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Cover Slide

The Value Proposition of Home Agents-What Does It Mean

For Your Business?

VIPdesk Webinar Series March 3, 2010

View The Webinar

Presented by:Sally Hurley: President, VIPdesk

Michele Rowan: President and CEO, Customer Contact Strategies, LLC

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Agenda

• The home-agent model● Cost reductions● Critical success factors● Risks and contingencies

• Cost benefits of scaling an at-home strategy

• Building your strategic analysis and operationalizing your plan

• Developing an effective pilot program • Technology: data transfer, call routing

and other best practices • Why adopt our culture?• The power of the people

● Profile and preferences of at-home agents● Recruiting, training and managing the

best. ● Hiring best practices

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About Today’s Presenters

• 20+ years experience delivering premium customer service

• Passion for customer experience

• Committed to building a culture that supports work-life balance

• Proud to be a green company- supporting thousands of individuals that work from home across North America

• Former President of Entrepreneurs Organization in D.C.

Sally HurleyPresident, VIPdesk

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About Today’s Presenters

Michele RowanPresident and CEO Customer Contact Strategies, LLC

• 12 years with Hilton Hotels Corporation as Vice President – Performance Management

• Both US and International Experience

• Designed European At-Home Program

• Led US expansion from 200 to 1000+ agents

• Consultant, Speaker and Author ‘Go Home’

Growth of At-Home Agent Model

CBRE Survey Results

Size of At-Home Agent Pool Today

55% < 100 agents

29% 100-500 agents

13% 500-1500 agents

3.2% 1500-3000 agents

Percentage of Agent Population At-Home

58% < 10%

16% 10-15%

9.75% 16-25%

6% 26-35%

9.7% > 35%

Participants: Healthcare, Financial, Hospitality/travel, BPO 65% utilizing home agents today 42% of those not utilizing WAHA are considering implementation w/in 2 yrs

Why Hilton Hotels Scaled the At-Home Agent Model

Attract & retain best talent

Cost reductions – the bonus!

Cost Benefits of Scaled At-Home 8

Source: WestAtHome.com, 2009* Results based on 92% agent efficiency, ultilization of 75%., revenue per sale of $55

At-Home Agents

US-based Brick & Mortar Agents

Near-Shore Brick &

Mortar Agents

Offshore Brick &

Mortar Agents

Price $23.00 $27.00 $18.00 $13.50

Calls per Hour 10.8 11.8 12.4 10.8

AHT (in seconds) 230 210 200 230

Sales Conversions 30% 23% 15% 23%

Cost per Call $2.13 $2.29 $1.45 $1.25

Revenue per Hour $178.20 $149.27 $102.30 $136.62

Return on Investment* $155.20 $122.27 $84.30 $123.12

Cost Reduction Strategies

Cost Center Common Variable

Facilities and energy • Reduce facilities and energy cost

Reduced base wage • 20% lower for new starts• 10% lower for in-house transfers

Reduced training wage • Additional 15-20% for new hiretraining period

Reduced new hire training budget • Virtual training < 25%

Reduced trainer overhead • Trainers un-tethered from singlenew hire classes

Shift equipment ownership • Employee owns PC, headset, phone

Shift mix from full time to part-time • Eliminate insurance costs

Work force management • Improved scheduling efficiency with increased PT work force

ACD upgrades and maintenance • Move to hosted solution SaaS

Call/screen recording and pushed recurrent training

• Move to hosted solution for one or both

Sample Risks and Contingencies for Strategic PlanningRiskFactor Impact Contingencies

Risk Level

1. Turnover – Part time evening employees could be less loyal than Part time day and/or Full time employees (driven from desire for temporary -only added income)

• Forecasted turnover benefit is depleted• Recruitment and labor costs exceed targets

• Accelerate plan to hire PT day WFH agents

Medium-High

2. Virtual training is poorly assembled and/or delivered –Mediocre or poor transfer of new hire training from classroom to virtual

• Training retention rate suffers• After training performance thresholds diminish

• Thorough benchmarking with successful long distance companies• Leverage established internal distance learning resources

Low

3. Brand and social connection weakens as a result of long distance relationship

• Turnover and related costs rise• Performance thresholds diminish

• Execute more robust, readied plan of connection and social activities• Reduce supervisor to agent ratio

Low-Medium

4. Technology limitations materiallydisrupt connectivity for certain agents and/or in specific markets

• Negative impact to service levels and revenue

• Research high speed internet availability in major markets where we plan to hire agents• Establish minimum standards for PC and internet speed, type of service and test prior to live working

Medium

5. Legal environment – new legislation may create obstacles or inefficiencies in the areas of security, home working environment or payroll

• Potential for increased costs, delayed start-up of agents on line• Others unknown at this time

• Develop contingency plan for delayed/depleted home working volume to be redeployed• Closely monitor federal and state legislation in employment, compensation and technology arenas

Low

Key Drivers of Effective Scaling

Technology

People

Process

VoiceData

Capital Expenditures

Demographics 12

Average Age: 23 30% have some

college-level experience

Average Age: 38+ 80% college-level experience 40% management

experience 30% bilingual Stay-at-home

parents Military spouses Retirees Disabled

Source: Frost & Sullivan

Traditional Brick and MortarAgents

At-Home Agents

Attributes & Preferences ofAt-Home Agents

- Independent- Problem-solver- Mature- Engaging- High technology aptitude- Less social interaction and touch- Share experiences

- Collaborate on work schedule

Why Adapt our Culture?

At-Home AgentAttribute/Preference Impact to Organization

IndependentProblem solverMature

CommunicateTrainCoach

Very effective at engagement Less emphasis

High tech aptitude Different training (less)

Less social interaction Reduced one-to-one time

Share experiences Restructured development

Collaborate on work schedule Re-engineer WFM

What About Hiring?

1. Fish where the fish are - on line!

2. Phone interviews – job modeling

3. Engage problem-solving and navigational skills in pre-work

3. Look for experience working independently; social interaction

4. Use your existing selection tools, assuming they are effective

Building an Effective Pilot

1. Reasonable sample size – minimum 5-10%

2. Mix of high, average, low performing for in-house agents (2/3)

3. Minimum one-third new hires and send home after training/nesting

4. New hires should meet your new profile expectations (i.e. part-time)

5. Established KPIs with frequent, systematic measurement & reporting

6. Trained and focused supervisors with intent to succeed

7. Clear, defined expectations for at-home agents (in writing and signed)

At-Home Impact on theCustomer Experience

Better at selling.

Better at educating and informing.

Better at engaging our customers.

“Satisfaction without engagement? Worthless. Satisfaction with engagement? Priceless.”

Gallup Organization

Questions?

Upcoming Workshops

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Upcoming VIPdesk Webinars

• March 23: Social Media and Customer Service: The Tools to Use and Best Practices

For more information or to register for the VIPdesk Webinar series, visit

www.vipdesk.com.

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Find Us Online

Website: http://www.vipdesk.com

Blog: http://blog.vipdesk.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/vipdesk

Facebook: http://facebook.com/vipdesk

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/companies/vipdesk

YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/vipdesk

Via RSS: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/23095083.rss

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Thank You for Attending!

Sally HurleyPresident

shurley@vipdesk.com(703) 837-3518

Michele RowanPresident and CEO

Customer Contact Strategies, LLCmrowan@gohome.us.com

972-510-8591