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Incentives Move T-Mobile From Worst to First
By Brendan Coffey
MotivationStrategies.com

With top-notch technology and a hard-working sales team bringing in new subscribers in droves, T-Mobile should have been at the top of its game. In the past ten years, the company had seen exceptional growth, including six significant mergers that turned it from a small Pacific Northwest cellular phone service to one of the fastest growing wireless service providers in the country. But managing such growth is never easy and by the end of 2002, the Bellevue, Wash.-based company, a division of Deutsche Telekom AG, knew it had a serious problem on its hands.

The problem was customer service. T-Mobile found itself dead last behind its major competitors in JD Power & Associates customer satisfaction surveys. A high employee attrition rate added to the trouble, increasing costs and holding back progress in bringing service levels up to expectations.
Looking to both boost quality of customer service and cut back on employee turnover, T-Mobile implemented a national rewards and recognition program for its customer service and call center department. Called “Do More Get More,” to reflect the company’s “Get More” advertising slogan, the program was launched in the spring of 2003.

“’Do More Get More’ has been a resounding success,” says Greg Perotto, director of operations communications, reward and recognition, and the executive in charge of the program. The incentive program, with its clear and inspiring vision, has vaulted T-Mobile to the top of JD Power’s ranking of customer care performance for two years running, while productivity has tripled. It has, says Perotto, “created that golden thread between performance and recognition.”

Turning Around

The “Do More Get More” program set up parameters measuring call center employees by various key metrics for efficiency and other performance indicators within their control. Sounds simple enough, but in reality it was much more complicated, with T-Mobile having to create metrics for 7,000 call center employees with responsibilities ranging from customer care calls to collections to technical support. Eligibility groups were set up to compare employees who did similar work. For instance, call resolution time is a key factor in customer care. Yet, because calls in Spanish take longer on average than calls in English, Perotto had to split call employees into English-language only and bilingual eligibility groups. Another issue involved complications with tracking indicators across several systems, a problem exacerbated when employees switched departments. The solution involved the creation of a unique employee identifier to ensure each system would compile their information.

On a day-to-day basis, the program uses an integrated marketing communications campaign to drive employee awareness and participation. Participants learn about the rules, study program enhancement, access leaderboards and their personal accounts via a Web site. Flash multimedia also runs on the site, and video monitors in call centers visible to every employee run program information. Perotto’s team also uses supervisor-led team meetings, posters, brochures, walls of fame and special events to maintain enthusiasm. Since its launch, the program has expanded to encompass a total 11,000 employees including support groups, supervisors and leadership across 100 eligibility groups.

Achievement Levels

Employees can earn up to three recognition levels. The first level is “Customer Pacesetter,” a monthly opportunity to gain points for meeting or exceeding an individual’s specific performance indicators. Incentive earners can redeem the points on-line for a choice of gift certificates. Marketing Innovators International, a Rosemont, Ill.- motivation company, administers the reward and offers a mix of merchants based on research data. The next level up is “Customer Pro,” which ranks the top 10 percent of each call center’s employees on the online leaderboard for all participants to see. Each year, the winners are invited with a guest to a semi-formal local banquet to celebrate. The top one percent nationally earn “Customer Champion” status. Those winners and their guests go on a four-day all-expense-paid trip, including an awards banquet. In 2005, champions were flown to the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas. The year before that, winners were feted by Jay Leno at the Omni Hotel in San Diego. All told, last year 1,100 employees were recognized at banquets and 125 were awarded trips.

It’s not just the top performers who appear to be getting the message. T-Mobile’s employee attrition rate has fallen by 15 percent, while absenteeism has plunged 50 percent. Since the start of 2003, the company has more than doubled its American subscriber base, to 20 million.

A Coordinated Effort

However, incentives alone haven’t driven T-Mobile’s success. As part of its effort, Sue Nokes, senior vice president of customer service, and a major force behind the “Do More Get More” program, has also coordinated with the company’s marketing arm to revise hiring standards to seek out people with empathy and quick thinking, ideal traits for good customer service professionals. Offering incentives won’t do it alone, acknowledges Perotto. A well-run program needs to include management aligned with the program’s vision, honest communication and feedback, and a commitment to training and equipping employees to attain success. “A good reward and recognition program is part of an overall ecosystem,” he explains.

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