CaseStudy 3

Improving Credit Card Acquisitions

The Challenge

Client was a leading US banker who endeavored to create a long term solution for the existing acquisition programs. Our client had so far invested in quantity, which led to poor turnovers for investments. With the “quantity over quality” strategy the bank was obtaining customers quite quickly but these were not long term customers. The situation was compounded by the inadequate skills and training for the internal marketing and customer service teams. The bank wanted to better its acquisition strategy and retain its customers for the long haul. Our client turned to us to provide the adequate strategy, training while meeting the compliance needs. He even asked us to set the adequate measuring metrics.

Things to Ponder

This was a unique situation and made us think hard over the below given facts:

• We had to provide a solution that would meet 100% compliance needs of the bank.
• The inbound program needed to be based on complete script adherence.
• There was need of an intensive training session for process staff.
• Monitoring would be necessary to assure success of the program. 

Our Approach

We came up with a customized solution to meet the problems:

• Our Research team wasted no time in going through the literature of various schemes and products our client to gain intrinsic understanding.
• Detailed product understanding was catered to the internal staff.
• We moved ahead by training the staff on customer retention, cross selling and up selling tactics.
• We involved notable Sales Operation Coaches to provide the training sessions.
• Our Quality Assurance team arranged regular sessions to monitor the progress of new strategies.
• We set some Key Performance Indicators for the process such as Script Adherence, Conversion Rates, Compliance Policies and Levels of Service.

The Effect

We continued working with the client for over eighteen months and the results were remarkable during this tenure.

• The customer retention rate was 53% which was way beyond norms in the SLA.
• The call compliance measurement for 10 months in a row was 100% of the pre-defined objective.
• The conversion rate for the banking customers increased from 51% to 57%.
• The script adherence score of 100% was achieved based on the pre-set objectives.

Where We Deviated from the Norm

• We exceeded the client expectations during our association as we did the basics right:
• Effectiveness of our agent coaching and performance management practices came to the fore.
• We utilized the Lean and Six Sigma methodologies for marketing.
• We involved Sales Operation coach in areas where refinements were called for.

We utilized latest technology to monitor the progress and bring fine changes on time.