Prolog Total outsourced service support

During the latter part of 2008, alert to declining customer satisfaction, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds embarked on a root and branch review of its supplier base. Determined to improve communications and delivery, the RSPB reinvented its customer service and fulfilment infrastructure, placing Prolog's East Midlands contact centre at the hub.

More than 50,000 supporters call or write to the RSPB mail order service each year. They range from casual purchasers of gifts, feeds, feeders and other branded merchandise to lifelong RSPB members. Yet they all care about wildlife and want to be sure their money is well spent. They expect accurate information and high standards of courtesy and service; and above all, when they pick up the telephone they want to feel they are talking to someone who cares.

In taking responsibility for RSPB's customer and trade orderlines in February 2009, Prolog faced the task of building a team united by unfeigned enthusiasm for the client's mission and values. One answer was to skim off agents of proven ability from within; another suggested more unorthodox tactics, and as a result RSPB nature reserve visits became a required element of the training. By meeting and mixing with members and learning from staff, the fledgling agents were able to find out first hand about the RSPB's product, marketing methodology, ambitions and challenges, and they loved every minute of it!

The outcome surprised even the trainers and delighted the client: On the one hand a group of polished telephone advisors and ambassadors for RSPB; and on the other, a team of energetic and wholehearted supporters on the Prolog team that included committed Society members. Fifteen months on, the enthusiasm is unabated: breakout time is for setting up and replenishing bird feeders in Prolog's landscaped grounds, for keeping tabs on nest-site web-cams and for badgering colleagues to save their stamps in support of RSPB's Save The Albatross campaign, while back at home they have all become avid nature gardeners.

The empathy building has paid dividends: Compared to regular underperformance by the previous supplier, Prolog is consistently outperforming its monthly SLAs, with more than 90 per cent first call resolution and 90 per cent of calls answered within 20 seconds. Since August 2009 Prolog has achieved the highest customer ratings ever recorded by the RSPB. In the Society's own web-based poll, 70 per cent of respondents said that they were 'very satisfied' with their contact centre experience, and 95 per cent were 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied'. Hitherto, the 'very satisfied' score rarely topped 50 per cent.

RSPB's turnaround in its mail order ratings exemplifies the benefits of well-founded outsourcing solutions, but also the power of a partnership founded on openness and trust. From day-one the RSPB offered total transparency, explaining clearly and frankly their objectives and the lessons learned through previous supplier relationships, and Prolog responded with a rock-solid commitment to resource and service excellence.

Prolog's agents act as brand ambassadors for the RSPB. Each contact has the potential to affect future legacies and future orders, and they demonstrate their awareness of this daily through initiative and contact management skills. Daily they pass on customer views and comments on just about anything from products and packaging to current campaigns, helping the RSPB shape future policy and activity. Frequently on site, the RSPB see for themselves performance that regularly goes 'beyond the call of duty', and they respond with balanced praise and candid customer feedback.

In more than 120 years of conservation and fundraising, the RSPB has successfully mobilised "A Million Voices for Nature". In Prolog it has an outsource customer communications and fulfilment partner committed to making sure that not one of those voices feels ignored.