Crisis Management - Rapid Communication Management

At The Connection, we work hand-in hand with many of the leading Fortune 500 companies providing uninterrupted customer support specializing in crisis management, incident response, class action settlements and product recall services for their business needs.  With over 29 years of award-winning call center experience, we have the expertise to proactively exceed your business objectives and goals through superior account management, customer service/crisis management certified agents and state-of-the-art technology.

Industries that we provide support include: Healthcare, Retail, Financial Services, Food and Beverage, Consumer Products and Government. Types of calls include:

• Product Recall Services
• Data Breach Notification
• Class Action Settlement Claims Support
• Crisis Management
• Effectiveness Checks (outbound follow-up services)
• Service Interruptions
• Product Return Services
• Safety & Environmental Services
• Notification Requirements for the Loss of Customer Data
• Disaster Relief Communications
• Incident Response
• Risk Mitigation Services
• Urgent & Complex Communications Services
• Major Corporate Announcements
• Trigger Event Call Center Services
• Product Liability Customer Support

Security Breach Experience/Case Study

History
The Connection provides inbound call center services for security and data breaches for a global information solutions service provider that has been in business for over 100 years.  This company has over $1.4 billion in annual revenue and approximately 5,000 employees.  They provide consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, technology and marketing tools for small and large businesses.  This client also acts as a third party service provider to share information with individuals who have been victims of a security breach.  The Connection has become a trusted partner.

Company Goal for Outsourcing

• Inbound call center Services, including:

• Rapid launches (One week notification prior to live date.)

• Customer service and support for data breach/security breach notifications

• Call escalation

• Up-selling additional services

• Handle fluctuating call volume

• Detailed call reporting requirements

Key to Success
The Connection is able to quickly ramp up, typically within a week, to accommodate the urgency of a security breach launch.  The Connection allocates and trains a group of shared agents to handle varying call volumes and hours of operation for their programs.

Tasks to Accomplish Success

• Quickly engage all departments needed for a program launch

• Partner with client by reviewing their scripts, training materials and FAQs

• Identify the number of agents necessary to handle the estimated call volume

• Select and train a group of shared customer service agents

• Provide value added services (bi-lingual agents, IVR, custom reporting, etc.)

• Support client up-sell effort, including the sales component and the customer service

• Provide client with daily reports on phone activity, dispositions and escalated call recaps.

Summary
By offering efficient, turn-key service and accurate call handling we have garnered repeat business from this billion dollar company. They have entrusted us with over twenty security breach programs over the past two years.  

Product Recall Experience/Case Study

History:
One of the largest leading manufacturers of high-end appliances was in need of an experienced call center to handle a large product recall for a defective control panel on dishwashers manufactured over a 5 year period of time.  The company was anticipating over 600,000 calls within two months of the recall announcement by dishwasher owners in homes and businesses nationwide. 

Company Goal for Outsourcing:

• Provide inbound call center services based off of the product recall announcement.
• Capture contact information (name, address, phone number & email address)
• Request model and serial numbers
• Determine if caller’s dishwasher is part of the recall
• Assign a sequential reference number to caller
• Provide caller with information for 3 of the nearest service stations based on their location
• Provide outbound call center follow-up support
• Provide bilingual support (English and French)
• Develop software and training materials to support repairer locator information

Keys to Success:
The Connection worked hand in hand with our client to develop product recall training materials and scripts.  In order to achieve a successful program, the client required service levels of 80% of all calls within 20 seconds with an abandon rate of less than 5%.  In addition, we developed customized software to assist the call center agents in locating the three closest repairers.

Tasks to Accomplish Success:

• Developed customized onsite training emphasizing the agent’s need to show empathy and a sense of urgency.
• Created comprehensive repairer locator software with advanced CTI screen pops - program based on DNIS to assist with locating the 3 closest service stations nearest to the caller.
• CSRs received extensive product, system, customer service, name capture and repairer locator training to have full knowledge of the client and the dishwashers being recalled.
• Produced client and product specific scripts representing our client’s position regarding the recall for our agents to read verbatim. (“We caught the issue and called this recall.”)
• Provided fluent English and French call center support.
• Digitally recorded all incoming calls for quality assurance and monitoring purposes.
• Detailed reporting includes call counts by half-hour, caller information, repairer information, customized media sourcing and CSR specific statistics (real-time remote access available to client)

Summary:
The Connection provided our client with empathetic call center support to handle this urgent product recall event.  The Connection implemented the customized training and software necessary to handle over 600,000 calls for this program over a three month period.