A Middle Market Newspaper in the U.S.

INCREASE CIRCULATION AND RETENTION, customer service, and operational performance and establish continuous improvement practices in the Circulation Customer Service Call Center and eight Distribution Centers

Project Focus

• Designed and implemented a customer focused Circulation Distribution and Customer Service operational model to improve customer service quality and overall performance
• Reorganized and streamlined work flows to improve service response, on-time delivery, and quality of service
• Developed training programs for staff and management to support the new model
• Designed and implemented key performance metrics reporting and management program

Benefits Realized

• 44% reduction in down routes in Circulation Distribution
• 29% reduction in Sunday delivery complaints measured as complaints per 1000 delivery
• 40% reduction in daily delivery complaints per 1000 delivered
• 85 – 90% of all redeliveries complete within ½ hour of call
• 71% reduction in Call Abandonment Rates in the Customer Service Call Center from 7% to 3% while expanding hours and no increase in staff

Key Changes

• Designed and implemented new roles, responsibilities and routine days for Circulation district managers and Customer Service representatives
• Developed and implemented service and quality standards in Customer Service and Distribution
• Implemented daily performance measurement through a structured management reporting and communication system which included Key Indicator Reports and Daily Quick Huddles
• Implemented a staff planning tool to determine staffing and scheduling requirements based on objective workload assessment
• Implemented daily supervisory monitoring of calls between CSRs and customers in the Circulation Call Center
• Developed a quality assurance program intended to sample 10% of new circulation solicitor sales orders and 5% of circulation complaints each day with CSRs making the sampling calls
• Designed a comprehensive Customer Retention Model to guide Circulation management through the various planning, tracking and reporting processes necessary to dramatically improve customer retention
• Redefined “service delivery complaint” to mean any call received to complain about service, delivery location or physical quality of the newspaper, not just “no/late papers”
• Implemented staging of papers at all distribution centers to improve carrier productivity and timely delivery of the paper
• Designed a carrier recruitment and orientation program
• Implemented expanded hours of service redelivery with Circulation adjusting district managers’ schedules
• Developed an independent carrier contract that includes standards of performance to hold carriers accountable to standards of service delivery
• Designed and implemented a management development program to strengthen management skills and practices at all levels
• Designed and implemented an employee skills training program. Prepared front-line staff to be trainers who train on critical skills modules and develop programs to meet future training needs

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