Broadband Column

TalkTalk: ‘We plan to be number one for customer service by end of 2009’

By Seamour Rathore seamour@consumerchoices.co.uk

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In a twist worthy of a reality TV programme, TalkTalk is making its top executives answerable to its call centre staff as it revolutionises its customer service. (3/7/09)

TalkTalk is radically changing its business in an effort to gain a reputation for the best customer service in the UK broadband market.

While it has no qualms that it offers its customers an affordable broadband service – it was crowned best value-for-money bundled broadband provider by BroadbandChoices.co.uk in 2009. But the company has owned up to the fact that its customer service needed an overhaul. And customer service is increasingly an issue for for the broadband-buying public.

So, TalkTalk has brought in Carphone Warehouse veteran of 19 years, Richard Walker (pictured left), with a brief to transform the TalkTalk customer experience by the end of 2009.

“One of the key things we’re doing is holding senior personnel responsible to the people answering customer service calls,” he says.

Last autumn, TalkTalk initially enlisted management consultants McKinsey & Company to identify problem areas within customer service. Then Walker was put in charge of spearheading the overhaul, which spans various projects across all TalkTalk functions from technical to marketing aiming ultimately to increase the customer experience.

“We previously looked at this issue as a customer service centre problem, but we now have a new philosophy – experience and delivery is an entity,” explains Richard.

To that end, the scope of what frontline customer service staff can do for the customer has widened. They are being trained to fix 80% of customer problems first time – and being rewarded on that basis.

In the past, staff were only judged on average handling time – how quickly they could solve the problem and end the call.

For problems that can’t be fixed on the frontline, they will be fast-tracked to a second line agent who will be charged with solving any customer problem from beginning to end, including anything technical.

“We tended to wait until much further along before the best people were brought in. We now know the right thing for us to do is put the best people further upstream,” adds Walker.

And as broadband ownership reaches near saturation in the UK, the company believes cracking the customer service problem will put it ahead of the game in capturing customers switching broadband away from their current provider.

Taking on 02

“Fundamentally TalkTalk offers the best value in the market. But we had to ask ourselves: For customers with problems, do we?” explains Richard Walker. “My target is to be able to look every customer in the eye and say, yes, we offer the best overall value.”

“O2 has set a benchmark for customer service in the home broadband market, and being in position two or three in the current race feels like a failure. My expectation is that by the end of this year, things will be significantly different,” predicts Walker.

Another innovation has been to send TalkTalk staff from both technology and marketing into people’s homes for three hour stretches as they watch members of the public set up their broadband. It highlighted short-comings with the TalkTalk’s instructions and other material which is supposed to help the customer set-up.

“It quickly became obvious that people want a ‘plug and play’ utility taking up no more than 20 minutes of their time. They don’t want over-engineered instruction, but want to get set-up easily for browsing, emailing and parental controls,” explains Richard.

“We realised some of our customers didn’t understand our language. So we’re now overhauling all of our customer literature and the website and including more pictures and videos.Why should people know what an ethernet cable looks like unless we show them?

“It’s been a valuable lesson. Carphone is the number one in its retail market. And I believe a telco like TalkTalk needs to behave more like a retailer – and retail is detail.”

So, a total re-invention of the customer experience is on the cards at TalkTalk and only time will tell if it will silence the internet service provider’s fiercest customer detractors.

Going hand-in-hand with the plan to improve customer service is an open aggression to build the customer base, scooping up as much broadband switching business as possible.

The Carphone Warehouse stable now claims to be the UK’s largest home broadband supplier thanks to TalkTalk, AOL Broadband and its £236million purchase of Tiscali in May. And now the telecoms giant, buoyed by its confidence that customer service is going to be king, has issued a warning to its rivals.

“This year you will see us being much more aggressive about winning business. Carphone is aggressive in every retail market and that’s what TalkTalk will be too.”

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