The company is Britain’s leading funeral director. The business dates back to 1844 and has an admirable reputation for being a caring and ethical business. They expect and strive for excellence.
In early 2004 the company conducted a review of their services, in particular, their out of office hour’s services. It was clear that there were areas for improvement.
There was a belief that the OOH procedures could be formalised, regularised and/or streamlined by utilising the services of a professional contact centre.
Their need was compounded by the requirement to adhere to the new European Working Time Directive. This directive could have had a profound impact on the way the business operated and threatened some costly and dramatic changes to the business.
At Frontline we have had a long affiliation with care-based businesses. We felt we had the skills, systems, and staff to support their requirements. We proposed a system for supporting their clients and ensuring that their employee was protected from any unnecessary calls. Each funeral home was given its own unique DDI number allowing us to provide a personalised and local response to clients. We focused on agent training giving each member of staff an insight into how the funeral services operated. This has included bereavement training and key staff members attending funeral homes and Crematoria to get a complete understanding of how the service operates. These staff members formed a dedicated team whose knowledge and energies are focused on providing a seamless and complimentary service to their own day time team.
We believe that incorporating Frontline’s services and systems into the company’s business model has provided the following benefits.
- A common Company policy
- Cost savings
- Centralised, accurate call information for subsequent analysis
- Greater potential for a stronger Brand image by using DDIs
- Adherence to the European Working Time Directive
- Ability to add services / “scale up” without commensurate increases in costs