Living Direct, an online retailer specializing in popular built-in and outdoor home appliances, has a stellar reputation for its knowledgeable and reliable customer-focused service team. The company’s meteoric growth resulted in a significant increase in its call center needs, which quickly became overwhelmed.
After striking out with several other staffing firms and recruiting agencies, Living Direct contacted HireBetter with an urgent need for more call center agents. Resisting the knee-jerk reaction to throw bodies at the problem, HireBetter wanted to learn more.
Once HireBetter understood that Living Direct’s overall goals were to increase sales, improve profitability, and enhance customer service, they realized the issues were more complex than just staffing. A Strategic Talent Planning™ session focused specifically on the call center revealed that being short-staffed was the symptom, and that the real issue lay beneath the surface. The session also uncovered something else – the potential for significant opportunities to increase revenue and profit margin through call center professionalization.
HireBetter brought in a call center guru on a project basis — an executive with 20+ years of experience in call center design and operations. He developed a strategy and then led the team through the execution of the required changes, including updating metrics and reporting frequency, improving call monitoring and routing, revising the commission plan to better align with management’s goals, and reducing reliance on a third party for call overflow.
Within 45 days, the foundation of the call center was redesigned and optimized around business processes rather than people. The project-based executive materially improved the top and bottom line of the business, and Living Direct saw significant payroll savings by not hiring unnecessary personnel.
“When we contacted HireBetter, we certainly didn’t expect to learn that we needed an operational review of the call center. But when we dove deep into the issues with them, that is exactly what happened. They listened and helped us solve some systemic issues that resulted in a new and improved, and highly effective, call center operation.”
– RICK LUNDBOM, CEO
