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DISH Network redefined its relationship with customers through its “Tuned in to You” initiative in February 2017 in an effort to reach the organization’s goal of becoming #1 in customer experience. In January 2018, DISH Network furthered its commitment to listening to customers by redesigning the Playbook based on the “Tuned in to You” philosophy. The Playbook is taught to every agent as an easy-to-memorize set of guiding principles for customer interactions. Before the redesign, the Playbook instructed agents to interact with customers in a “professional and efficient” manner. After the redesign, agents were asked to “listen, care, and connect.” The new Playbook moved away from transactional conversations and focused on creating genuine relationships with DISH customers. The organization aimed to treat viewers as people first and customers second.
After rolling out the updated Playbook, the Quality Assurance team, which monitors calls and chats to ensure a quality customer experience, reported hearing only a few interactions that truly demonstrated these key behaviors with customers. Agents themselves said they had difficulty moving from transactional conversations to relationship-focused interactions, and they asked for authentic examples of what it meant to use the updated Playbook with DISH customers.
In response, the CXO Training team used the already-established “Tuned in to You” marketing campaign to create the “Tuned in to You Tuesday” video series, which addresses agent concerns by providing authentic examples of their peers listening to, caring for, and connecting with customers.
Program Details
Each episode stars a corporate leader at the director level or above, who introduces a call clip, chat, or e-mail conversation demonstrating an agent’s positive interaction with the customer. The host explains what “Tuned in to You Tuesday” is, notes what agent group the featured representative is part of, and provides some context for the interaction. Then the call clip or chat conversation is played. Finally, the host sums up which parts of the Playbook the agent used and congratulates him or her.
Agents are inspired create great customer interactions and submit them to TIY because winners are celebrated at both the enterprise and site levels. Winners receive recognition from their leadership in a training that launches enterprise-wide, they get featured on digital signage that launches to every owned and operated DISH site, they receive a commemorative TIY winner shirt, and their site typically throws them a party.
Results
Agent survey feedback indicates a positive reaction and increased knowledge on how to use the Playbook. After viewing the first “Tuned in to You Tuesday” video in May 2018, 93 percent of viewers responded that the training will help them do their job. Despite the risk of the series becoming dull by running a video every week from May to December, agents actually became more receptive to the videos. In December 2018, an average of 94 percent of agents stated that each video helped them do their job.
Satisfaction with the amount of recognition agents received improved by 6 percent; confidence in departmental leadership (defined as director and above) experienced a 12 percent increase; and the belief that DISH has a great culture increased by 13 percent.
Agent behavior also changed as a result of the TIY series. When the first few videos launched, fewer than 100 agents a week submitted their interactions. By December 2018, more than 500 agents submitted their interactions on a weekly basis. Because TIY encourages agents to spend more time with customers up front to resolve their issues fully the first time, agents’ average repeat rate—or the percentage of calls for which an additional contact occurs on the same account within three days of the initial contact—decreased by 7.9 percent.
This series contributed to DISH Network’s overall goal of becoming #1 in customer experience. Customer satisfaction scores increased by 5 percent between May and December 2018. Additionally, DISH was named #1 in Customer Satisfaction and Customer Service by J.D. Power and #1 in Customer Satisfaction by ACSI, and received the top customer experience rating across TV and Internet service providers, according to Temkin Group.