Company: Kohl's Department Stores, Menomonee Falls, WI Company Description: Kohl’s is a family-focused, value- oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment. Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories Nomination Sub Category: Best Customer Service Executive
Nomination Title: Kohl's Customers Delighted with Carrothers' Visionary Service
- Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2007 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Kohl’s tagline “expect great things” was more than just a catchy phrase for the Credit Division in 2007. Customer ranked satisfaction grew 5% from the prior year’s already solid numbers. This increase was no surprise for Senior Vice President, Troy Carrothers whose vision of a world class Contact Center inspired the results customers recognized.
In 2007, Kohl’s achieved record sales for the 16th consecutive year as a public company with net sales increasing 5.6% to a record $16.5 billion and net income totaling $1.08 billion. Over the last 11 years, Kohl’s has grown from 128 stores to 929, becoming a leading national retailer. In 2007, Kohl’s opened over 100 new stores and introduced an updated Kohls.com webstore. Kohl’s Credit Division’s full service Contact Centers service the kohls.com webstore, Kohl’s credit card, and provides sales support for Kohl’s retail stores from centers in Wisconsin and Texas.
Kohl’s Credit proactively responded to store/customer growth through an expansion of facilities in both Texas and Wisconsin. To address upcoming events, the 2007 strategic planning included system upgrades, an aggressive focus on customer “delight” and innovative staffing strategies designed to address the needs of variations in customer call volumes through the holiday and sales peaks.
Systems -Systems upgrades included a newer version of the phone system which brought consistency and system efficiencies to both sites. -Upgraded technology to VoIP allowed the customer service teams to leverage efficiencies in the phone systems. -Enhancements to the IVR system provided customers easier access to self- service or live agent options. -New equipment increased card production by 150% – reducing the need for third party support.
Customers Customer focused initiatives included additional Associate training on customer “delight” with an average of 124 hours per service Associate completed in 2007. Internal processes were updated to emphasize service elements in calls such as a new quality monitoring form and new scorecards with an emphasis on the “three Cs” (Courteous, Correct and Complete) were implemented. Customers were “delighted” and indicated their satisfaction with a 5% increase in satisfaction scores on Kohl’s post call satisfaction surveys.
Staffing An ongoing challenge for the Contact Centers is the great variation in customer call volume during sale and holiday events. In 2007, new hires were brought in as “flextime” Associates to work longer hours during the sales events. The success of this program allowed Kohl’s to leverage existing seasoned Associates and ensure flexible coverage as projections changed throughout the year. These and other improvements to Kohl’s capacity planning ensured that the Contact Centers successfully met service level goals, despite several obstacles presented in the third and fourth quarters, including call volume increasing up to 100% from forecasted projections due to unforeseen business challenges.
Kohl’s customers responded very positively to the “delight” initiatives Kohl’s targeted; as one customer wrote “I was so impressed with the service I received on my call that I’ve told many of my friends and family! I now drive past other stores I used to frequent, just to get to Kohl’s.”
- List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.kohlscorporation.com/2007PressReleases/FinancialNews1002Release.htm
- Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Troy Carrothers, Senior Vice President of Credit, is responsible for leading Kohl’s Credit Card business, managing Kohl’s Credit Operations & Service Centers, risk management for Kohl’s and non-Kohl’s Credit Card business in- store and on-line, as well as all corporate customer service functions.
Troy has held management roles in investments, credit risk management, finance, customer service, and operations in the United States and Latin America with companies such as Citigroup and Fidelity Investments.
Troy is a board member of Junior Achievement, the Credit Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, and Discover Financial Services. Troy holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration.
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