The Business of Broadband

Your Service Representatives are one of the key touch-points that your company has with your prospects and customers. There are some important programs and procedures that you should have in place to make the most out of this important asset.

Tracking Marketing Effectiveness

One thing that your Service Reps can do is track how effective your marketing efforts are. You are spending money on advertising to promote your business, and it’s critical to know what is working well, and whether you should continue to spend your marketing dollars in that way. Even if the media is inexpensive or free (i.e. social networking, press coverage), you need to track the effectiveness to know where to focus your efforts.  So, each conversation your Service Reps have with a prospect should include the question “How did you hear about us?”.   Make sure you provide a method to record and report that information, whether it is a check sheet or a field within your billing system. Also, create some pre-defined categories such as Newspaper, Bill Insert, Billboard, Direct Mail, Friend, etc., and if you have more than one piece running in a category, that should be noted so you can track which specific ads in a category are working best.

Up-selling and Cross-selling

Your Service Reps can help increase your average revenue per user (ARPU) by up-selling or cross-selling additional services. This is used very effectively in the fast-food industry. Here is how it might apply to your business:

• “Would you like fries with that?” …might become:

> “Would you like to add our On-line Back-up service to your broadband account?”

• “Would you like to super-size that?” …might become:

> “Would you like to make that 6 Mbps for only $10.00 more per month?”

• “Would you like to make that a combo?” …might become:

> “Would you like our triple-play offering of TV, Internet and Phone service?”

This effort can apply not just to first-time customers, but existing customers. If a subscriber calls in with a question about their bill, or some other aspect of the service, your Service Reps can ask a question that can lead to a new sale. “Were you aware that we also offered TV service. We may be able to save you money each month.” Of course, this needs to be done carefully. If the  customer who calls in is angry due to some service problem, it would be best to save any sales pitch for another time.

Competitive Intelligence

Prospects and customers will often provide information about your competitors that can be used by you to highlight your strengths relative to your competitors, or to help you discover and address any weaknesses. For example, a prospect may mention that your competitor has been having problems with their connection or some other facet of the service. Or, a customer may tell you about an offer they received from a competitor with a lower price or a new feature that you need to take action on. Make sure your Service Reps are trained to know what to listen for, and encourage them to ask follow-up questions to gain more information.  Then, provide a clear channel of communication where they can get that information to the appropriate staff.

Managing Churn

Unfortunately, customers leave from time to time. There is no getting around that. But, you can take steps to minimize churn, which immediately affects your bottom line. Your Service Reps are key in this area. If a customer calls to cancel, the first thing said should be “I’m sorry to hear that. Can I ask why it is that you’re canceling the service?” Just as you track how a customer hears about your service, you should provide a way for your service reps to track and report why customers are leaving. This can give you important data that will help you more quickly identify and respond to any trends–especially when you have the ability to make a difference.

To fully leverage your Service Reps in this area, you should be prepared to give them, or a supervisor, a bit of leeway in certain situations, such as the ability to give a customer a credit if they are leaving due to a service issue they experienced. Or, if a customer is leaving because of price, make sure your reps are equipped and ready to give information about any special promotions, bundles or discounts that are available that could make a difference and keep the customer with your service.

In any of these initiatives, it’s critical that your Service Reps understand that they are an integral part of the success of your organization on several fronts. You should consider a small incentive for those who proactively sell additional services or who save a customer account. This can be done through reports from the Service Reps coupled with recording of phone calls if you have that ability. Or, you could run an ongoing “secret shopper” program. Have someone call from time to time as if they are a new customer or an exiting customer to see how well the Service Rep handles different situations. If they do a good job in up-selling or handling a customer who is leaving, reward them. If they don’t, you have an opportunity for additional training.

Do you empower your Service Reps in any of these ways?  What has been effective in your company?  Feel free to comment below.