Case Studies
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Davis-Mayo Associates CASE STUDIES
Client Success Stories
CASE STUDY 1
Customer Service Training & Consulting
SITUATION
When a Fortune 500 company was experiencing huge industry shifts and changes in the market, executives were looking for a way to help their company and people get through without further alienation of their customers and employees.
THE NEED
They were experiencing customer relations problems as never before. Contact personnel needed to deal with their own stress, too. Industry shifts were making customers confused, hopeless and hostile. The workplace wellbeing of employees took a dive—along with morale and retention. They needed a comprehensive customer relations process that went beyond “smile-and-handshake” training.
OUR SOLUTION
Frontline and support personnel were given the capabilities needed–individually and as teams–to embody professional behaviors and attitudes foundational to moving the corporation’s culture to a new and powerful position in the market. This was buttressed by the Coaching Service Excellence program, which enabled supervisors and managers to coach the skills, attitudes and behaviors for the long-haul.
RESULT
Within 18 months, there was a significant increase in customer satisfaction metrics and dramatic decrease in formal complaints. Employee engagement rose and stabilized. Thousands more employees were trained over the ensuing decade, making the program a cultural cornerstone.
CASE STUDY 2
Customer Service Excellence for Help Desk Personnel
SITUATION
The Chief Technology Officer of a company with several thousand employees called us. His Help Desk personnel, he said, were unable to deliver the service necessary to satisfy their internal customers, and therefore outsourcing was being considered. They were losing professional balance and credibility in the company.
THE NEED
Personnel were stressed and were having difficulty handling the changes requiring more responsibility. They were so focused on the technical issues of callers that they were overlooking how their ways of interacting adversely impacted their customers. He told us he needed a way to help his personnel understand how to leave customers with a sense of satisfaction—knowing they had been genuinely cared for—along with the ability to stay balanced and solve customer’s technical issues.
OUR SOLUTION
Our Technical Service Excellence program was delivered to tiers 1-3 help desk personnel at multiple locations in the U.S. within a one month period.
RESULT
The help desk functions remain in-house to this day. Customer support metrics have been achieved and maintained, while SLA’s are tracking on an upward trajectory year over year. Executives have taken this off their “problem radar.” Morale is restored.
CASE STUDY 3
Customer Service Training for HealthCare
SITUATION
Three Directors of a Behavioral & Medical Healthcare Facility contacted us—the Director of Administration & Medical Services, Director of Employee Relations, and Director of Strategic Operations.
THE NEED
They needed to work more closely together and were looking for help keeping their staff more balanced amidst the stress of their jobs. Many patients were less than happy and a few groups in the facility felt under-appreciated (hence these groups had low morale). They had just undergone major changes. Community demands had increased. Other professionals (police, paramedics, ER staff, school officials, etc.) were critical of their staff. Referrals were down. They told us that they needed a way to enhance morale, help staff stay balanced under stress, and deliver great service while working together more closely. They needed to improve their image in the community.
OUR SOLUTION
Our Healthcare Service Excellence program was delivered to clinical, front desk, administrative and support staff in order to lay the foundation enabling this organization to restore their public image and operational effectiveness.
RESULT
Staff engagement is up, while staff “sick days” are down. Key indicators from the community reflect a restored positive image. The Medical Director, who attended the sessions, has bought in to the program’s ongoing value. Customer loyalty and CAHPS scores have steadily improved.
CASE STUDY 4
Change & Transition Management
SITUATION
A federal organization of more than 7,000 employees was facing significant changes over the next two years, including transitions in their mission, their senior management team, and therefore organizational restructuring and realignment of areas of focus and goals. This involved dealing with a great deal of uncertainty and stress.
THE NEED
Management asked us to pulse the current state of the organization and employees’ perception and then, based on the results, devise a program to enable departments, teams, managers and individual contributers to navigate the disruptive path ahead.
OUR SOLUTION
We worked with six different departments in the organization to help their managers and supervisors prepare for significant organizational and cultural change. A combination of approaches were woven together over several years, including:
- Organizational analysis
- Senior management sessions
- Manager forums
- Strategic planning sessions
- Department-level organizational development workshops
- Training sessions (for facilitators, managers and other personnel)
- Whole system approach to aligning the organizations with their goals
- Ad hoc meetings to address specific gaps and issues
THE RESULT
Several years beyond the changes, the organization has re-established its bearings, assimilated a new management team and found new organizational effectiveness — including enhanced employee clarity, engagement and motivation.
CASE STUDY 5
Customer Service Consulting
GOAL
The COO of a 500+ employee company with multiple locations in several states asked us to help them grow a customer-centered company culture (=new attitudes & behaviors) that notably enhances employee engagement and customer loyalty.
APPROACH
We combined our “Monthly Support Program” (in which we are onsite from 2-5 days per month for up to one year) with our “Customer Service Excellence” training for all employees, “Coaching Excellence” sessions for front-line supervisors, and our signature “Management Forum” sessions to align all managers to be focused on the key company goals, the corresponding operational areas of focus, and performance required of them and every employee they manage.
FOUNDATION
Using our Service Value Chain model combined with a Whole System approach to the key building blocks of a customer-centered company culture (below), we helped this company find leverage points and areas of focus for improvement to achieve the organization’s customer loyalty and employee engagement/retention goals.
RESULTS
Several years hence, there has been a marked increase in key critical metrics (even through a national and international economic downturn):
- “Employee Engagement Ratio” has steadily increased year over year;
- “Employee Advocacy Ratio” has steadily increased year over year;
- “Customer Advocacy Ratio” has trended up each year;
- “Repeat Customer Usage” has increased overall;
- “Formal Complaints” have significantly decreased.
CASE STUDY 6
Cross-Functional Team Building: Business & IT
SITUATION
A Vice President of a Fortune 500 company headquartered in the Midwest asked us to provide a two-day teambuilding workshop for two corporate groups struggling to work together—one in Finance, one in IT. She was worried that a company-critical project was in jeopardy because the business side of the project (Finance) had lost trust with the IT side of the project. Communication was strained, effectiveness was waning, and their problem-solving ability had been compromised. The project was in jeopardy. Stress had pushed members of both groups into disruptive behaviors. Belt-tightening required them to do “more with less.” Working in remote locations across the country further reduced trust and challenged communication.
THE NEED
The VP told us that she needed a way to help the teams manage stress, rebuild trust and re-focus on deliverables. They had to confront honestly the constraints of their professional habits and find a path to succeed.
OUR SOLUTION
Using nationally field-tested best practices, approaches and tools, Davis-Mayo Associates created a custom interactive, hands-on Teaming program for cross-group success, which gave them these capabilities and a clear path to work out barriers to interpersonal and process effectiveness.
RESULT
The two groups found focus and a “safe” way to move ahead as a team. They regrouped and made the deliverable (on time and within budget) — and they established sound agreements for their next project together. The Director of the IT team (who attended at the VP’s insistence) emailed us later: “Your sessions were really top notch. I came to the session simply dreading ‘just another one of those group things’ and was very pleasantly surprised by your approach, style, and pace. You really do offer a top notch product.” Davis-Mayo Associates has been enlisted multiple times since to work with other teams in this company.