20 Days to a Better Customer Experience:

Utilizing Touchpoint Teams to Improve Service

Kelly Magalsky

October 2014

Touchpoint Success Stories

Why Customer Experience?

Why Focus on Customer Experience?

1. Customers deserve and expect it

2. Happy customers will:

• Cost less to serve

• Are likely to use more of our products and services

• Adapt to changes and new technologies (Smart Grid, etc)

• Advocate for Avista with friends, neighbors, relatives, etc

• Make it easier for customer facing employees to do their job (less

work mitigating problems with unhappy customers)

Customer Experience Journey

Initially Split Focus

•Identifying new products and services for customers

•Enhancing existing customer touch points

Clarified focus on enhancing existing

touch points

Q2 2011

Touch point Mapping and Intent Statement

Creation

Q3 2011

Touchpoint (TP) Teams

Q3 2011

3 Focus Areas:

1) Continued touchpoint work

2) Sustainment of past TP Teams

3) Cust Exp Metrics Dashboard Creation

2012 - 2014

20 Day Touchpoint Teams

Larger “Process Improvement”

Touchpoint Projects

Employee Soft Skills Training

Technology Projects (Website, mobile app,

etc)

Our Customer Experience Approach

Cust Exp Core Team

Customer Experience Intent Statement

“At every point of interaction with Avista I feel that I am dealing with

people that listen and genuinely care about me.

They are efficient, open and honest: communicate appropriately;

and are easy to do business with.

When problems arise, they are competent, fair and responsive

problem solvers. I trust them to be proactive and always be there with

information and advice that allow me to manage my energy costs.

I can rely on Avista.”

Touchpoint Method

Behaviors for Success

•Respect each other and all opinions - One conversation at a time

•Keep an open mind to change

•Seek to understand first then to be understood - Don’t be defensive

•There is no such thing as a dumb question

•Focus on process change, not just technology change

•Focus on process, not the people (no blame)

•Don’t use the word “can’t” instead say “we could do that if _______” or “we could but it would impact ________”

•No hidden agendas - Be honest

•Don’t leave in silent disagreement – build consensus around a shared vision

•Continually ask “Does this help us achieve what our customer’s value?”

•Don’t jump to solutions

•HAVE FUN!!!!

•Stay on topic and within scope

Plan Analyze Design Implement Sustain

PADIS Methodology

Analyze Current State What do we want to

accomplish? Design Future State Implement future state Sustain and continuously

improve

Common language and structured methodology enables consistency

Plan Analyze Design Implement Sustain

Current

State

Analysis

Narrowing

Scoping Exercise

Design

Solutions

Prioritize opportunities

ID all opportunities

Analyze

Phase

Days 1 - 4

Design Phase

Days 4 - 7

Implement

Phase

Days 8 - 20

Implement

Solutions

Process Mapping

Identify Opportunities

Benefit vs Effort Prioritization

Defining Solutions

Stakeholder

Analysis

Stakeholder

Commitment

Chart

Communication

Plan

Case for Change

Change Leadership Plan

Consider this……

Create the future……

AND

Remember to understand and respect the decisions of the past. People made

the best decisions they could with the priorities and information that they had at

the time.

Stakeholder Engagement and

Decision Making

What’s Next?

1. Your employees have almost all of the answers already

2. Your leaders will be challenged by proposed changes

3. There is more opportunity for improvement than you expect

4. The speed of decision making and implementation are challenging

5. You have to work on both “delighters and dissatisfiers”

6. You need management commitment and guidance

7. It will be difficult to remain committed

8. Start with measures and goals

9. It takes longer than expected to see results in customer satisfaction metrics

10.Sustainment is very, very hard

11.Employees on TP Teams become much more engaged and committed to CE

12. It is a development opportunity for TP Team leaders and team members