Focus was previously contacted by a client of more than 10 years with an urgent request that would help them lower employee costs: Could we provide after-hours technical support for the customers who purchased their software?
“Let’s talk,” was our reply.
Of course, we did a bit more than that.
With a little creative thinking and a hard look at consumer requests, our team was able to help this renowned financial company cut costs while making their customers happier.
Lowering Employee Costs Was a Taxing Situation
One division of our client’s vast enterprise is devoted to providing industry professionals with legal, tax, regulatory, and financial software.
When working perfectly, passwords and protections allow their customers to enter and retrieve data 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The company was encountering a problem, however. When the numbers their customers needed for a report in the morning couldn’t be accessed the night before, mayhem ensued. And if the office was closed when a glitch occurred, angry clients made their voices heard – loud and clear.
It seemed our client would need to have employees on call throughout the nights and weekends to assist with the handful of inquiries that came in when the office was closed. But this increase in payroll would have significantly impacted the bottom line.
The big question: Could Focus agents actually reset passwords and make any other necessary adjustments?
A Joint Effort Builds Foundation and Reduces Burden
The answer was a resounding “Yes!”
Understanding that meticulous preparation and early troubleshooting of the service would have a huge impact on our likelihood for success, everyone involved agreed that we could not – and would not – rush the process.
Focus’ technicians worked with the client’s technicians. Our trainers worked with their experts. We even got our vendor involved.
A baseline, ultimately, was achieved.
Communication occurred daily. Our crew doggedly reviewed all calls from the nights before, tweaking and changing and fine-tuning, until it sounded like our knowledgeable agents were working right in their headquarters.
Our Client and Their Customers Are Now Finding Closure
Scripts began to sound natural. Repetition led to genuine knowledge. The Customer Software Support Hotline became a self-sustaining part of our client’s service.
The goal was to eventually have our agents closing 40% of the cases that came in during non-business hours.
In less than three months, our closure rate reached 17%, and our client was delighted.
After less than a year using the new format, we were closing 35% of calls regarding one of the client’s largest and most intricate modules, with callers never knowing they were speaking to a call center.
Better yet, all notations and adjustments are made using our client’s SalesForce software, so the information is at their fingertips when they arrive at the office in the morning and indistinguishable from work performed by one of their own employees.
The entire division is now able to see and understand the results of every overnight call that comes in.
“We all went into this with our fingers crossed, and a ‘Well, it’s worth a try,’ attitude,” said one key executive, who noted that the company’s payroll would have increased thousands of dollars had it not been for Focus.
Today, the client’s bill averages well under $2,000 per billing period – a small percentage of what it would have cost them to handle things in-house.
“I don’t think any of us realized how truly successful – and cost-effective – it would be,” the exec continued. “The effort Focus put into this project has panned out for everyone.”