FERNDALE, Mich.-Two years after outsourcing its call center to a third party, Credit Union ONE here has re-centralized its member contact center, splitting it between divisions focused on service and sales.
Steve Grech, EVP at the 105,000-member, $808-million CU, explained that the move was driven largely because the third party running it-he did not wish to name the vendor-was often unable to answer complex member questions. While members were able to be served beyond traditional business hours, they weren't being served in the manner the CU wanted them to be.
Rather than just set up a traditional call center again, CU ONE has changed the staffing structure of the contact center, one team responsible for service and a sales team responsible for taking incoming phone or online loan applications. To be a part of the sales team, employees must not only be good at taking loan applications, but must be knowledgeable enough to must sell credit/life, gap protection, disability and more.
Goals Exceeded
The member contact center (MCC) has seen great success since reopening. During April it generated $4.6 million in consumer loans, 266% of its goal for the month. Year-to-date the sales team has already generated $15.4 million, or 54% of its year-end goal. "That tells me the goal might be a little slight, but we didn't really know where to start," confessed Grech.
One change with bringing the contact center in-house is that 24/7 availability has been shelved. The contact center is generally available for 10 hours on week days and four hours on Saturdays. Grech said that there hasn't been much difference in overall cost to the Credit Union ONE in that regard, "but when members are calling and not getting answers, you don't get a first-call resolution, so that gets a second and a third call, and that hurts service and prevents your opportunity to get revenue, because you're talking to a member two or three times instead of focusing on your next revenue opportunity."
The opportunity for upselling means the MCC reps have to be adept at service first, but also need to have sales skills.
How Compensation Works
"Not only do those service agents need to understand the credit union's traditional products, but they have to be savvy on the digital side of it, too," he said. "This isn't a position for an entry-level employee; this is a position for a really highly skilled person."
Compensation for MCC employees is higher than that of traditional front-line staff, added Grech, and those on the sales side can also receive commission.
After launching the MCC in January, CU ONE's Net Promoter Score for its phone service was 52% during February. In March that number shot to 72% and stayed relatively steady in April at 71%. Grech said April's NPS score was a nice accomplishment as it rolled out a new online banking platform during that time period.
During April it received 23,400 phone calls, 1,700 online chats and 2,100 e-mails. Those numbers were up slightly due to rollout of online banking. March phone volume, for example, was 19,000 calls
Grech said ROI has not been the focus of the move to bring the contact center back in-house.
"For us it's all about quality; it's about NPS and first-call resolution. It's hard to quantify that," he said.
