Customer Service Orientated on CRM philosophy

[Telefonia]

I’m working in restructure the customer service department en my organization that is orientated on CRM philosophy. I need your thoughts about a Retention Department and Notification Department.
So, what I need is your definition based on your experience of what should do this departments and their commitment in the organization environment.
The Retention department is when your customer doesn’t want your service anymore, you contact him to ask them about it and make a new offer so the can stay as a client.
And the Notification Department is like a call center so if we have any problems with the service that we provide, we call the customer so they can make another appointment for the service.

[Mike S.]

Telefonia,

Perhaps Cove members can be of more help if you provide some more information. What kinds of goods or services does your company provide? Who has most of the interaction and contact with the customers now? What kinds of problems are you having now?

Just one thought: A "Retention Department" working to get back customers that already have decided they do not want you should be a last resort. This is reactive, not proactive, and probably will have a high percentage of failures. I'd put most of that money and energy in keeping customers happy so they never get to the poing of leaving.

Mike S.

[Telefonia]

We are a communications service provider. We offer service for cellular phones, house phones, business phones, Internet and Cable TV.
You see, people in my country cancel the service for various reasons, that not always is poor service. And we need a department that when the customer doesn’t want the service no more, we call them to get the reasons of canceling their contracts, frequently they cancel their services because of monetary problems, son we offer another package of services that can fit in their wallets. That’s why we need a Retention Department, we do everything possible to satisfy our customer but you see the reasons that we need it.

In the Notifications department, we have many rebound of service because a bad sale. That’s a problem that we are trying to cut, but in the mead time we need something that can patch that problem.

Thanks for your cooperation and your insight.

[E Wall]

I just canceled my cell phone service with a company here in the US. I can tell you how they handle it from a customer perspective:

Once a client indicates they want to cancel their service, they are directed to one office...the only ones who can process the request...also it is called the Retention Office. By the way... With this company cancellations can only be made in person.

I was asked several questions, one of them being 'Why are you cancelling your service?" Based on your response, they are trained to ask other questions (it just so happened they were training a new person when I was there, so she had an experienced 'coach' and that is how I know this information). This information is entered into a databse with a generalized selection list supported by a comments field in which specific comments from the client is entered. This provides excellent informaiton to management team in order to see where they need to improve.

In my case (had service 2 years) I was not happy with the coverage/service - 1) Recently (past 2 months) experiencing dropped calls which are not only frustrating but uses up extra minutes (I end up paying for extra time); and 2) coverage area isn't adaquate to my needs any more and promised 'growth' hadn't happed as promised.

They offered to check my phone to ensure that it was a service problem not an equipment one (phone checked out okay) and offered that if I recind the cancellation before it takes effect (30 days from request) I would receive $25.

None of this changed my decision, but they know clearly what the problems are to make decisions with.