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2016 Global Contact Center and Office Headsets Customer Service Leadership Award 2016

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2016 Global Contact Center and Office HeadsetsCustomer Service Leadership Award

2016

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Quality of Customer Service and Customer Impact ................................................... 3

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 9

Significance of Customer Service Leadership ............................................................... 10

Understanding Customer Service Leadership ............................................................... 10

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................. 11

Best Practice Award Analysis for Plantronics ................................................................ 11

Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................. 11

Quality of Customer Service ................................................................................ 12

Customer Impact ............................................................................................... 12

Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 13

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 14

Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 14

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 15

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 16

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 3 “We Accelerate Growth”

Background and Company Performance

Industry Challenges

The contact center and office headset industry has been challenged by difficult economic

conditions where many businesses have curtailed new equipment purchases and

demanded better prices from the vendors they purchase from.

The cost of advanced headset models combined with end-user price sensitivity is pushing

vendors to find ways to provide additional value to clients in ways that builds the brand,

enhances loyalty, and lays a path for future revenue growth as economic conditions

improve. Improving customer service is an obvious path to enhancing the value of a

product for customers, but a superior customer service program is not created overnight.

It requires vision, years of carefully planned investment, and training as well as

confidence that the investment will lead to enhanced revenues within a 36 month business

planning cycle.

For publicly traded companies under pressure by financial analysts to show revenue

improvements on a quarterly and annual basis, investing in areas such as customer

service - that are difficult to connect quantitatively to revenue growth - can be difficult to

justify to some investors. Compounding that issue is the fact that many companies don’t

have executives that understand the psychology of customer service excellence and

instead focus almost exclusively on key performance indicator metrics. As a result, most

companies are never able to implement a program that creates long-term brand loyalty

and outspoken end-user brand advocacy in a way that boosts revenues.

In an industry that sells products into both enterprise and the lower margin consumer

market, customer service excellence is one of the most important corporate survival

techniques today. Simply learning about industry best practices isn’t sufficient to achieve

customer service leadership. Attaining that goal requires the belief that there are always

ways to improve, but for those beliefs to firmly take root, a corporate culture must be

committed to customer service from the top down. Only when customer service is baked

into the DNA of a company is it able to truly focus on what the customer needs and

implement changes to products at the rapid pace that the global economy demands.

Quality of Customer Service and Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Empowerment

The Plantronics executives have baked a philosophy of responsive customer service into

the DNA of the company, which has resulted in a contact center environment that others

in the industry are learning from.

In the headset industry, when a customer has to call a support line, they frequently

prepare themselves for a war. When customers reach the Plantronics contact center

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 4 “We Accelerate Growth”

however, they speak with technical support representatives (TSRs) that have been trained

and proactively encouraged to make decisions that bring value to Plantronics and the

customer.

One important aspect of Plantronics’ contact center philosophy is that scripts are never

used. Since scripts aren’t used, TSRs aren’t bound to a process where a computer says

“no” and puts a problem back onto a customer. The company learned that the best way to

respond to customer needs is to make a human connection through genuine conversation.

In that way it quickly de-escalates customer frustration and rapidly learns the context that

led to a call.

Based on the context of the conversation, TSRs are empowered to make a decision and

take relevant action on case to case basis rather than applying single solution for all,

without needing permission from a Performance coach, and sometimes this has resulted in

exchanging a product that is out of warranty. Proactive multi-year training and coaching

ensures TSRs understand when a goodwill gesture is warranted so the interests of

Plantronics and the client are kept in balance.

Criterion 2: Leverage of Customer Feedback

Plantronics proactively solicits customer feedback through surveys following each contact

a customer has via telephone or email. Every customer that doesn’t score their TSR

experience in the top 2 levels on a scale of 1-7 gets a follow up call from Plantronics.

If a customer complains about something specific such as a long wait time or not being

able to find information on the web site, Plantronics notifies the TSR involved so he or she

can learn from the interaction; it then calls the customer back within 24 hours to see how

the company can convert the experience for the customer into a positive one.

When displeased customers provide low survey scores for an entire interaction, it becomes

more difficult to understand what went wrong. In those cases, Plantronics performs a root

cause analysis in the follow up call to understand what the real problem is. When the

cause of the dissatisfaction is identified, it is logged for internal follow up meetings that

take place weekly to address issues that create customer friction. These issues are also

compiled on a quarterly basis into a master report that enables the customer service team

to conduct an analysis with the team that drives continual improvements across the global

contact center operation.

The feedback process is not just about asking a customer to provide data to Plantronics;

it’s about understanding how the company can help the customer. The customer outreach

has had the effect of surprising and delighting customers that learn Plantronics values

their input and uses the feedback to initiate a two-way dialog that benefits customers as

well as the company.

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 5 “We Accelerate Growth”

The capstone of the customer feedback program is called “Customer Speak Up” which

gathers unedited comments from customers that provide constructive feedback and puts

them into a report for the CEO. This part of the feedback program ensures that the CEO of

Plantronics has constant insight into the customer service operations and stays in tune

with the needs of customers around the world.

Criterion 3: Speed/Timeliness

Like any other contact center operation, Plantronics measures key performance indicators

(KPIs) for B2B and B2C customers. KPIs for B2B partners are more demanding to ensure

that enterprise customers using Plantronics headsets in their own contact center

operations lose as little time as possible. However, B2C customers are not made to feel

that they are second-class customers for not having an enterprise-class product. All

Plantronics are directed to the same triage support line, rather than segregated support

lines designed to make one class of customer feel more important than another.

Nonetheless, operational KPIs are set to address specific customer type needs and are

based directly on customer experience survey feedback. Thus, some KPIs are based on

the speed to answer a call, response times to emails, technical knowledge, empathy,

clarity of explanations, and language abilities.

The Plantronics management team assigns goals to teams and to individuals, but

approaches KPI metrics in an intelligent way that promotes better customer service. The

philosophy of the management team is that customer reaction is more important than

KPIs. The measurement of success or failure isn’t about answering the phone in 20

seconds or in 2 minutes; it’s about making a human connection with a customer in a way

that increases customer satisfaction rates overall.

The approach to KPIs and goals at Plantronics is global, but the overwhelming objective is

to provide efficient but meaningful customer service that leaves a lasting positive

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 6 “We Accelerate Growth”

impression on both B2B and B2C customers.

Criterion 4: Frictionless Interaction

Plantronics’ approach to frictionless interaction begins in the recruitment process. Where

some contact centers hire based solely on industry experience, Plantronics’ philosophy is

that previous contact center experience isn’t always the best way to assess new

applicants. What is most important is finding someone capable of empathetically relating

and adjusting to different people. To accomplish this task, Plantronics conducts personality

assessments to identify the right people during the recruitment process. Once initial

candidates are identified, Human Resources works closely with the hiring manager and the

customer contact team itself to assess if a candidate has the potential to collaborate and

work well with the entire team.

The step to ensure frictionless interaction with customers is training. When a new member

joins the team he or she goes through 4 weeks of introductory training followed by a 3

year training program that helps TSRs develop empathy for customers. TSRs are also

provided with weekly data that tells them how they are doing on a weekly basis and

Plantronics provides performance coaching to help TSRs improve and succeed. Throughout

the 3 year training period, Plantronics tailors courses to individuals to help TSRs develop

professionally.

An important part of the training process are facilities that allow the TSR team to install

and use different headsets with different types of equipment so they can understand

issues from the perspective of the customer. Since Plantronics has a lot of products, the

training program and the hands-on experience with different headset configurations is

critical for the contact center operation goal of first call resolution (FCR). To achieve

higher rates of FCR, however, TSRs have to know the products well enough to handle

problems themselves, rather than transferring a call to an engineer. The training efforts

have increased Plantronics FCR rate by approximately 8% since the program was

introduced back in 2013.

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 7 “We Accelerate Growth”

Two other key techniques that Plantronics uses to make customer interactions frictionless

are the use of wireless equipment and remote worker programs. Using wireless equipment

enables TSRs to move to quieter areas in the office when they need to concentrate. The

equipment also enables TSRs to work remotely when they need do.

The remote working program has resulted in happier employees that tend to log in earlier

and stay online later. The program has also resulted in a 3 percent higher customer

satisfaction rate because some TSRs are able to provide better service when they are

allowed to work in a more comfortable and quieter home office that has fewer distractions

than a contact center environment.

Criterion 5: Technological Investment

The technological investment that Plantronics makes to facilitate superior customer

service begins with its online learning program for TSRs. It enables Plantronics to train

TSRs on the importance of the impact of speech. Since 60 percent of all Plantronics

customer service interactions are via telephone, these online training programs help TSRs

convey messages in an impactful way without the aid of visual-based, non-verbal

communication. In addition, customer surveys provide feedback on TSR performance,

which allows Plantronics to identify areas to focus additional training and coaching on

topics that are relevant to each individual TSR. This maximizes the return on the training

and coaching investment while lifting customer satisfaction metrics.

Another technology tool that has proved valuable to the contact center team has been the

use of Skype for Business. It was implemented globally and enables TSRs to connect with

engineers or executives in the moment, without asking to call a customer back in 24

hours. If an engineer needs to get pulled into a call, it can be done instantly, without

having to put the customer on hold, and that improves FCR metrics. Skype for Business

has allowed Plantronics to increase the total number of customers that have a solution

before they hang up and in the process it has eliminated departmental silos. With

connections into every department in the company, the contact center is now at the

center of the company instead of on the periphery. Executives all the way up to the CEO

are on Skype for Business at Plantronics, which makes it possible to pull an engineer, a

product manager or even the CEO into a customer conversation if needed.

Use of Skype of Business has also strengthened the Voice of the Customer program since

executives are no longer cut off from the customer. As a result, executives that are asked

to join a conversation with the customer get to hear on a first hand basis how customers

are reacting to a product or a problem. That in turn has significantly helped drive

engineering improvements at Plantronics because executives hear customer opinions

directly.

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 8 “We Accelerate Growth”

Criterion 6: Customer Service Experience

Unlike many contact centers, Plantronics’ customer service philosophy advocates

interacting with customers as an important way to improve its products. As a result, the

company doesn’t try to avoid customer calls like some of its competitors actively do in

different parts of the world. It doesn’t force customers to create an account to access help

tools or compel customers to go through a series of decision tree questions before they

can get in contact with a TSR. It provides toll free numbers to help customers get in touch

with TSRs quickly and without any friction.

Another innovative aspect of Plantronics’ customer service is its dedication to in-warranty

replacement. The company isn’t interested in frustrating customers by debating whether a

product should be replaced. Instead, it provides tools online that facilitate simple in-

warranty replacements. Moreover, in 70 percent of its global theatre of operations,

Plantronics is able to provide a replacement product within 24 hours. This amazing

replacement time is possible because Plantronics ships a replacement before it has

received the defective device from the customer. It is also facilitated by partnering with

reliable international transport companies such as DHL and allowing pick up of a defective

device and delivery of the replacement to either a home or business address. This

additional level of service is appreciated by Plantronics customers that use the devices for

business and in contact center environments. These efforts have pushed up satisfaction in

the replacement process by 14 percent and increased the timeliness satisfaction score by

11 percent.

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 9 “We Accelerate Growth”

To ensure that Plantronics’ customer service experience remains higher than competitors

and continues to improve year over year, the company also takes a close look at manuals,

websites, products and customer service procedures of its competitors. By looking for

ways to incorporate industry best practices and not getting complacent with its superior

performance in 2015, Plantronics has set itself on a path towards setting a 21st century

standard for Global Contact Center and Office Headset Industry.

Conclusion

Plantronics is a company with products that are widely used by contact centers around the

world as they provide customer service to their clients. As a company providing equipment

to customer service operations worldwide, executives in the company understood that

they had a responsibility to set high goals and redefine what customer service means for

customers in the global 21st century marketplace. It eliminated scripted conversations that

frustrated customers and implemented a customer service program to train and

incentivize customer service representatives to make a human connection with the

customer. The goal was to get customer service representatives to understand the unique

context behind each call, facilitate first call problem resolution, and leave the customer

feeling positive about the entire customer service experience. In the process of these

changes, Plantronics baked the philosophy of customer service into the DNA of the

company by eliminating company silos and giving the customer service department, and

thereby the customers themselves, with immediate access to managers and executives

across the company when needed. That has helped facilitate engineering changes to

products and has created heightened levels of customer awareness across the entire

company.

Because of its strong overall performance and industry leading 24 hour replacement

program for in-warranty products, Plantronics is recognized with Frost & Sullivan’s 2016

Customer Service Leadership Award.

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 10 “We Accelerate Growth”

Significance of Customer Service Leadership

Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from your

company, and then making the decision to return time and again. The service experience

is therefore a critical component of a company’s efforts to retain customers over the long

term. Through successful retention, companies enhance their brand, increase demand for

their products, and differentiate themselves from the competition.

Understanding Customer Service Leadership

Customer Service Leadership is defined and measured by two macro-level categories:

quality of customer service and customer impact. These two sides work together to make

customers feel valued, and confident in their products’ quality and long shelf life. This

dual satisfaction translates into repeat purchases and a high lifetime customer value.

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 11 “We Accelerate Growth”

Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Customer Service Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently

evaluated two key factors—Quality of Customer Service and Customer Impact—according

to the criteria identified below.

Quality of Customer Service

Criterion 1: Empowerment

Criterion 2: Leverage of Customer Feedback

Criterion 3: Speed/Timeliness

Criterion 4: Frictionless Interaction

Criterion 5: Technological Investment

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Best Practice Award Analysis for Plantronics

Decision Support Scorecard

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool

allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to

the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that

basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;

ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

RATINGS GUIDELINES

The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Quality of Customer Service and

Customer Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the

definitions for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team

confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which

confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a

significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies.

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 12 “We Accelerate Growth”

The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the

interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players

as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)

Customer Service Leadership

Quality of

Customer Service

Customer

Impact Average Rating

Plantronics 8.7 9.3 9.0

Competitor 2 6.8 8.4 7.6

Competitor 3 5.6 7.9 6.7

Quality of Customer Service

Criterion 1: Empowerment

Requirement: Service providers are encouraged to take independent, informed, and

creative approaches to issue resolution

Criterion 2: Leverage of Customer Feedback

Requirement: Customer opinions are continually solicited and monitored, leading to direct

changes to product features or the service model

Criterion 3: Speed/Timeliness

Requirement: Issues are resolved within a timeframe satisfactory to the customer and the

provider

Criterion 4: Frictionless Interaction

Requirement: Service providers deftly avoid customer conflict by maintaining a friendly,

professional demeanor at all times

Criterion 5: Technological Investment

Requirement: Investment in best-in-class technologies that enhance customer knowledge,

accelerate issue resolution, and/or improve the customer experience

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that

addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a

positive experience throughout the life of the product or service

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 13 “We Accelerate Growth”

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty

Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at

best-in-class levels.

High

Low

Low High

Cu

sto

mer I

mp

act

Quality of Customer Service

Competitor2

Competitor3

Plantronics

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© Frost & Sullivan 2016 14 “We Accelerate Growth”

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research methodology provides an evaluation platform for

benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 15 “We Accelerate Growth”

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess

their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are

based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe

Conduct in-depth industry research

Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all

candidates Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives

on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

Share findings Strengthen cases for

candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility

Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all

eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official award consideration materials

Perform final performance benchmarking activities

Write nominations Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient

Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform award recipient of award recognition

Present award to the CEO Inspire the organization for

continued success Celebrate the recipient’s

performance

Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Upon licensing, company may share award news with stakeholders and customers

Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess award’s role in future

strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 16 “We Accelerate Growth”

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth

and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in

partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment

community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit

http://www.frost.com.