Moving customer experience from frustration to advocacy
Negative customer scores were not simply a frontline performance problem. They were evidence of systems that made poor outcomes likely, for customers and employees alike.
Start with demand
Using Vanguard systems-thinking principles, I examined why customers were contacting the organisation, what prevented resolution and how policies, technology and hand-offs created repeat demand.
Redesign the system
In Customer Relations, the work shifted attention from managing complaint volumes to understanding and removing the conditions that generated them. The transformation contributed to NPS improving from -57 to +25 within six months and resulted in three personal commendations from Telstra's CEO.
Scale the approach
I later redesigned the customer credits and rebates experience across Australia and Manila. The model clarified decision rights, reduced unnecessary work and gave approximately 300 leaders and agents the training and controls needed to deliver the new experience.
Customer and cost are not opposites
NPS improved from -9 to +60 while operating costs reduced by $9.9 million. The lesson was not that service should be cheaper; it was that a better-designed system can remove the waste that frustrates customers and consumes organisational capacity.