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Citibank: Improving Customer Retention and Increasing Sales
Background
Citibank is the consumer banking division of Citigroup, a multinational financial services provider and one of the largest bank holding companies in the United States. Founded in 1812, Citibank operates over 3,700 branches in more than 30 countries.
Citibank was facing competitive pressure and experiencing difficulties improving call center sales. The company realized that its current improvement efforts were not clearly defined or well-integrated into the organization. Citibank wanted to improve its operating efficiency by reducing the average call-handling time, increasing sales, and improving customer retention. Citibank partnered with QualPro to achieve these objectives without increasing operating costs or investing in new technologies.
Approach
QualPro consultants assembled a team consisting of Citibank customer service representatives, business managers, sales managers, and sales directors. Together, the team brainstormed over 40 potential ideas for improvement. Our consultants helped the team narrow the potential ideas to those deemed practical, fast, and cost-free. Some of these ideas included call monitoring, new employee coaching, and self-paced training.
QualPro designed the experiments for Citibank personnel to perform. Citibank randomly selected sixteen call center teams to participate in the experiment. Our consultants gave each call center team a unique combination of test ideas. A screening experiment revealed that nine of the ideas significantly impacted sales and were worthy of further exploration. A refining experiment confirmed the effects of all but one of the ideas.
After analyzing the test results and determining which ideas had a positive effect, QualPro recommended specific actions for Citibank to execute.
Results
After implementing QualPro’s recommendations, Citibank increased inbound call center sales, reduced call-handling time, and increased employee satisfaction. From these improvements, Citibank generated millions of dollars in additional annual profit.