 'wow' Customer Service
Support Services Group launched a program in November of 2019 with great aspirations. At the time, Support Services Group was a $25 million company with a modest track record of growth. With so much resting on it, SSG assigned a veteran contact center expert, Steve Geibel, VP of Operations to the project and brought in Greg Darr, SVP of Client Services, specifically to guide the fledgling customer service team with a goal of growing the team based on early success.
The product they were supporting was a hit with the public but it was so popular staffing enough agents who deliver quality was the largest obstacle to gaining a larger pocket share of the total volume. With 11 firms competing on the account, SSG had to perform and quickly. SSG faced long odds because it had to impress the leadership of a Fortune 50 company with a market cap of $229 Billion. At the time. SSG was small by BPO standards and the world’s largest companies tend to do business with each other for Customer Care. BPO partners have direct contact with customers every day and as such, have the potential to impact buyer sentiment of the entire user community.
Circumstance
One of the world’s most admired brands wasexperiencing unprecedented volume at the launch ofits streaming media business. The company, whichis known for incredible customer service,was not able to provide that out of the gate due toskyrocketing demand for its new product.It was looking for a BPO partner to entrust with its loyal customers when SSG got the call. As is often the case when opportunity strikes, the ask wasn’t easy: Hire100agentscapable of providing White Glove,Concierge service in 4 weeks. Coverage would be 24-7/365 so the recruits had to work Christmas and New Year’s Day too. The effort kicked off the day before Thanksgiving after most seasonal workers had already found second jobs.
Action
November 2019:Support Services Grouplaunched the recruiting effort in Waco Texas.
Recruiting stuck to a very strictHiring Profile- agents had to behighly skilledon day one.
Establishedabonus programto encourageworkingtheholidays.
Built a team, culture, environment, & toolsetfocused on the client’s core values.
InitialResults
December 2019:SSGachievedquality scores 20 points higher thanincumbentvendors
December 2019:Customer Satisfaction scores were at goal within 60 days of launch
Expansion Timeline
March 2020: 228FTEEuropean launch
May 2020: 93% CSAT Canada
April 2020 to present – 400+ FTE added around the globe
Jan. 2021 – CSAT 96.5% in Waco, Texas
During the contest period, our frontlineteam quickly hit KPI metrics while other partners of the client struggled, leading to growth from 100 FTE to over 700 FTE today. We now provide customer care in 8 world languages across several countries. The initial partner network included over 10 providers and just a few have remained. The performance of this frontline teamhas fueled unprecedented growth for the company, which went from $21 million in revenue in 2018 to $183 million in 2021. While the customer care team launched in the United States, the key to the global expansion was winning a 200+ FTE opportunity in Budapest, Hungary, in the Spring of 2020. SSG boldly acquired a company in Europe just to be considered for the program expansion. Members of the Senior Leadership Team including the CEO, COO, and CTO rotated in and out of Europe for months to oversee the launch. The Euro team hit metrics quickly despite COVID-19 striking weeks into the launch. Operations sent everyone to work-from-home and the team didn’t miss a beat. Continual excellence in Europe and the USA has paved the way for more growth. KPI performance remains strong and customer care is rolling along. Delivering strong CSAT during the pandemic has not been easy for many customer care teams. According to Harvard Business Review, escalation skyrocketed more than 68 percent during COVID-19 for some customer care teams. A study by The Institute of Customer Service found the greatest level of complaints since 2009.
Attached Deck - SSG Deck Cat 67 - Shows program performance and growth.
Attached Deck – WAH Stevie – This shows how we revamped the approach to transition to WAH.
SOCMedStevie – illustrates a commitment to culture transfer for new employees (clink on links)
Maintaining customer satisfaction during COVID-19 has not been easy as these articles outline:
As retailers grappled with out-of-stocks, the research found that 75% of consumers opted to shop with alternative brands. What COVID-19 did to customer loyalty | Retail Dive https://www.retaildive.com/news/what-covid-19-did-to-customer-loyalty/583377/
This article explains that customer revealed the number of customers experiencing service issues with organizations has risen to its highest level since 2009. https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/customer-service-complaints/
This article by Deloitte addresses the pains the BPO industry experienced during March 2020. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-covid-19-a-wake-up-call-for-the-bpo-industry.pdf
This article by Harvard Business Review addresses the difficulties of maintaining program performance during COVID-19. https://hbr.org/2020/04/supporting-customer-service-through-the-coronavirus-crisis
Videos:
SSG’s 2020 Year-End Video shows Culture is at this link: https://fb.watch/94_ftwsQVa/
Follow-up Culture Video highlighting our sites at this link: https://www.facebook.com/159750194168773/posts/2320380211439083/
Mother’s Day Video featuring SSG mothers at this link: https://www.facebook.com/159750194168773/posts/2331834373627000/%E2%80%8B
Father’s Day Video featuring SSG fathers at this link: https://www.facebook.com/104972808355335/posts/159735939545688/%E2%80%8B
Social Media Posts:
Motivational Monday’s at this link: https://www.facebook.com/159750194168773/posts/2318794494930988/
BetterWithSSG – campaign welcomes new employees at this link: https://www.facebook.com/159750194168773/posts/2466438243499945/
Brand Engagement campaign at this link: https://www.facebook.com/159750194168773/posts/2259514564192315/