Come tax time, consumers often have questions about their finances as they prepare their tax documents. Financial firms can count on call volume and issue complexity to increase in the early part of the year. As it prepared for this seasonal shift, one leading Fortune 500 financial services company turned to us for help recruiting and training expert associates in various languages.
Our first project with the client was in 2012, when they needed to ramp up support services following an acquisition that led to an exponential growth in customers. Based on the success of that work, two years later the company returned and asked us to support customers who needed assistance accessing their employee stock purchase plans. Expert resources were needed to provide support services that varied in scope from website log-in assistance to calculating stock prices.
Although it typically takes several months to recruit, train, and staff a contact center, timing was critical in this case. The client needed everything in place within two months to be ready for tax season. Our expertise and comprehensive resources enabled us to easily meet the client’s goal. We expedited the recruiting and training process, while still imparting the necessary knowledge and skills to the associates. In addition to standard associate training on systems and processes, the associates received training on essential financial topics including the basics of selling on the stock exchange as well as terminology like stock splits and tender offers.
The contact center launched in Bulgaria. There we could leverage our multilingual capabilities for the client. Associates support calls in a range of languages including Spanish, French, German, Italian, and English. In addition, we pride ourselves on managing specific phone skills and routing processes so that associates can make the most accurate decision and resolve customer issues quickly and correctly. It improves the customer experience and keeps operations running efficiently regardless of call volume.
As a result, average speed of answer improved by 100 percent, and the absenteeism rate has been a low 2.8 percent. The successful symbiosis between our processes, resources, and capabilities enabled us to meet the client’s requirement for a quick turnaround in hiring and training associates and strengthened our partnership with the client.
