HD Supply’s GREAT Customer Experience program is a joint initiative launched by Training and Coaching (Quality Assurance) to provide contact center associates with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to deliver an exceptional customer experience. This program impacts all of the maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) distributor’s revenue-creating business units, including Customer Care, Credit, eBusiness, Sales Support, and Property Improvement. There are 12 teams, totaling 700-plus associates across three sites in the U.S.
Program Details
Training integrated six modules into new associate development training, with refresher training provided to tenured associates, that highlights best practices in Greetings & Closures, Reach, Engagement, Actively Listening, and Tone.
The Training Team utilized leadership subject matter experts (SMEs) for the design, development, and training. The use of scenario-based learning concretely embeds the transfer of training to common service situations. Participants engage in interactive eLearning with gamification, video, and audio examples demonstrating both positive and negative behavioral examples of HD Supply’s GREAT competencies.
Additionally, the move from a quality assurance to a coaching approach to measurement and development has led to improved efficiency, effectiveness, and competitive advantage. Within this program, coaches randomly select and rate three calls per associate per month. Supervisors and team leads also review calls. If behavioral goals are not being met, associates are provided one-on-one coaching to refine their skills. Individual scores are reported monthly to the business leaders with special recognition for associates who achieve 100 percent ratings. The Training Team publishes recognition for associates with evaluation scores of 100 percent in a monthly newsletter, with additional recognition for associates and teams who have the top scores each quarter.
Short-term reinforcement is provided by the Customer Care Incentive Program (CCIP) that allows associates to financially benefit by earning a percentage of their monthly sales. Long-term reinforcement is accomplished throughout the entire year through periodic sales competitions.
Results
HD Supply aimed to “achieve and maintain a Voice of the Customer score of 82 percent for Customer Care Rep Friendliness and Professionalism.” As a result of GREAT Customer Experience Training, HD Supply witnessed a year-over-year increase of 15 percent in that category, going from 78 percent to 93 percent. Coaches saw an average increase of 16 percent in terms of GREAT behavioral anchors witnessed during call monitoring.
HD Supply also sought to increase “add on (addsell) to order sales by customer care reps” by 16 percent over the previous fiscal year. Total addsell dollars increased 39.8 percent vs. the previous year, on call volume that decreased 10 percent.
