Customer Service Case Study

Challenge:

A national retail organization with both direct store-based sales consultants and call center-based customer service/sales representatives was experiencing turnover ranging from 85-100%.  Additionally, the organization had seen a drop in sales for recent hires as compared against the previous two years, and it was concerned by low quality scores obtained by their sales/service force. 

Solution:

Hogan created selection profiles based on the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) and created an organization-specific Situational Judgment Inventory (SJI) to measure decision making, judgment, and problem solving.  A criterion-related validation study as well as the creation and validation of the Situational Judgment Inventory began concurrently. 

Result:

After assessing more than 26,000 direct sales and 84,000 call center applicants, the organization conducted follow-up analyses to determine the effectiveness of the inventories. 

The retail organization used data such as attendance, turnover, gross sales, add-on sales, new accounts, saved accounts, profitability of sales, and corporate referrals as performance indicators.  The data indicate that those employees who were rated as high fit on the assessments:

• Averaged $6,000 more per month in add-on sales
• Generated on average 9 more new accounts per month
• Saved 16% more terminating accounts than the comparison group
• Turnover for the assessed employees dropped to 46%, with 29% being voluntary

Similar results were seen within the customer call center.  Metrics used in the call center were new accounts, gross sales, average handle time, and quality scores.

• Turnover was reduced from 100% to 62% within established call centers and remains at 34% for call centers staffed entirely by the assessed applicant group. 
• Handle time was reduced by 14%, saving the organization an estimated $1.2 million per year in efficiency. 
• Average quality scores were raised to 97%, a 12% point increase over the previous 24 months.  

Assessment Inventory Used
Hogan Personality Inventory