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Inspired Growth of Customer Experience & Agent-Related Metrics

Customer Profile

The client is a luxury ­fine dining restaurant that has been serving the Indian menu with a twist for almost a decade now. Founded in 2009, the restaurant is counted as one of the “Top Indian Restaurants in Asia” and has won many prestigious culinary awards. It serves more than 400 customers every day at three different locations – New Delhi, London, and New York.

The restaurant has remarkably dealt with the demands of various corporates, politicians, diplomats, as well as has seamlessly organized catering events for both Indian and International celebrities.

Challenges

The client had three major pain-points:

• Loss of business due to high abandon rates,
• Fewer reservation calls at one of the sites,
• Opportunities identifi­ed in optimum footfall management at one of the sites.

1. Loss of Business Due to High Abandon Rates

The client had three major pain-points: Loss of business due to high abandon rates Fewer reservation calls at one of the sites Opportunities identifi­ed in optimum footfall management at one of the sites The client operates on a reservation-based system. To deliver a hassle-free experience to the customers, a 12-hour window (10 am to 10 pm) is kept open for reservations. During this time period, the customers can contact the restaurant’s support division either through phone or email. The idea behind doing so was to keep the entire system effi­cient and successful. However, with the increased inflow of calls, the client began to face the following challenges:

• Agents were unable to attend all the calls. This was causing a signi­ficant business loss as the calls were probably being made by the potential customers who would either like to get a reservation done or alter a part of their booking.
• Missing these calls was causing a rapid rise in the number of no-shows or cancellations.
• This, in turn, was bringing dual loss to the restaurant. Firstly, there were an increasing number of empty tables and longer waiting-list; and secondly, there
  was a loss in customer loyalty and retention score.

Our Approach

After conducting a thorough analysis of the problem area, MK’s team implemented the following steps:

• A systematic and schedule-based callback process was introduced to counter lost opportunities from abandon calls. Cross-trained agents enabled its smooth execution.
• Callback reports were prepared four times per day.
• Advanced technological solutions such as voice mails were used to collect customer queries.
• Every step taken by the agents was monitored to improve the overall performance of the contact center. To enable this, a customized Omni-Channel CRM system was setup to streamline coordination across the sites.

Result

• Arranging call-backs turned out to be an excellent idea. It helped in reducing the abandon rate to a mere 9-10 percent.
• The Average Handle Time (AHT) was brought down to less than two minutes.
• The client’s business grew by approximately 25 percent.
• The customer satisfaction (CSAT) score improved at an exceptional level. This was in addition to the training modules prepared by the team to help the agents deliver a better performance.

2. Fewer Reservation Calls at One of the Sites

Located at three different sites, it was easier for the client to attract business at two of its prominent locations – New Delhi and New York City. At London, the client was unable to generate enough leads as the localites in the city preferred to go out of the city for vacations. This, in turn, impacted the restaurant’s overall business.

Our Approach

Understanding their problem area, we at MK conducted a thorough data analysis for the client. This helped us in gaining a better  understanding of the entire scenario, and we could propose two solutions to the client:

• Sending exclusive invites to the customers who have had celebrated any of their special occasion/occasions at the restaurant during the last year.
• Making the best use of some major big events – sports and entertainment, to be held in the city. This could help attract a large number of foreign and Indian visitors to the restaurant, thereby, generating seasonal business for the client.

Results

Although, the idea is still being worked upon and the decision is yet to be made, few of the remarkable achievements include:

• The number of cancellations for lunch/dinner was brought down from 32.96% in Feb 2018 to 19.95% in Feb 2019.
• The lunch/dinner reservation percentage increased from 63.93% in Feb 2018 to 76.68% in Feb 2019.

3. Opportunities Identified in Optimum Footfall Management at One of the Sites

The client was attracting a signi­ficant footfall at one of its prominent sites. However, its staff was not prepared to manage such rush. This mismanagement led to the following challenges for the client:

• Mismanagement at one of its sites was impacting their overall brand reputation.
• Major chaos caused due to lack of coordination between the ground and reservation staff.
• Lack of adequate workforce to support its operations.

Our Approach

Since there was lesser coordination between the ground and reservation staff, it was getting dif­icult to manage all the reservation requests. Moreover, limited manpower was another major hurdle for the restaurant’s growth. To handle both situations, we adopted the following approach:

• Additional human resources were hired, trained and deployed to process all the reservation requests.
• A few of them were also made accountable to resolve customer queries and other requests.
• Seamless coordination was encouraged between all the staff members. This helped in improving the CSAT score by making resolution quickly available at the customer’s disposal.

Results

• Real-time updates were shared with the reservation staff to keep them informed about any changes in the visitors’ reservation.
• This helped in overcoming any loopholes present in the reservation handling structure.
• The staff was also prepared to handle any requests that come for any special and large events.

Few Remarkable Achievements