This article was written by the Customer Service Federation and published Oct. 21, 2021, on the CSF website.
In the run-up to the KSF Annual Conference, this year as a hybrid talk show, we are talking with our sponsors about the in-depth sessions after the talk show. Guests will attend offline on November 4 at Theater de Spiegel in Zwolle or attend online.
Uitblinqers is a sponsor of the annual conference and is organizing an in-depth session on how leadership and partnership with the right balance of people, processes and costs can lead to contact reduction. Speaking for Uitblinqers at the in-depth session is Cynthia Mak, winner of the 2021 CCMA award, with the theme “Remotely the best manager. Cynthia is Customer Care Director at Talpa E-commerce, part of Talpa Network. Together with Cynthia and with Bas Diepeveen, co-founder of Uitblinqers, we talk about their special collaboration and about contact reduction.
Talpa Customer Care & Uitblinqers partnership
Talpa Customer Care facilitates customer contact for all brands within Talpa Network that wish to make use of it. This includes e-commerce brands such as vakantieveilingen.nl, slajeslag.nl and actievandedag.nl, but also KIJK, Talpa Publieksservice and LINDA. are supported from this team. A total of thirteen brands in three different languages. That sounds like quite a job and it is. For that reason, the company has outsourced 80% of customer contact to Uitblinqers.
Uitblinqers provides both inbound and outbound customer contact for various A-brands. With a smart workforce consisting of college and university-educated young professionals, the organization focuses on providing complex customer contact. In doing so, Uitblinqers is a highly valued innovation partner for its clients. With a real can-do mentality and a team of specialists from the Synergy Hub, Uitblinqers helps clients organize their customer contact smarter and better. About Talpa Network, Bas says: “The cooperation is intensive, open and in an honest partnership. If something can be improved, we discuss it, make a gameplan and go about it.”
The implementation of an improvement varies from time to time. Sometimes Talpa first tests internally whether a change works, and if it does, it is rolled out at the partner. Other times it is piloted at Uitblinqers. The steps taken beforehand are always the same. For that, data is used, both qualitatively and quantitatively; a feedback loop for one’s own organization and for improvements in customer care. “Optimizing customer contact and processes is an interplay,” Cynthia and Bas emphasize: “Together we look for solutions. These are as often initiated by Cynthia’s team as by Bas’ Synergy Hub team.”
Contact Reduction
“The contact reduction program stems from the mindset of both companies; there is a lot of potential in the employees, and we want to utilize it,” Cynthia and Bas say firmly. The simple, monotonous work will be automated as much as possible, so that our smart, ambitious and driven employees can concentrate on the contact where they can really make a difference.” Bas adds: “Processes are designed to be better for customers, employees and for finances. The aim is to do things better together and to work smarter. There is genuine cooperation that feels more like colleagues than client and contractor.”
“Sometimes you have to deal with situations – Covid being one of them – that cause you to take another critical look at your processes. And this is where our partnership comes into its own. With a team of analysts from both Uitblinqers and Talpa, together we look for solutions and then implement process changes. This led, in the summer of 2020, to the accelerated launch of the contact reduction program. In times of Covid and working from home, that is. We launched in July 2020 and it resulted in an impressive reduction in the time it takes to resolve a case. That it made customers happier, we saw clearly in customer satisfaction.
But contact reduction leads to less revenue. Why would you want to participate in that as a contractor? “In the short term it is financially less attractive for us,” Bas admits, “but you can also make agreements about that. This is the way in which we can really do better together and make a difference. And that’s what we do it for. Another side benefit is that we build trust and our partnership becomes stronger. We win together.”
Leadership to make customers and employees happy
In terms of leadership, the trick is to get a good sense of what working in customer care means and what impact it has on the employee. Cynthia keeps track of that by sometimes solving tickets herself. That way she keeps her finger on the pulse. “I experience myself what can be improved, what is needed and what is not. From my experience as an agent myself, I understand very well what I need to do to make customers and employees happy.”
Her leadership comes from her own experience in the line. She knows the emotions of employees and customers. “That’s what it’s all about at Talpa, but also when managing Uitblinqers. Mutual challenge, mutual trust.”
Do you have any tips for colleagues?
“Yes, think from the human side,” Cynthia explains. “Put the customer first: how would you act if it was about your grandmother or your neighbor? Respect is an important point. Always include that thought in your decisions. But also: make sure you know what’s going on with your employees. You can better understand how to lead your team if you know what their work entails and what they deal with on a daily basis.”
Bas emphasizes again the can-do mentality of Uitblinqers: “Think in terms of possibilities. What if it does succeed? What would your work look like if your idea just succeeded? Assume what is possible and don’t let be hindered by bears on the road.”
Uitblinqers is a sponsor of the annual conference and, together with Talpa Network, is organizing an in-depth session on how leadership and partnership with the right balance of people, processes and costs can lead to contact reduction.
