There is a tug of war that you are probably not aware of!
In Account Services (sometimes called Customer Service) there are 2 forces that consume capacity. We often see that people do not take both into account when setting up the department. Not adequately planning for these 2 forces will cause unnecessary strain and will more than likely cost you money and sacrifice quality of service.
We classify these forces as Human Interaction (HI) and Mechanical Processes(MP). Both of these capacity classifications must be considered when designing the functional process of Account Services. The process of designing the Account Services function typically follows 4 stages:
1. Definition
2. Classification
3. Design
4. Implementation
One of the most eye-opening stages of the process is the definition stage. In this stage, you list out all of the functions performed in the department. Everything that consumes capacity must be listed. There will almost always be activities that leadership is not aware of that materialize in this stage. Once the tasks have been identified, they must be classified. We will classify these into one of four groups:
1. Human Interaction – Involves communicating with the customer (internal or external)
2. Mechanical Process – Those activities that involve system or clerical work to convert HI feedback into actionable data
3. Not Account Services – A necessary function in the business but it should be performed elsewhere
4. Not Necessary – The function is not necessary at all and should be eliminated
It is best if you have someone outside the current department help (if not lead) the first 2 stages. Often, things accumulate over the years that should not be performed by Account Services (or sometimes at all). It can be difficult for an “insider” to properly classify the tasks. These definition and classification stages are the foundation of the Account Services structure and thus should be performed by highly qualified people. If you get these two stages right, the remaining steps are much easier.
Once the definitions and classifications are complete, the design stage can begin. It is helpful to get insight from someone that has performed this in multiple companies across multiple industries. Every company faces unique challenges in Account Services, but they all also share many of the same opportunities. We deploy philosophies such as Pitch-vs-Catchand Generalist-vs-Specialist when designing the process. It is important to insulate the HI tasks from the MP tasks as much as possible. Remember that you want to create an environment where your people do not have to choose between the two. The design should provide clear accountability and adequate capacity to perform all tasks. HI tasks can be a challenge when assigning capacity rates. This is where pitch-vs-catch is a real advantage. When we Pitch, we control the conversation and thus we have more control over how much capacity is consumed. We also control the timing of the encounter and can perform the task when it best suits the process. Catching involves unknown factors and can waste time (wrong person, look up an order etc.). A key part of the design stage is metric creation. Metrics should be designed to monitor the new process. How will you measure the new process? What data will be required? How will you gather the data? How will you communicate the metrics to internal and external parties? We always create a dashboard for the leaders to monitor the metrics and adjust where necessary. It is critical for top management to understand the metrics and drive change through them. Some examples of measures we typically deploy are: Communications Per Order (CPO), Noise Ratio, Lines Entered and QER.
There may be a transitional part of the design where you temporarily cover the tasks that belong elsewhere. This transitional piece must be very short or the risk of permanency grows. The tasks deemed not necessary should be jettisoned immediately and not be part of the design.
Account Services is a critical, customer-facing function that cannot be “under-thought”. You cannot simply throw people at the challenge. You need a well thought out strategy that can be managed. It is easier to allow emotion to cloud the metrics in Account Services than almost any other function in the business.
Let us bring our experience and expertise to your organization. Contact Title 2 Business Services today!