3. Welcome from the chair
Jacqui Crawley, KMB Telemarketing
#vulnerable
4. DMA Contact Centres Council
Steve Smith, trueCall & Elaine Lee, ReynoldsBusbyLee
#vulnerable
5. A bit about us
Elaine Lee
• Chair of the DMA Contact Centre
Council
• Working in contact centres since
1985
• Consultant specialising in customer
engagement and customer
experience
• Previously client side managing
outsource contact centre suppliers
6. A bit about us
Steve Smith
• Working in contact centres since
1985
• Carried out first ever research into
nuisance calls – 2005
• Invented trueCall (device to block
nuisance calls)
• Survived Dragon’s Den!
• A driving force behind this initiative
7. Agenda
• The ‘Care’ initiative – the journey so far
• The guidelines
• Next steps
9. Background
• The DMA’s contact centre council is an
elected body of practioners
• Volunteers
• Produce best practice guidelines for all
aspects of contact centre work
• Identified contact centre staff need
guidance on dealing with vulnerable
consumers
10. Who was involved in the work
• Started as a council initiative
• Framework document prepared with BT,
Alzheimer's Society & Rethink
• BSI and Business Disability Forum
11. Who are the vulnerable?
People affected by;
•Dementia
•Serious or chronic illness
•Recently bereaved
•Non-English speakers
•Bi-polar
•Armed forces – PTSD
•Transitory mental health issues
•Real people with real lives
12. What is the Care initiative?
• Practical, actionable guidelines
• A starting point for organisations to
implement and develop
• Our industry is on the frontline of
consumer contact
• Our members want to treat their
customers appropriately
14. Who are we talking about?
• Dementia
• Intellectual, psychiatric, physical,
sensory, neurological or learning
disability
• Serious or chronic illness
• Recently bereaved
• etc
Key issue is that the consumer is not
at that time able to make an
informed decision
15. The problem
Vulnerable consumers :-
• May not understand the options that
you are giving them
• May be lonely and welcome the
opportunity to chat to someone
• May believe that a sales representative
is acting in their best interests
• May cave in to a persistent sales pitch
• May be unaware of identity theft risks
16. The problem
“My mother of 87 years suffers from severe dementia and
nuisance telephone calls have been a nightmare over the last
five years. Because her loss of memory is so acute, she will
agree to any product offered by a telephone salesperson.
At one stage, she had five suppliers for her gas and electricity,
two holiday medical insurers and as a result of her saying yes
on the telephone, umpteen people were calling at the house
for new windows, double glazing etc.
I don't know if you can begin to imagine the dreadful muddles I
had to disentangle. I spent hours on the telephone to premium
numbers, and as fast as I had sorted it all out, the supplier
would ring my mother to confirm the cancellation whereupon
she would have it re-instated. So I have been going round in
vicious circles for the last few years. The frustration, time and
anxiety that this has caused me is acute.”
Anne (Surrey)
17. Three levels of call
1. Legitimate product / legitimate sales
pitch
2. Legitimate product / high pressure
sales pitch
3. Scams
18. All the pieces are in place …
• Most companies want to do this
right
• Most advisors have the skills
But
• Processes and procedures are not
in place to support this
19. Practical tips for advisors
Train call handling staff :-
– Identification
– Improving communication
– Double check before making the sale
20. Identification
• Appear not to understand even when
you have explained something
• Ask unrelated questions or wander off
topic
• Repeat themselves
• Say ‘yes’ before you have explained
something
21. Improving communication
• Speak clearly
• Be patient
• Don’t rush them
• Guide the call to keep it ‘on topic’
• Clarify understanding at every point
22. Double check before making
the sale
• Sometime ‘Oh yes’ means ‘I’m listening’
not ‘I agree to that’
• If in doubt ask them to explain back to
you what they think the deal is
• Ask yourself honestly – is their ‘yes’ real
agreement or just submission?
• Ask them whether there is someone
else they would like you to speak to
about this – a family member perhaps
23. Call centre management
• Train and support staff
• Consider setting up a special team to
deal with these customers
• Give recognition to staff who have
performed well – don’t penalise them
for taking longer on these calls
• Be on the look-out for multiple
subscriptions
24. Training ideas
• Young call centre staff may not
have the life experiences
• Colouring training with real people
scenarios
25. Databases
• Assessing and logging the quality
of communication
• Allow customers to make a
personal declaration
26. Assessing and logging the
quality of communication
• Allow the advisor to score each
call to indicate the quality of
communication they achieved on
the call
• If the quality of communication was
poor, then warn call centre agents
when they speak to that customer
again
28. Personal declaration
• Allow customers to leave a free
text comment on their customer
record
“I, John Smith, wish anyone working in this
organisation to be aware that I currently have
mental health problems which might affect
my ability to make decisions. Please give me
some time to think about the decision and
call me back at a later date before continuing
with any sale.”
29. Personal declaration
• Allow customers to leave a free
text comment on their customer
record
“I am Joan, I am in the early stages of
dementia. On some days I will understand
what you are saying, but on other days I
won’t understand and may repeat myself.
Please will you take this into account and call
me back another day. I will also find it difficult
to understand you if you speak quickly or
rush me.”
30. Sharing information with third
parties
• Understanding when to share and
when not to share information
• Allowing carers access
• Taking a pragmatic approach
• Build this into procedures
31. More than ‘Do no evil’
• Used well the telephone is a great
channel for vulnerable people to
do business
• Often have mobility problems
• Often are not web aware
32. Who wants unhappy
customers?
• Not expensive to implement
• You will get enthusiastic support
from your staff
• Reduce confusion, complaints and
escalations
• Makes good business sense
35. Getting started on change
• Senior management sponsorship
• Dedicated ‘desk’
• Positive acknowledgement of good
outcomes
• Share learning from difficult situations
• Welcome candid feedback
• Good service has its merits
36. Business process in your
organisation
• Don’t expect perfection from the outset
• Make it easy to complain
• Human beings can care, machines
can’t
• Look at how you can take these
guidelines and apply them to your
organisation
37. Next Steps
• Promote guidelines to industry
• Encourage clients build requirement
into their tenders
• Develop tools such as training modules
• Focus groups with Carers
• Evolve guidelines with feedback from
industry and consumers groups
• Roll out to other channels via DMA
councils
40. Understanding the needs of
people with dementia
Karishma Chandaria, Alzheimer’s
Society
______________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
41. Introduction
• The Alzheimer’s Society
• What is dementia
• The size of the challenge
• The Prime Ministers Challenge on Dementia
• Vulnerability of people with dementia and the
risks to businesses.
• What businesses can do to remove the
barriers for some of these individuals
______________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
42. The Alzheimer’s Society
• The Alzheimer's Society is the leading support and research
charity for people with dementia, their families and carers
• The Society's fight for a better world for people with all types
of stakeholders takes a wide range of forms.
• Through our network of local services, we touch the lives of
over 30,000 people every week, providing practical services
and support
• Through campaigning and lobbying we strive to influence
government policies and raise awareness of the challenges
faced by people with dementia and the people who care for
them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
43.
44. The number of people with dementia will double in the next 40 years
______________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
47. Dementia and vulnerability
• The declining ability to process information, which
results in forgetting PINs and passwords, and leaving
bills unpaid
• The trusting nature of many people with dementia,
which can leave them vulnerable and open to
exploitation from strangers
• If someone lives alone, with little support from family
or friends, their social isolation and loneliness may
lead them to answer the phone to anyone
48. •People with dementia may lose the ability to judge risk
and the value of money – common scenarios include
making huge purchases over the phone large cash
withdrawals, and/or keeping it in the house
‘Staff from the bank always ring asking to speak to my husband,
who I have explained is not well and has dementia. I have also
mentioned that I had permission to speak to them on his behalf as I
had a third party authority access on his account. They would not
listen to me so had to get my husband to agree and pass through
security before I could talk to them and answer the questions that
they wanted. It is very stressful when you are trying your best to
handle the situation and they make it so very hard.’
______________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
49. Common problems
• People with dementia who live alone repeatedly receiving
unwelcome or nuisance telephone calls commonly reported
by carers.
• Carers of people with dementia having to deal with telephone
cold callers who routinely target the person
• Being repeatedly called to change utility supplier
• High pressure sales tactics where people are repeatedly sold
multiple memberships and subscriptions
• Complex ‘boiler room scams’, involving false impersonation of
a company or organisation
______________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
50. Potential risks to your business
• Organizations can have little understanding of how to pick
up signs of a consumer with dementia, or how best to
handle such situations with care and respect
• Staff may not be equipped to deal with the situation
involving a person with dementia, and there is often no
policy for addressing any problems that may arise
• Despite their best intentions, organizations may not give
consistent quality service to a person with dementia.
• People with dementia can be trusting and believe that a
sales representative (whose motivation is to sell) is acting in
their best interests in an advisory capacity this leaves them
at risk of being manipulated by unscrupulous operators.
51. What can your business do?
• Ensure that your staff are ‘dementia aware’ and
familiar with what the Mental Capacity Act is.
• Ensure that frontline staff are alert to the signs
that the person they are talking to may not have
the capacity, at that moment in time, to make an
informed decision
• Provide practical tips for staff for communicating
with people with dementia
• Using other methods of communication e.g. mail
• Use industry best practice guidelines and adapt
them to your business
52. Thank you
karishma.chandaria@alzheimers.org.uk
________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
54. Meeting the needs of
BT’s vulnerable
customers
Richard Thomas
General Manager, Commercial
BT Retail Customer Service
55. We are committed to improving
customer experience for all our
customers, but especially for our
most vulnerable customers
Meeting the specific
All customers needs of vulnerable
benefit customer groups
Making It Improving the
Easy fundamentals and Vulnerable
•Customer enhancing customers
Easy customer •CSDP
•Sales quality experience for all •Accessibility
programme our customers •Text Relay
•Complaint
handling
BT is proud to embrace the needs of our most vulnerable customers,
and their needs are helping to shape overall customer experience
56. We live in a changing world
In 1950 the PSR was In 2000 the PSR was
12:1 9:1
In 2050 for the
developed world it
will be 2:1
Potential Support Ratio (PSR) is the ratio of the number of 15-64
year olds who could support one person 65+
Cambridge University
57. BT has already adopted many of the
principles within the DMA guidelines
Guideline Item Status
3.1 Senior Management
Sponsorship • MD Consumer sponsorship
3.2 Procedures • Already aligned with the key principles - work to do to ensure robust
• No general ‘specialist’ team in Sales however we do have a CSDP team
• Scoping feasibility of introducing a customer segmentation model based on needs
3.3 Staff Training • Making it Easy training rolled out in Consumer Sales (and Outsource)
• New entrant training updated – aimed at better understanding customer needs and
how to spot/manage ‘vulnerable’ customers
3.4 Communication • At PoS we capture customers communication preference and if they have any
Needs specific accessibility requirements
3.5 Post-call • Call recordings observed and assessed on soft skills, understanding customers
assessment needs and regulatory compliance – for training and coaching purposes
3.6 Personal • Customers can self-declare their impairments if they wish to do so via our website
Declaration • This information is recorded in the customers account
64. Business Disability Forum
• Not-for-profit membership organisation
set up over 20 years ago to help
businesses become disability-smart.
• Around 400 members from across the
private and public sectors.
• We support our members and advise on
disability best-practice.
• Our Disability Standard helps
organisations measure and improve their
progress towards becoming disability-
smart.
65. Disability, why bother?
• Good news – you’re either disabled now or
you’re going to live long enough to acquire
a disability.
• More than three quarters of disabled
people acquire their disability as adults.
• 1/3 of people 50- 64 years have a
disability; 1/3 of all employees are disabled
or are close to a disabled person.
• Disability affects every part of your
business - employees, customers,
markets, suppliers and stakeholders.
66. Business benefits
• Disability-smart companies understand
the needs and expectations of a diverse
consumer base and maximise the
productivity and creativity of all their
employees; disabled and non-disabled.
• Research by Microsoft revealed that even
people who do not consider themselves
disabled can benefit from accessible and
assistive technology..
• Spending power of disabled consumers
is estimated to be £80bn in the UK and
growing.
67. Catalyst for change
• Disabled customers should be able to expect
the same level of customer service as non-
disabled customers.
• We’ve worked with our members and Ofcom
to produce guidance on accessible contact
centres, ‘Your call is important to us’.
• Our best practice guide helps organisations
to improve their call routing systems, contact
centres and the customer experience of their
disabled and older customers.
• We’re keen to support the DMA’s guidelines
on dealing with vulnerable customers, we
believe they are complementary.
68. Thanks for your time
Catherine Grinyer
Director of Communications
Business Disability Forum
Nutmeg House
60 Gainsford Street
London SE1 2NY
w: businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
t: @DisabilitySmart or @cgrinyer
e: catherineg@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
