Like most companies the world over, outsourcing specialist Inspiro experienced a challenging transition to the new normal. Given the need to safeguard our people by moving a huge portion of our operations offsite, we struggled with a minor — but, to us, extremely alarming — dip in performance, particularly with the team handling one of our biggest, longest-running clients, one of the US’s leading satellite TV providers.
What we didn’t know was that the client — similarly struggling with volatile customers, demanding increased support and service, since they were stuck at home — had activated their Core 4 site-versus-site competition, in a bid to drive key metrics: close, prequalification, move, and save rates. This was primarily targeted at their US domestic sites – vendor sites like Inspiro weren’t even informed, as there was no expectation that we could win.
Unaware that the competition was ongoing, Inspiro’s Operations and Synergy group, along with our agents themselves, were busily adapting to our new blended onsite/offsite engagement model, with team and individual coaching sessions, 100% leadership engagement from end to end of shifts, and constant forecasts and follow-throughs, including webcam monitoring throughout shifts.
As a result, we were accomplishing Core 4 goals, week after week, more than overcoming our earlier setback. The contest deducted points for failing to hit targets, but — not even knowing what the specific targets were — we kept achieving metrics, scoring zero penalties, and even earning bonuses for close and prequalification close rates.
We ended the quarter with a beyond-perfect 117% performance index, outdoing seven US domestic and four other vendor sites to win Core 4 – an unprecedented accomplishment that hadn’t even been considered possible. Thanks to our team’s dedication and agility, we managed to come through the COVID-19 changes with flying colors, enabling our client, their customers, and our company to, once again, experience excellence.
